Blacklock's Reporter

Poet Shai Ben-Shalom writes: “I suggest nominating this manager for the Outstanding Leadership Award. In last month’s staff meeting, he came closer than ever to telling the truth…”

Once upon a time officialdom discovered a new branch of science nobody had ever heard of. Fresh and exciting, it was quickly embraced by the smartest professors, the most progressive thinkers, the wisest judges. It swept the nation. You can’t argue with science.

Only later did Canadians learn it wasn’t science at all but a hodgepodge of supposition and anecdotes perpetuated by hidden agendas. Of course by then much harm was done. There were lawsuits and unsatisfying half-apologies but the people who foisted this fraud on the citizenry were not known for their humility.

It was eugenics, the scientific claim that if dull people were prevented from having children by force if necessary, society as a whole would become sharper. Psychiatry And The Legacies Of Eugenics unravels this dark and startling story, the “devastating social movement of the first half of the twentieth century.”

The Supreme Court yesterday agreed to hear a final challenge of a 1912 law requiring that lawyers in Alberta swear allegiance to the King. The oath is similar to that required of newly-elected MPs: "If it does not come from the heart it has no value."

The decommissioned Kingston Penitentiary this fall should be transferred to federal real estate managers for sale as Lake Ontario waterfront property, says a Correctional Service memo. The penitentiary closed 13 years ago: "Anyone who says we don’t need to put everything on the table right now is not listening."

A union’s 12-year defamation claim against Toronto journalist Jerry Agar has been dismissed by the Ontario Court of Appeal. Judges upheld a lower court ruling that “heated” or “colourful” debate on current events was "what a free and democratic society does."

Parliament’s 2023 passage of the Online News Act left Canadians, especially those in rural areas, too reliant on mainstream media and “official voices” in news coverage, says a report to the Commons heritage committee. The Act provoked a Facebook news ban that left communities “lacking credible information on the platform they used most,” it said.

Canadian parents remain wary of Covid shots for children even years after the pandemic, new Public Health Agency data show.  Current vaccination rates run as low as 12 percent: 'They object to what they saw as an attempt to make them feel guilty.'

More Canadians owe more than ever, says a Financial Consumer Agency of Canada memo. The release of the document yesterday followed a warning by bankruptcy trustees that millions of Canadians have “no margin for error.”

A squatter’s tent in a city park meets the legal definition of “accommodation,” the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal has ruled in a far-reaching judgment on urban encampments. The decision came in the case of a homeless Halifax man denied welfare for shelter costs since he had no shelter: "The ordinary meaning of the word ‘accommodation’ is broad."

A Montréal judge has certified a class action lawsuit against McGill University for failing to curb anti-Semitic disorder on campus. The decision allowing the case to proceed to trial coincided with a new federal report condemning Canadian universities for Jew hate: "Universities are not immune from the intervention of the courts."

A federal panel assigned months ago to combat anti-Semitism has convened one meeting to date with no agenda or work plan, a member said yesterday.  Heritage Minister Marc Miller announced the panel last February with a “mission to foster social cohesion.”

The Army Cadet League, longest-running federal youth program in the nation, is petitioning MPs for millions in special funding on complaints of rising costs. Army and Air Cadets in a joint submission to Parliament said extra funding was needed for expenses from hall rentals to liability insurance: "The Cadet program is facing increasing financial pressures."

The number of asylum claims in Canada has been halved since Parliament passed legislation granting cabinet new powers to suspend foreigners’ permits, data show. The Department of Immigration in a briefing note said it had rejected more claims since the law was changed: 'While it is still too early to assess trends, we can confirm an increase in asylum claims that have been found ineligible.'

The Budget Office will undertake the first public review of new costs on the Gordie Howe International Bridge following toll concessions to the United States, an MP said yesterday. Cabinet to date has attempted to block any public scrutiny of concessions after the Prime Minister misrepresented terms: "Canadians deserve answers."

Newly-declassified records show the military lifted a ban on gay recruits in part after overestimating by fourfold the number of LGBTQ members in the Canadian Armed Forces. Canada was among the first countries to announce recruitment of gay soldiers, sailors and air crew: "Upwards to 10 percent of the military could have homosexual orientation to some degree."