Public Historian
HomeEducationPublicationsConferencesAwardsParks CanadaHSMBCManagementCommittee of PeersProfessional Activities CD BooksBlogs Since his retirement Passfield has prepared several commentaries pertaining to political issues of the day. Commencing in 2010, several of the political commentaries were posted as blogs. Follow the links posted below to read the full text of the blogs Crime and Punishment - Liberal vs Conservative In Canada there are two different approaches to crime and punishment that reflect deeper philosophical differences between liberals and conservatives with respect to their views of human nature, the nature of morality, and the cause of criminal activity. Passrob Same Sex Marriage- Cultural Appropriation On February 1, 2005, Bill C-38 was introduced into Parliament by the Liberal government of Canada, to legalize same sex marriage nationwide. The preamble cast the same sex marriage legislation as simply an equality of rights issue under the Canadian "Charter of Rights and Freedoms" (section 15), despite the Supreme Court of Canada having declined to rule on that issue. What the framers of Bill C-38 neglected to acknowledge was that the proposed same sex marriage legislation was a blatant act of cultural appropriation. Passrob Massacre in Norway: A Personal Interpretation On July 22, 2011, Anders Behring Breivik, deliberately and methodically massacred 68 people, and killed eight more individuals in a bomb blast, in Norway. These horrific actions have been attributed in the press to his right wing extremist views and islamophobia; yet the real motive for his actions lies much deeper in the badly emotionally damaged psyche of a young boy. Passrob Hijabs and Sports Teams In February 2007 a controversy emerged over the decision of a Quebec soccer tournament to ban a member of an Ontario team from wearing a hijab during games. That decision was subsequently endorsed by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA); and condemned by the Ontario Human Rights Commission in calling such a decision a violation of human rights and of individual religious freedom. The real question at issue, however, is not human rights or religious freedom; it is simply: what does membership on a team imply? Passrob Management | Committee of Peers | Professional Activities | CD Books | Blogs |