Guitars for Vets Provides Musical Medicine

 “With a guitar in your hands you have an instant companion,” says musician Séan McCann. He knows firsthand of music’s potential to heal. These days he reaches for Old Brown instead of a bottle. While music has made up a big part of who he has been for much of

How a program retraining Canada’s veterans offers solutions for the mid-career worker

 By Nobina Robinson The world of work as we know it is changing – rapidly.  The “gig economy” and “automation” are just two phenomena shaping our working future.  Jobs are being “unbundled” and tasked out, piecemeal, across the globe.  And emerging technologies are changing the ways we interface with our

SOS Children’s Villages’ Response to the Refugee Crisis

 Submitted by Boyd McBride, President and CEO, SOS Children’s Villages Canada. Today, we mark World Refugee Day. United, we stand to support refugees – those who must flee their home because of violence, war and natural disasters. There are over 60 million refugees in the world, over half of them

GalliIpoli -— Turkey’s Vimy Ridge

 Photos: Suttershock. In April 1915, standing on one of the First World War's deadliest fronts, Lt .Colonel Mustafa Kemal approached a group of soldiers planning to abandon their trenches. The young men of the 57th regiment were in the way of a large approaching force, and they were completely out

The Seventy-Fifth Anniversary of Facing the “Flying Peril”

 In 1934, two decades after the outbreak of the First World War and five years before the onset of the Second, a prescient former British soldier and politician named Winston Churchill spoke about the threat posed to England by air warfare. Churchill remarked that, “The flying peril is not a

Women and the World Wars

 Photo © Canadian War Museum The Canadian War Museum is celebrating Canadian women’s roles and contributions made during the First and Second World Wars in the museum’s new exhibit, World War Women. Dr. Stacey Barker is the Acting Historian, Art and War, at the Canadian War Museum. Barker has been working at the

Marion’s Way

 One of my favourite quotes is from U.S. President John Kennedy. He said: “One person can make a difference, and everyone should try.”That is a question every person in Canada should reflect upon as we watch the disastrous human tragedy unfolding before our eyes in Europe as millions of innocent

Remembering the Past to Look to the Future

 This year  holds  special  significance for the world, as it marks the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II and the creation of the United Nations as well as the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. In May, a special plenary

Devastating Indifference

 Featured Image: nabanews.net Andrew White speaks slowly and deliberately, partly the result of his thoughtfulness but also due to the ravages of his multiple sclerosis. “The bounty on my head has gone up recently, to around $70 million”, he says. “I’ve thought of finding someone to carry it out, as long

Why ISIS and its friends must be opposed

 On the eve of the outbreak of the Second World War, and even for a while in its early stages, many in Canada were opposed to going to war. While amongst them, there were a few proto-Nazis and Nazi sympathizers, the vast majority were merely isolationists, pacifists and some on

How Lt Gen Currie turned the Canadian Corps into a national army

 Ask the average Canadian student about the origins of our nation and you will likely hear about Confederation and how Canada became a country with the passage of the British North American Act (BNA) in 1867. The fact of the matter is this is not actually the case. The BNA

The Hidden World of the First World War

 Imagine exploring the French countryside only to discover underground cities belonging to the soldiers of the First World War. Well that is exactly the situation Jeffrey Gusky, American doctor, artist and explorer, found himself in—and now he is sharing it with you! In conjunction with National Geographic, Gusky shows his

Ireland Welcomes You Home

 Your Irish Heritage Is Waiting To Be Discovered. It seemed fitting to take my daughter on a trip to Ireland to explore the land of her paternal ancestors. Thanks to the mild oceanic climate, the south and south west of Ireland are a beautiful lush green carpet peppered with towns,

Canada’s Presence in Afghanistan: Why We Are There And Why We Would Do A Disservice To The United Nations And Ourselves If We Didn’t See The Mission Through

 The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) is that august organization's single largest special political mission. Nineteen UN agencies are in Afghanistan to help the Afghan people and its democratically elected government establish a solid and secure democratic society. Twenty thousand troops from 37 countries (including over 2,500 Canadians

Canada’s Muscular Military: The Throne Speech Façade

 Pity the Canadian Forces. They must surely be suffering from an identity crisis. It was only a month ago that the government strutted the Forces before the public eye so we could see their biceps bulging, their pecs rippling. Just listen to the overflow of machismo in the Throne Speech

Afghanistan and the Polls: Change the Question – Change the Numbers

 Quick media conclusions on polls released regarding Canadian participation in the Afghanistan mission are flawed. Part of the difficulty in interpreting the polls lies in the fact that the two principal polling firms involved with the longest databases use very different questions in their polls. Strategic Counsel, which is the

An Interview with Gen Ray Henault: There’s No Life Like It

 In this three-part series on the state of Canada's military preparedness, Ottawa Life's top writers examine Canada's peacekeeping deployments around the world, capacity and equipment challenges, and pressing infrastructure replacement needs. We begin our series on national defense with the first of three interviews with Gen. Ray Henault, Chief of

Awakening the giant: The return of Poland

 In this issue of Ottawa Life, we begin the first of a two-part series on Poland. That is to say the new Poland – a country with a most intricate history of war and ideological conflict, but also one of sophisticated art and culture. Polish influence extends to Canada and

National perspective: Chretien rolls the constitutional dice

 By Michael D. Behiels The first week of December 1997 will be looked back upon as Prime Minister lean Chretien's "virage" in the war against the Quebec secessionists. Until then, Stephane Dion, his professorial constitu-tional side-quick, sowed paranoia in the ranks of the secessionists by smiting them with his brilliant articles