Author: Phil Gurski

As more and more of the New York Times podcasts created by journalist Rukmini Callimachi and her team are released we are learning more and more of the adventures of a Canadian member of Islamic State (IS) codenamed Abu Huzayfah.  The Pakistani-Canadian left of his own accord to join IS, admits to killing at least […]

There is an old saying ‘the law is an ass’. It refers to those times when the application of the law is asinine, obstinate and counter to common sense (the phrase dates back, apparently, to the mid-17th century).  I submit that some of Canada’ laws, the ones that pertain to terrorism, are not just an […]

We have just celebrated Mother’s Day in Canada, a chance for children to recognise and give thanks for their mothers.  Mothers are, after all, often the bedrock of families. It is they who give birth to the next generation, nurture their sons and daughters through the early years of life and usually act as confidantes […]

When I was at Public Saftey Canada I had the opportunity to work in outreach with some outstanding civil servants.  They would organise sessions across the country with a variety of communities to engage on a wide range of topics all related in some way to public safety.  I was invited on some of them […]

This piece was published in The Hill Times on April 30, 2018 I consider myself a fairly reasonable and rational person.  I also have had a hankering for science since I was a kid and do everything possible to keep up with developments in a variety of fields. Among those is environmental science and of […]

The news is full, every single day, of reports of violence from a number of actors: murders, sexual assaults, shootings, etc.  Occasionally we read of a terrorist attack somewhere in the world – depending on where you live the frequency of this particular form of violence will vary.  Not surprisingly, if you live in Somalia […]

There is a brilliant set of podcasts on the New York Times Web site by reporter Rukmini Callimachi and her team on Islamic State (IS).  If you haven’t listened to it and are interested in a first-hand account of what it was like to live in the so-called ‘Caliphate ‘ you are missing out. Yes, […]

In the wake of the van attack in Toronto last week there has been a lot of ink spilled and airtime filled on the problem of what to do with young men. Regardless of motive, it seems that serious violence is carried out overwhelmingly by the male half of the human species.  Many researchers and […]

Former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau said it best in referring to the Canadian-US relationship: “Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, if I can call it that, one is affected by every twitch and grunt”.  We Canadians do spend a […]

To say that we in the West live in a sex-craved society is putting things mildly.  From TV shows where sexual humour is pervasive (for what it is worth, I think The Big Bang Theory would be a lot funnier without so many sex jokes and no, I am not a prude!) to advertising it […]