Afro-Canadian Positive Network of B.C.

Even with access to care, I saw the Afro-Canadian positive community around me failing to receive the care they need. Refugees face many challenges -- being a newcomer, being alone, dealing with trauma. In addition, the shame of having HIV was profound; merely walking into an HIV clinic caused widespread gossip and shaming within the community.

World Vision

The cold truth is this: Europe's winter weather has set in quicker than its leaders were able to make decisions on how to protect these people. For many migrants and refugees, the shores of the Mediterranean aren't just arrival points. They have actually become semi-permanent homes.

Growing up, there was an unspoken absence in Zainib Abdullah's life. In Richmond Hill, Ontario, far from the home her family left in Iraq, she pieced together the story of her uncle. He had been unjustly arrested and disappeared years earlier by Saddam Hussein's government, without a trial or a chance to say goodbye to his loved ones. Now she puts pen to paper, writing letters on behalf of people unfairly imprisoned around the world.

Olivier Berreville

It is as though those who drafted the amendments have not ever been in the field or seen any of the evidence we and other animal advocacy organizations have provided over the years of the rampant cruelty inherent in Canada's animal transportation system.

Getty

We have not been good stewards of our planet's wetlands. Although they cover only about six per cent of the Earth's surface, wetlands are one of the most impacted habitats. The global loss of wetlands is staggering. Since 1900, more than 64 per cent of the world's wetlands have been lost, with about 50 per cent of this loss occurring since 1970.

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There is neither scientific evidence that grey seals are impacting salmon stocks, nor anything to indicate that a seal cull would improve salmon recovery. In fact, scientists warn that killing off top predators such as seals could make the situation worse, resulting in unexpected and undesired consequences on salmon and other species.

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Ask Mussolini. Ask Hitler. Ask Stalin. Ask Pol Pot. Their populations were driven to exhaustion and paralysis by a constant barrage of attacks of that held most dear. Left stunned and disbelieving by the dizzying spin of hatred, demonization and battles seemingly lost, we're supposed to give up. Or fight a little less. So the old saw says.

Chris Wattie / Reuters

Nothing is more sacred than that which provides life and health: clean air, safe water, healthy soil, photosynthesis. Yet damaging natural systems on which those conditions depend is seen as irrelevant, external to economic considerations. Thoughtful, sensitive corporate executives can't let their love of children or nature affect their decisions because consequences like pollution and habitat degradation are simply the "costs of doing business."

Amanda Cupido

Some people hate being in a plane for a long period of time, but I love it: it means you're off to a faraway destination. When I booked my 15-hour direct flight to India to attend a wedding, I was excited. The long flight also meant I would have enough time to watch at least five Bollywood movies.

©UNICEF/UN024071/Rich

From Syria to Yemen and Iraq, from South Sudan to Nigeria, children are affected by relentless conflicts and displacement crises, as well as devastation wrought by natural disasters.

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Canadians cannot support dissent against Trump without supporting dissent here, especially when it makes you uncomfortable. If Black Lives Matter or Idle No More, leave you feeling defensive, ask yourself why? Seek out voices from underrepresented communities and listen to what they have to say. By encouraging people to speak out against our own injustices, we show resistance to a president who ignores injustice.

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Our presence was impossible to ignore, and showed what was possible as we begin a new sort of movement. A movement with women at the helm. A movement with no leader, instead motivated by a unifying commitment to the fight for justice and equality.

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Many Canadians gave online to the ACLU to help overturn the Trump administration's de facto ban on travellers coming from several Muslim-majority countries. The unexpected effect of globalization is citizens feel empowered to act and comment on the actions of another country.