Expand Three girls play the game isolo on the ground in the lead-affected township of Waya in Kabwe. Soil is the main source of lead exposure in Kabwe. © 2018 Zama Neff/Human Rights Watch (Johannesburg) – Lead exposure around a former lead and zinc mine in Zambia is having disastrous effects on children’s health, Human Rights Watch said today. The Zambian government should promptly clean up the contamination and ensure proper treatment for all who need it. August 23, 2019 Report “We Have to Be Worried” The Impact of Lead Contamination on Children’s Rights in Kabwe, Zambia Download the… (Full Story)

Summary More than one third of the population of Kabwe, Zambia— over 76,000 people—live in lead-contaminated townships. Studies estimate that half of the children in these areas have elevated blood lead levels that warrant medical treatment. Launch Map Expand Share 201908_Zambia_Map01 2019 Human Rights Watch Kabwe, the capital of Zambia’s Central Province, was home to a lead mine from 1904-1994. During that period, smelter fumes covered much of the surrounding soil with lead dust. The mine, which opened while Zambia was a British colony, was owned and operated by British companies… (Full Story)

For centuries, the supreme legal authority in the United Kingdom is Parliament. As a result, Parliament can make new legislations and end laws. Legislative supremacy is essential in a liberal democracy because only people`s representatives legitimize the government in power through the confidence of the House. Nowadays, the prime minister does not take into account the fact that MPs do not want a No Deal Brexit at all. As well, there are some rumours the prime minister could ignore a vote of no confidence to make sure Brexit happens. Besides, Theresa May did not implement indicative votes coming from Parliament while in power. Still, there is no common ground among MPs on Brexit except the fact that they do not want a No Deal Brexit. Nowadays, Boris Johnson simply ignores Parliament by leading the U.K. to a No Deal Brexit. Consequently, members of Parliament are trying get united in order to stop a No Deal Brexit on October 31^st. There will be several parliamentary tactics to stop a No Deal Brexit. (Full Story)

As Egypt formulates and implements its economic reform program, “the Chinese development model” is mentioned with increasing frequency in official Egyptian discourse as a supreme positive example. The Chinese model is identified in Egypt with modernization, scientific advances, foreign investments, integration into the global economy, and mega-projects that stand to yield high economic growth rates and enable a response to the challenges of a rapidly growing population and dire poverty. (Full Story)

There are nominated candidates of all races and religions in our Party. the PPC. With names like Salim Mansour, Rocky Dong, Jigna Jani, Tahir Gora, Jude Guerrier, Jing Lan Yang, Salomon Rayek, and many, many others. (Full Story)

The second summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un aimed to achieve the dismantlement of North Korea’s military nuclear infrastructure in return for sanctions relief, but ended abruptly, with no joint document or statement of the two leaders. Most likely the Hanoi experience does not portend derailment of the US-North Korea process, at least for now, and both sides apparently still have an interest to continue cooperation. At the same time, the US and North Korea will find it extremely difficult to resolve a basic contradiction regarding denuclearization.  (Full Story)

Valentine’s Day rituals often begin in the classroom, where the holiday serves both as an enjoyable arts and crafts activity and as a pedagogical tool, teaching children about structuring love and friendship into a concrete, prescribed form. The ritualization of love continues throughout our lives, not only on Valentine’s Day, but through weddings, anniversaries, and Mother’s and Father’s Day. (Full Story)

Montreal Jews rely on non-Jewish academics, writers and filmmakers to present and even explain, in French, Jewish realities to the Quebecois public and within Francophone academia. The considerable number of publications on Jewish themes, both in fiction and non-fiction, written in French by non-Jews is certainly unequaled in the Francophone world and most likely in the West, contends writer Victor Teboul. But do these works encourage or dissuade critical assessment of Quebec and of Quebec–Jewish relations, asks Tolerance.ca’s editor, whose most recent book also questions Quebecois identity. (Full Story)

Despite his dedicated work on behalf of Jewish refugees in Europe during the 1930s and 1940s, James G. McDonald (1886-1964) is little known today. Come discover this highly unusual and outspoken maverick through Shuli Eshel’s inspiring documentary, “A Voice among the Silent,” followed by comments and discussion led by Neil Caplan. (Full Story)

The Canadian government's recent announcement that it will be providing more than CDN $600 million (USD $455 million) over the next five years to bail out the country's financially strapped media outlets -- as part of the fall fiscal update about the federal budget ahead of the 2019 federal election -- is not as innocent as it may seem. (Full Story)

By David Barzilay

The intriguing tale of the location and fate of a Jewish baby placed in the Municipal Foundling Home of Thessaloniki during WWII.

It is March 4th 2016 an email pops onto my screen from some unknown group of researchers based in Thessaloniki, Greece. They introduce themselves: “ We are a group of researchers in Thessaloniki working on a common academic project related to the Shoah. Aliki Arouh, genealogist and researcher archivist of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki, , Aigli Brouskou, an anthropologist, researcher of the Municipal Foundling Home of Thessaloniki ‘Agios Stylianos’ and Areti Makri, archivist at the State Archives in Thessaloniki and a researcher”. (Full Story)

To many observers, the Jewish community in Quebec is highly integrated into Quebec society, yet to others it appears insular. How can this apparent contradiction be explained? How do religious groups, including Jews, deal with the trend towards secularization in Quebec? We raised these questions and others with Dr. Morton Weinfeld. Professor of Sociology at McGill University in Montréal, Dr Weinfeld holds the Chair in Canadian Ethnic Studies. He is the author of Like Everyone Else, but Different: The Paradoxical Success of Canadian Jews (McClelland & Stewart, 2001), a study of the Jewish community in Canada. Dr. Weinfeld is also a recognized authority on Quebec’s Jewish community. (Full Story)

On Thursday, April 19, 2018 at 7:00 pm at the Gelber Centre, veteran British journalist Ian Black will be speaking on “Israelis and Palestinians: Contested Past, Uncertain Future.” (Full Story)

During the last fifteen years, Tolerance.ca organized several panel discussions.  To mark International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Tolerance.ca® organized two panel discussions on religious diversity featuring several distinguished panellists. The first meeting was held at Vanier College. The second, on which a report follows, was held at the Maison des écrivains under the theme “Education, Religion and Diversity: Enrichment or Source of Conflict?” (Full Story)

According to what criteria and in whose eyes do we achieve success? Lévriers is a theatrical investigation led by director Sophie Gee and five others who, like her, have remade their lives in Montreal: a Dutch actress, a Québécois dancer, a Rwandan rugby player, an Antillian rapper, and a retired Jewish businessman. Over the course of a creative laboratory, they all look back on their journey and their culture for ways to define success.  (Full Story)

By Kim Lavi and Udi Deke

In the most recent escalation between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the message conveyed by both parties was that they are not interested in paying the price of a war that will ultimately return them to square one. At the same time, neither wants to allow the other to score success or to appear as if it is conducting negotiations with the enemy. Thus, in the Palestinian arena, Israel should give priority to its long term interests at the expense of its short term interests that focus on achieving calm in the area. It is preferable for Israel that the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip be conducted by means of the Palestinian Authority, so that the PA, and not Hamas, reaps the fruits of reconstruction in the eyes of the Palestinian public.  (Full Story)