Critically Curious Musings
In testimony submitted to the BC Supreme Court in a Charter Reference determining whether Canada’s criminalization of polygamy is consistent with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Dr. John Walsh testified that within the mainstream Latter Day Saint (Mormon) Church, there are two prevailing ideological camps regarding the practice of polygamy. Those in…
I was born into the Mormon faith, and raised in Lethbridge, Alberta—a city enmeshed in Canada’s polygamist history (more on this in an upcoming blog) with a sizable and politically powerful Mormon population. As a Mormon woman born in 1971, my life course was a pre-ordained path of marriage, motherhood and service—I was born…
On June 11, 2018 U.S. Attorney Jeff Sessions intervened in the case of Matter of A-B wherein a woman from El Salvador was seeking asylum in the U.S. on the grounds of domestic violence.[1] Acting as a one-person Supreme Court, Sessions took advantage of his authority over the immigration courts, which are under the…
The drive from Vancouver to Whistler is always a thrill, especially on warm spring days— each corner revealing yet another beautiful vista as the road unfolds in a gentle incline into the mountains of British Columbia. It was on such a spring drive that I was listening to On Being with Krista Tippet, one of…
It was not unusual for my group of moms to sit on the wooden curb that ran along the parameter of the playground at our children’s elementary school on warm spring afternoons. It was on such a day that my friend Wendy, with whom I shared an affection for books, arrived and said, “Nerida,…
It’s Sunday morning, and I am scrolling through my Flipchart news feed when I land upon The Guardian’s “Dear Mariella” relationship series with the following letter: My father’s terrible behaviour means I can’t be intimate with men[1] “The dilemma: I’m in my late 30s, single, no children and I’ve never been in a long-term relationship….
My guilty pleasure is watching the reality TV show Married At First Sight. Each season a team of “experts” pair 6 strangers into 3 couples who marry, honeymoon, and move-in together. At the end of 8 weeks, the couples decide if they would like to stay married, or get a divorce. This show captivates…