A new Margaret Wente backlash to wrap a week
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The announcement of Margaret Wente as one of 46 Quadrangle Society members at the University of Toronto’s Massey College brought on a petition calling for the honour to be rescinded, based on Wente’s writing about race. Wente’s former employer, the Globe and Mail, has been one of the media outlets recently criticized on these fronts.
A statement about a statement
TSN anchor Kayla Grey criticized a posting by Sheri Forde—the white wife of Duane Forde, the Black former CFL player turned TSN analyst—for using the N-word in her story. Motivational speaker Tim McClure then sought to stick up for the Fordes. The network reinforced its support of Grey, who was the first Black woman in Canada to ever host a highlight show like Sportscentre, and they also told McClure to knock it off.
Justin Trudeau won’t criticize Jagmeet Singh calling a Bloc Québécois MP a racist. Bloc leader Yves-François Blanchet is seeking an apology for words that got the NDP leader expelled from the House of Commons. Meanwhile, the Liberals are facing more questions about MP Marwan Tabbara’s sexual misconduct allegations.
A puzzle of a spray-paint job
Maurizio Bevilacqua, the mayor of the problematically named Ontario city of Vaughan, issued a statement about his admiration for the legacy of Pierre Trudeau. It was in response to a report of vandalism to a local statue that included a spray of black paint on the face of the former PM, which is being investigated as a potential hate crime:
“Canadian Museum for Human Rights employees say they were told to censor gay content for certain guests.” The story from CBC Manitoba described practices at the Winnipeg museum, which included a staff member asked to physically block a same-sex marriage display. Subsequently, its CEO said he won’t seek reappointment.
Future days of contact tracing
While the Holt Renfrew store in downtown Toronto asked its employees to not mention on social media that a Burberry leased employee tested positive for COVID-19, such things may be harder to conceal soon. But privacy advocates will still be watching to see if Ontario’s end to manually entering fax printouts into its database will be secure:
The unlawful arrest of two journalists led a cop to be found guilty himself. Three years ago, then-Global News videographer Jeremy Cohn asked Hamilton constable Jeff Todoruck why he arrested freelance camera operator Dave Ritchie at the scene of a fatal car crash. Todoruck then pinned Cohn to the ground and cuffed him with zip ties.
Finally, and isn’t it ironic…
Jagged Little Pill was scheduled to be the focus of a 25th anniversary tour by Alanis Morissette right now, to coincide with its currently suspended Broadway musical. Instead, all the pandemic era can provide is yet another anniversary album reissue, with a live singalong version of “Ironic” from a few days before everything was locked down: