Open Sources Guelph - July 11, 2019

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we're getting into the weeds. It's summer, after all, and our politicians aren't making a lot of news like they should, so let's get into the issues. For instance, since when did protesting pipelines make you a target for our own spies? Why is everyone so angry about a movie? Why isn't everyone more angry about the treatment of children in U.S. government custody? And what if most of us are wrong about our own thoughts on immigration here in Canada?

This Thursday, July 11, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:

Spies on Us. The B.C. Civil Liberties Association released thousands of documents from the Canadian Security Intelligence Agency (CSIS) that showed that the spy agency was watching people peacefully protesting the Northern Gateway Pipeline, and more than that, they were taking tips from oil and gas companies. It seems incredibly dangerous that our national spy agency is watching people protesting public policy, especially at the behest of industry, so who is CSIS really working for?

Movie Fight. This weekend, the movie Unplanned opens on 24 of Canada's 2,500 some-odd movie screens, and boy is it controversial. The film, which comes from the Christian-influenced Pure Flix, is about the true life story of a Planned Parent volunteer turned anti-abortion activist, and many have attached themselves to it for purely political reasons, including some Conservative MPs. But do we continue to focus too much on the politics and not the real issues of abortion access?

The Kids. The picture at detention facilities along the U.S./Mexico border keeps getting darker and darker. New allegations paint treatment as cruel and unusual in these facilities, from kids being unable to find someplace to lie down to sleep, to punishment for those with the courage to complain, to even some allegations of sexual assault. Politicians seem stymied and unable to intercede for the migrants while the allegations of cruelty compound every day, so what will it take to get any action?

But What if You're Wrong? The CBC released a pre-election survey that showed 57 per cent of Canadians thought that we should accept no more refugees, and that 24 per cent thought that Canada had too many immigrants. The feeling is that immigration is going to be a third rail in the coming Federal election, but the fact of the matter is that Canada's population is only growing under immigration. Are we allowing an anti-immigrant bias to proliferate by not challenging popular assumptions?

Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.