Welcoming immigrants and refugees Tammy Alexander, Mennonite Central Committee U.S. Washington Office Last week, President Trump signed three executive orders on immigration – one increasing border security and calling for the construction of a wall across the entire U.S.-Mexico border, another aimed at increasing deportations and other enforcement actions and a third temporarily suspending the refugee program and barring people from certain majority-Muslim countries from entering the U.S. All three paint a picture of immigrants as threats, criminals and a burden on society – when, in truth, immigrants contribute much to our communities, commit crimes at lower rates than their […]

The space race is on. Sputnik has orbited and the Russians are in the lead. Hidden Figures tells this based-on-a-true-story in the predictable ways of a triumphal movie. We meet the three African American heroines stranded next to a broken-down car on their way to work at NASA. The challenge of this day is to actually get there, as the car just won’t start. A police officer shows up, and they use his concern for America in the space contest to get past his initial prejudice. Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe, also in recently reviewed Moonlight) uses a similar tactic earlier […]

by Jennifer Wiebe, director of MCC Canada’s Ottawa office Rumour has it that Canada’s federal budget may come down sooner rather than later. Civil society organizations are hoping to see some positive policy signals when the budget is tabled—from more money committed to international development, to the establishment of a federal ombudsperson for the extractives sector (the minerals, oil and gas industry). Establishing an ombudsperson with the power to investigate Canadian mining companies implicated in wrongdoing abroad is something experts have urged the government to implement since 2007. Liberals supported the idea of an ombudsperson while they were in Opposition […]

It’s open season. Not duck season, not deer season. It’s awards season, and you don’t even need a permit to collect your bounty. The next month will bring not only the most prestigious film and music award shows but also some lesser-known—but perhaps more interesting—award shows. By the way, my opening you just read was terrible. Dreadful. Hokey. But it could have easily been an introduction at an awards show. The Golden Globes ushered in 2017 awards season two weeks ago, and the next month will bring not only the most prestigious film and music award shows but also some […]

Climate resilience still under construction By Charissa Zehr For Haitians and friends of Haiti, January 12, 2010 is a date forever imprinted in their memory. The earthquake and its aftershocks claimed the lives of an estimated 150,000 to 300,000 people and displaced 1.3 million people. Despite billions of dollars in emergency assistance and reconstruction funds, thousands remain homeless even now, seven years later. Precarious housing matters on many levels, for reasons of dignity, health and safety. But of principal concern long-term, is people’s exposure to subsequent natural disasters in a country ranked as one of the most vulnerable to the […]

Sharing my faith story with the church small group I’m part of, I described myself as a broken-hearted person. One person responded that she’d usually heard people describe themselves as tender-hearted instead. But the first description suits me better, because from a young age there has been much in the world that breaks my heart. Like the stories from neighbors in my hometown who sought refuge in the U.S. after surviving wars in the 1980s in El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua. Like the stories I am hearing today from Mennonites in my city whose children are afraid that their parents […]

To be perfectly honest, The Crown had me at “an inside look at the early reign of Queen Elizabeth II.” I’m such an Anglophile and history buff that this show could have been a shoddily produced back-lot project and I probably would have watched. I’m saying all of this so you’ll take this review with about a heart attack’s worth of sodium. One also has to wonder what the Queen herself thinks about all this. Series creator Peter Morgan told Variety this past July that the royal family has had no involvement in the project. Luckily for me, The Crown is […]

Third Way’s Picks for Top Ten Films of 2016 The quirky personalities, film viewing habits, and divergent ways of putting these lists together (we don’t tell them how to do it) comes through once again in this round of “Top 10 Movies of 2016” from our of our tremendous Third Way reviewers—in the order they were received. Don’t forget about this handy round up when you add must-see flicks to your lists, however you keep them. Vic’s Top Ten Films of 2016 Counting down a year of mystery and magic from number ten: Moonlight – Barry Jenkins’ beautifully-acted film about […]