u/AkaashMaharaj

We live in a time of too much bloodshed in too many places, when too often, sorrows flourish and hope withers.

But in the Peace Walk organised by the Mahatma Gandhi Peace Council of Ottawa, I saw people who had made the decision to join hands with one another to nurture hope together: Christians, Jews, and Muslims; Buddhists, Hindus, and Sikhs; people of many faiths and people of none.

I was touched that they invited me to walk with them, and to address the gathering on Parliament Hill.

Flags fly over Parliament Hill for only a few days, before being retired and distributed to Canadians.

The waiting list was long, and I joined it on a lark. But thirteen years later, my flag has arrived.

In the interim, the waiting list behind me had grown to more than one hundred years.

My flag now flutters over my farm in Almonte, a less august but no less patriotic home for it.

Is the Iran-US war spreading too broadly to be contained?

Iran has bombed US allies in Jordan, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia and the US have bombed Iranian proxies in Iraq.

All the while, the US has been in fevered negotiations with Iranian parliamentarians, who may have no capacity to overcome the Iranian military’s refusal to brook any concessions.

I spoke with Chris Glover on CBC Radio’s Metro Morning, on whether Iran and the US can step back from the abyss.

Is a secular state one that is indifferent to the beliefs of its citizens, and treats no faith with favour or disfavour?

Or is it one that expunges all overt forms of religious expression from the public sphere?

What should societies do when “freedom of religion” and “freedom from religion” collide?

I enjoyed discussing these questions with Ani Ghazaryan Drissi, Bruce Clemenger, and Nazila Isgandarova, on our panel at the World Council of Churches’ NATI-RETI gathering of ecumenical leaders.

I spoke with Global News’ Jaden Lee-Lincoln, about Mark Carney’s decision to embrace closer ties with Saudi Arabia.

Canadians need to ask not only what we might obtain from Saudi Arabia, but also, what Saudi Arabia hopes to obtain from us

Too often, the price of Saudi investment is that recipient states must avert their eyes and mute their voices, in the face of Saudi human rights atrocities.

Canada must not wander heedlessly into that abyss.

France’s Ambassador to Canada, Michel Miraillet, hosted a public celebration of Bastille Day at his embassy on Sussex Drive.

In its darkest days, the French Revolution infamously “devoured its children”, but the contemporary representatives of the Republic fed their guests bountifully!

These are preposterously irrational times in global affairs. So I felt encouraged to speak with many diplomats at the event who seem genuinely committed to trying to foster Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité through their work.

No country has fully lived up to such ideals, and governments everywhere often honour them more in words than in deeds. But I think they remain ideals worth striving for.

I spoke with France 24’s Paris Direct, about the wildfires in Canada, for Nature Canada.

The situation is dire.

If a fire exceeds 10 MW/m, conventional firefighting techniques fail: water dropped by water bombers will vaporise before it reaches the ground.

The Jasper fire reached 386 MW/m, comparable to the detonation of nuclear weapons.

Every feasible solution begins with us acting against climate change, which is making the wildfires more intense, more widespread, and more frequent.

The interim peace agreement between Iran and the US is astonishingly brittle.

The very first of its fourteen points declares an end to combat in Lebanon, where Hezbollah and Israel have been locked in a pitiless war that has killed 4000 people.

Yet, neither Hezbollah nor Israel had a seat at the negotiations, neither has laid down its arms, and neither has acceded to the agreement.

I spoke with Chris Glover on CBC Metro Morning, about whether this agreement heralds peace or merely a pause.

The Canadian Museum of History felt like an apt venue for the crew of the Artemis II to discuss their flight around the Moon. They had travelled further from Earth than any other human beings, thus far.

Brian Gallant, CEO of Space Canada, led an absorbing conversation with the astronauts (left to right): Commander Reid Wiseman; Pilot Victor Glover; Mission Specialist Christina Koch; Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen; Backup Astronaut Jenni Gibbons.

Jeremy Hansen and Jenni Gibbons are both members of the Canadian Space Agency.

The astronauts all projected a sense of personal humility and public pride.

When I think of the induction ceremony for France’s Legion of Honour, I imagine Inspector Clouseau fighting a pigeon in the film Revenge of the Pink Panther.

The reality is far more moving.

My Royal Canadian Geographical Society colleagues and I cheered on James Cameron, one of our Fellows, as Ambassador Michel Miraillet decorated him at France’s embassy in Canada.

Cameron was recognised for his work as a filmmaker, with specific reference to the Terminator series, the Avatar series, and Titanic.

I enjoyed our conversation on his work in documentaries, to rouse people across the world to the defence of nature.