So this weekend’s newsletter was supposed to be about something good – the fifth anniversary of The Conversation Canada. But then the news broke yesterday morning about the seismic U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned a 50-year constitutional right for American women to have access to safe abortions. We’ll get back to our anniversary in a moment, but first the news about Roe v. Wade.
While Friday’s ruling is about U.S. law, the court’s decision has renewed debate about abortion in Canada and around the world. The global network of The Conversation – led by our colleagues in the United States – pulled together on Friday to provide readers with a range of stories on the fallout from the ruling in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case. Here in Canada, we reached out to political scientist Candace Johnson of the University of Guelph, who looked at the issue of American women who may travel to Canada or Mexico for abortions.
It was another week when many Canadians looked south with their mouths agape: women’s rights turned back by half a century; gun laws diminished just weeks after the mass shootings of school children and Black shoppers; congressional testimony that revealed the former president pressured his own Justice Department to overturn the results of the 2020 election. For your weekend reading, I’ve assembled a great collection of articles from across the network that will bring you up to speed on these complex and troubling issues.
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And now, allow us to blow our own (birthday) horn.
Five years ago today, The Conversation Canada was born. Our co-founders, Mary Lynn Young and Alfred Hermida from the School of Journalism, Writing, and Media at the University of British Columbia, have written an anniversary piece that examines how The Conversation Canada is part of a wave of digital news organizations that have started since the turn of the century.
Our readers have also weighed in our anniversary (based on a request I made a few weeks ago in this newsletter), as have our editors.
The five years have passed in the blink of an eye. We thank everyone who took the time to send us their thoughts.
Have a great weekend. We’ll be back in your Inbox on Monday.
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