Chris Brauer Media Project [BLOG]

Back in 1999 I took a trip to within 100km of the North Pole to experience a slice of real Canadiana outdoor spirit. Coming back for Christmas from my Phd studies in London this year made me realize that this spirit lives in every outdoor ice rink, ski trail and breath of cool fragrant oxygen. It's a case for the senses really. Pine needles on the snow, looking at the stars once again but only seeing them for the first time and community, a forgotten word save the politicians. Make no mistake the reality of a Canadian Christmas at the lake is people popping by for a skate or a hot chocolate, children dancing in snow forts above their ears and friends shoveling the walk for friends. It really is like that.

Labels: canada, culture

Ideas coming out of Canada these days are distinctly un-Canadian, sometimes literally. It is fitting that the latest brain wave of the new war-mongering attitude of Canadian politicians comes with suitable graphically violent metaphor: "We've thrown, if you will, a transformational grenade in the middle of our recruiting process," Canadian chief of defence staff General Rick Hillier said.

The shards and fragments of this blast are that the Canadian government is considering a change of policy to allow non-Canadian citizens (eg. landed immigrants) to enlist in the Canadian Armed Forces. One can imagine a backroom conversation from the Armed Forces Council:

"We need to recruit tens of thousands of new soldiers."
"Ya. But no-one wants to sign up for peacekeeping missions that have nothing to do with peace and put themselves in harm's way for dubious geo-political motivations."
"Well can we rent some soldiers?"

If we think back to when Paul Martin "bravely" told the US that Canada would not be sending troops to Iraq there was a lot of discussion of backroom nudge-nudge wink-wink deals between officials that Canada would take care of Afghanistan in return for a muted US response to Canada's lack of involvement in Iraq.

The problem with the potential new recruiting strategy is not that non-citizens will die instead of citizens - all persons are of equal value in our shared humanity. It is that this will become a political and social force.

Again we can imagine a questionnaire for Canadian immigration in 2007:

Canada Immigration Questionnaire

Question 1: Name: ___________
Question 2: Would you be willing to take a job and serve the Canadian Armed Forces? YES NO
(if you answer yes to Question 2 proceed to Question 75, if no please answer questions 3-74 in Ojibwa, native language to a portion of indigenous Canadians)
Question 3: Are you a terrorist?
...
...
Question 32: What ideas and interests do you believe in?
...
...
Question 62: Do you have any skills and abilities to contribute to the Canadian social life and economy?
...
...
Question 75: Signature ______________

For reference to the possibilities of this scenario see the US where military includes naturalized citizens and non-citizens. In 2002, the traditional five-year waiting period to apply for U.S. citizenship was waived for foreign-born members of the military.

Labels: canada, politics

Featuring streaming of Coldplay's Fix you.

After two short years away in the UK the Canadian news coverage of global issues is shocking. For the first time in memory Canadians are depicted on the world stage firing guns on ranges getting ready for duty, dying from roadside bombs, and in the end, picking sides in sovereign disputes. Stories from Afghanistan and troop memorial coverage and battles are the intro to national broadcasts instead of humanitarian or social/economic stories. The bravery of these soldiers is beyond dispute but the cause is political.

Surely in a 21st century beset by global warming, depleted carbon fuels, and mass differences in global quality of life (what's the quality rating for being a victim or the families of fatalities reported in the news) we should focus on coming together instead of driving apart. The teaser for the new 9/11 film "World Trade Center" (Oliver Stone no less) brings back memories in 2001 of talk of a two year moratorium on media factional storytelling after the attacks .

Wait until the audeince is ready. The producers waited awhile longer and stories have been leaking in dribbles but here they come. Make no mistake this story will be told and retold as inspiration on demand. What are the stories being told in the Middle East? Likely they tell a far different tale.

The Coldplay-infused film teaser (Windows Media) speaks of 9/11 as an event that is to define a generation. I always thought of the fall of the wall and the end of the cold war as the would-be defining moment of my generation. Optimisim was in the air for one world, one society but just 15 years later the entire story is being rewritten and the smoke clouds of trouble are gathered over planet earth. Sooner or later we will arrive at the Star Trek mantra of "infinite diversity in infinite combinations" and stop hurting each other. Who's tired of waiting?

Labels: canada, politics

Canada keeps ending up at or near the top of global quality of life but no argument seems strong enough to convince some of our sporting superstars not to defect to other countries.

Nationalism may be fading as a social construct but since so many of the major global sporting competitions are based on nationality it makes a big difference to nations when individuals swap sides. For Canada this has been a strangely persistent trend in recent years and it begs the question ... why?

Lennox Lewis famously maintained his amateur boxing status for four more years after losing to Tyrell Biggs in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. In 1998 in Seoul he captured a heavyweight gold medal for Canada before promptly declaring himself a British national for whom he went on to become the heavyweight champion of the world.

Some might point out that Lewis was born in London, England and only moved to Canada when he was 12 so perhaps Greg Rusedski is a better example. After turning professional in 1991 and shooting to the top of the Canadian men's tennis national rankings, Montreal-born Rusedski chose to adopt British citizenship in 1995 and has had a long and successful professional career including losing in the final of the 1997 US Open Championship.

Finally we move to the subject closest to my heart. Professional football or soccer as Canadians like to call it. Owen Hargreaves moved from Calgary, Alberta in 1997 at age 16 to train with FC Bayern Munich, the traditional powerhouse club of the German Bundesliga. By 2001 he was a regular in their starting line-up and faced a choice of national teams. With British born parents he chose to represent England and got his first cap against Holland in a friendly in the summer of 2001. Once a player plays an international match for a country they can never again play for another country so Hargreaves was fated to never wear the Canadian read-and-white. I followed this process closely at the time and was tremendously disappointed with the choice of the Alberta-born player who could have been the pivot around which a whole host of new emerging Canadian players could form a competitive international squad.

Interestingly Hargreaves star has waned in the hyper-competitive English midfield and he looks unlikely to get a call-up for the national side in the 2006 World Cup in Germany. In fact he has not been called up for any international matches since September, 2005. With the wealth of emerging talent in England that might be his last international match ever which is what makes his choice not to be part of an emerging Canadian threat all the more frustrating.

Finally we arrive at the present and another round of this seemingly unending cycle of Canadian sporting heroes looking to shores afar. This time the subject is Toronto-born Jonathan de Guzman, a tremendously talented 18-year-old midfielder for Feyenoord Rotterdam in the Dutch Eredivisie. Apparently he is currently applying for Dutch citizenship and without any international caps will have his choice of national sides. His brother, Deportiva de la Coruna midfielder Julian de Guzman already has 13 international caps for Canada and is a linchpin of our fledgling side, ranked 85th in the world.

But in the notoriously weak CONCACAF World Cup qualifying group (Trinidad & Tobago qualified for Germany 2006) one can only imagine what it would have looked like with Hargreaves and Julian de Guzman planted in front of the back four as holding midfielders, and Jonathan de Guzman nestled in front in a floating role behind Fulham striker Thomas Radzinski. With Tottenham wing-back Paul Stalteri overlapping on the left Canada surely could have posed a serious threat for years to come. With Hargreaves already gone it is crucial for the future that the younger de Guzman join his brother in the midfield to provide attacking threat.

So why might it not happen? These words from Jonathan's father hint at an explanation:

"Between Julian and myself, we don't push Jonathan in one direction or another," their father said. "He is a proud Canadian who would love to represent Canada, but how much sacrifice can you make for your country when you could have a chance to win the World Cup for Holland and participate in it."

A common complaint of all of the defectors is that they were underappreciated in Canada's sporting context, by fans and officials alike. It does seem a bit bizarre that Hargreaves was cut from the Canadian national junior side shortly before departure and that de Guzman has not yet featured for the national side. Seems we should be getting these types of players who are training in top-class European academies on to the field in red-and-white when they are 16 or 17 to give them crucial experiences at a young age. And after all with our host of abysmal recent results what have we got to lose?

Or maybe we should reflect on Jamaica who have provided Canada with countless Olympic heroes over the years including sprinters Donovan Bailey and Ben Johnson and most recently bobsledder Lascelles "Pusher" Brown who just one month after gaining Canadian citizenship helped Canada to a silver medal in the Turin Winter Games 2006 after pushing much-maligned Jamaican sleds from 1999 to 2004.

But what seems clear is the least we can do is let our sporting stars who are working outside of Canada know how much we appreciate their successes. If you are a Canadian who'd like to see one of the world's top young footballing talents lead our nation to future success send an email to klantenservice@feyenoord.nl with the subject ATTN: Jonathan de Guzman expressing your desire for him to suit up for Canada. Also contact the Canadian Soccer Association (CSA) on how much you'd like them to overtly express Canada's desire for Jonathan to join his brother in our midfield. If and when Jonathan makes a decision I'll post it in comments here.

Labels: canada, sport

The ball leapt off the club on the 132-yard par 3 4th tee at Ironhead Golf and Country Club with a click and a slight slap. For a moment I thought I had hit it my 9-iron thin but it kept carrying to high flight in the mist. The first bounce of the Callaway Warbird ball at the halfway point of the putting surface was soft but solid, the green made moist and slick by a passing flurry of rain.

The previous three holes for me had been a disaster. 7-6-8 on the scorecard. Double-double-triple bogey. My swing was hampered by my confused mental state, the result of woman troubles in personal life, still reeling from the professional decision to reinstate student life as a PhD candidate in London, and physically holding great disdain for the small ring of belly fat that betrayed the comforts of summer for my beer swilling, football mad alter ego. So a lot of swing thoughts and not many of them good. It all changed in a vanishing act.

The swing on the 4th hole felt different and as the ball bounced three times and settled into a gentle role towards the flagstick I watched with bemused curiosity. Unsurprisingly I was the last to tee off on this short hole. Roll. Roll. Roll. Disappear. Poof! But where can a ball on the green disappear? I couldn't have picked better playing partners for this achievement than my Dad, my erstwhile and favorite playing partner and Father Leo Floyd, a great inspiration in my life and a man of such studious virtue as to provide the perfect attesting.

As we drove our carts frantically towards the green, Dad was the first to peer into the cup as we searched for a hidden ridge or cavity. "I can't believe it!" I looked in and lifted my ball from the cup, nestled deeply as if it was born in place. After five years of abundant rounds of golf I made my first hole in one (1). Father Leo and I chest bumped like real men.

Now when we think about life events we typically associate them with specific moments or decisions that transcend to have a cascading impact in our lives. Governments are organizing their online services into life events, moving house, having a baby, getting married, getting divorced. But we know from experience that even small moments, little flickers of light, can have the kind of impact we are talking about. A single moment when you feel a karmic comfort, that for the moment, everything is breaking your way in the cosmos. It's good to feel it, to confirm it is out there and within our grasp at all times.

So from a little moment like a hole in one, not to overstate the significance, a catalyst can be born for a more enthusiastic approach to the complexities and challenges of life. I made birdie on #5 and went on to shoot a very respectable 80 at the Robert Trent Jones Sr layout on the waters of Lake Wabamum, 45 minutes west of Edmonton, Alta on the Canadian Prairie.

The message is to take what we can from the fortunes of life as we navigate the challenges. Know in yourself that inspiration can be found in so many of the obscured corners of life, look and you shall find as it were. Watch and the ball might drop in the cup. Feel the reverberations.

Labels: canada, sport

While the rest of the world focuses attention on the bubbling cauldron in the middle east, Gates, Bono, Clinton and Blair pledge 2005, the year of Africa, enlightened worried Canadians have turned their attention to a much more pressing homeland security issue -- the Greenland Conspiracy.

Now to be fair, like all great conspiracy theories, I am not aware of anyone else on the planet with the insight to have identified this particular subterfuge. So let's get started, before it's too late and we're all assimilated into working for small shipyards and saluting Hans Enoksen, the great leader.

OK. It obviously all starts with that strange textbook fact from our primary school years that Greenland is icey (0% arable land) and Iceland is green. But there's more of course, if that's not enough.

While many have pointed the finger at the Danish in the territorial dispute with Canada over little Hans Island, a small rocky outcropping near the northernmost tip of western Greenland, it can be suggested that the Danish are acting at the behest of the Greenlandians, and not the other way around.

Let's put Greenland under the magnifying glass. Not that we need to when speaking of the world's largest island, three times the size of Texas, already suspicious because everyone knows nothing is bigger than Texas. And yet it is also suspiciously shrinking with developments in cartography, hiding from the world's glare. A finger has long been pointed at the unfairness of Greenland looking the the same size as China, and larger than Africa or South America. Now if we look at more recent projections like Peters or Winkel Tripel Greenland seems to be sinking into the sea or at least vanishing into the great white north.

Hmmm. All very interesting and suspicious. And with rumors swirling that hunters from Greenland were making their way across the frozen baring strait to illegally hunt Canadian polar bears, our strongest northern perimeter defense, the Canadian government finally decided to do something about it and launched a major military initiative, Operation Narwhal, that mainly consisted of us setting our helicopters on fire on our boats and losing ground troops overnight in icey caves, possibly kidnapped by evil Greenlandian polar bears, who everyone knows wear patches over one eye.

So all in all it reeks of conspiracy. And it hits home on a very personal note in our household where my girlfriend and I were thinking of picking ourselves up a little bit of retirement paradise with a chunk of Hans Island after reading a Dept of Fisheries and Oceans report that described it as "sandy in colour with a 150-foot cliff on one end". With global warming and the climate, described as "cool in summers, cold in winter" bound to heat up, we could be sitting on a beach-colored cliff-diving oasis. Alas, we are obviously not the only ones with such designs ... Damn you Hans Enoksen! ... Send more polar bears to the perimeter. This thing isn't over. Not by a long shot.

Labels: canada, funny

It really is a wonderful world in which we live. It seems that everything has a way of equaling itself out. Take Telus Communications Inc -- motto 'the future is friendly' -- for example. If you are a Canadian customer of this corporate giant you don't need to look far for the culprit behind annoying (friendly?) telemarketing calls to your home or business at anytime of day or night.

Telus repackages telephone directory listings (your white pages listing, or even unlisted contact details) into CD-ROMs and machine-readable-lists and sells them to telemarketers, charities, political parties, and basically anyone else who will pay cash for your info. It has always been a personal irritant of mine that Telus refuses to tell customers when they sign-up for services that this is what they intend to do with the information supplied. I suspect many customers remain unaware that Telus is the source of their telemarketing grief. This is wrong on all kinds of levels. It is an infringement of the privacy of Telus customers because they don't ask for consent and it is dirty economics when a company sells your information, making a profit that rightfully should go to the owner of this information, should he/she choose to trade some telephone harassment for dollars.

Well all that is about to change thanks to the noble and persistent efforts of Matthew Englander, a non-practicing Vancouver lawyer who is waging a one-man war against the telecommunications giant, and winning. A Canadian federal appeals tribunal ruled unanimously last week that Telus Communication Inc must go to greater lengths to get its customers' approval before reselling their personal information.

The telco now has 60 days to offer suggestions for revamping its policies to bring them into compliance with the privacy law. Predictably Telus is squirming in the face of responsibility, already insisting that the ruling should only apply to new customers and considering appealing to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Well we never expected that they would actually do the right thing but it is impressive that we have a system that rewards the just, even if it takes a little time, and even if the truant corporation refuses to recognize the error of their ways. And bravo to the brave Matthew Englander who stuck with his pursuit despite some early pessimism and setbacks and at considerable personal cost and risk. He is so good he has surpassed Jerry Seinfeld as the greatest defender of the public good against the evil telemarketing scourge.

Minutes after the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) was enacted on Jan 1, 2001, Englander became the first Canadian to lodge a formal complaint to the federal privacy commissioner under the new law. Almost four years later we've won the right to stand up and just say NO to the dirty information thieving buggers. What a wonderful world.

Labels: business, canada

For background on the comical domain name registration policies in Canada see this earlier post. But what else would you expect from a board of directors made up of Internet activists who ignore the plight of Canadian businesses through policies that often serve to support spam and trademark infringement.

Let me give you an example. CIRA offers a domain name dispute resolution process to resolve, well, disputes over .ca domain names. So let's take a scenario. You own a business and have trademarked the name "Alliance Construction" in Canada. I register the domain name allianceconstruction.ca with a CIRA certified domain name provider and when you contact me, I offer to sell you the domain name for $500. You now have two choices. Pay me the $500 and I will transfer the domain name or undergo the domain name dispute resolution process and recover rightful ownership of trademarked material. Seems like the process is the way to go? Not unless you are interested in paying the $4300 tariff you (the complainant) must pay to undertake the process. And if you win you have no recourse to recover that tariff fee. So now you are faced with a choice of paying me $500 and obtaining ownership of the domain name or paying $4300 to undertake the process where you can only hope for the same outcome. And what is my risk? $0. Nada. Nothing. Zip. Zero. Like I said. CIRA sucks!

Labels: canada, internet, politics