What follows is a preview of subjects we plan to discuss in the meeting. It is not a summary, as members are welcome to introduce new topics and issues.
Nov 20, 2024
Hello members,
The last month has been quite notable. We just got through a year with our newest Executive Director, Monica Harris, who expressed great optimism about FAIR’s direction. She would point to the Zack De Piero case as a hallmark stand that FAIR is backing. At the same time, Canadian lawyer Lisa Bildy joined the list of FAIR advisors, promptly sending a message to the Government of Ontario regarding ideological content in schools.
Closer to home, we were struck by the authenticity and nuance of a message from Indigenous Catholic priest Fr Cristino Bouvette. And the delay in sending this message is that, in response to recent bills announced by our provincial government, we’ve invited Dr Linda Blade and Jonathan Kay to speak specifically to Bill 29. The intent of this bill is to create a boundary around female-only sports while acknowledging the need for open categories to accommodate our increasingly complex societal needs.
The best I know at the time of writing, Linda and Jon will present and answer questions at a Canada-wide meeting starting at 5 pm MT. (via this link) As they are available, both are invited to our monthly meeting to continue conversing on this topic. We may start that a bit early to tie in better with the first meeting, but shorten it up so that your night isn’t completely lost. Link to the monthly meeting is below.
Best regards,
Rob Piotrkowski
Oct 16, 2024
Greetings,
Things feel like they are changing so quickly that I’m going to pare down the usual update. Feel free to reply with any good reads or videos you’ve been consuming.
To build from the last chapter meeting, I invite you to check out the Aristotle Foundation and its work. Scholars like displaced Canadian Eric Kaufmann contribute to Aristotle. I’m just watching Eric being interviewed on this podcast, though I’m not finished the whole episode.
Coinciding with our monthly meeting is a presentation to FAIR by the Justice Center for Canadian Freedoms. I believe that, like with Aristotle, an email blast should indicate how to join that meeting, which would provide a link. The JCCF presentation would occur at 5 pm MT on October 16, then the usual chapter meeting would start at 6:30 pm MT for discussion and debriefing. To narrow the scope of our discussion, I’d be interested in your thoughts on either Mark Milke’s talk or the JCCF presentation, any further thoughts on our watch of The Coddling movie, or recent events like the Million March. Link to the usual meeting is below.
Best regards,
Rob
Sept 25, 2024
** update. Monthly meeting will be replaced with a webinar featuring Mark Milke. **
Hi everyone,
For those on the periphery, the viewing of The Coddling Movie was really moving during the August meeting, and a request to finish the second half prompted a viewing earlier this month. Overall, the message of the movie was relevant and the stories were raw and compelling. I highly recommend watching this. News is that the director, Ted Balaker, is finishing negotiations with various streaming platforms, so watch for that in the near future.
The main delay in this email is that I’ve wanted to stitch together our meeting with a presentation to FAIR from the Aristotle Institute. I’ve heard that Mark Milke is speaking on September 25, but we’re just clarifying the boundaries that exist that may allow for general members to attend. If all goes well, the session with Mark Milke will replace the usual monthly meeting. If that won’t work, I’ll run our usual fare starting at 7 pm on September 25, a week later than usual. Link to come.
A few of you know that I was updating the FAIR Back to School Toolkit for a Canadian context. Largely, that is done and now there is just some organizational red tape holding things up. I’ll share a link when it’s ready.
The podcast space is really vibrant right now. I’ve seen great interviews from Megan Daum and on Conversations with Peter Boghossian. I’ll link to this video essay on Quillette discussing post-modernism. There are lots of references from one of my favourite TV shows, so I’m a bit biased.
Best,
Rob Piotrkowski
Aug 21, 2024
Hello members,
Summer is usually way more toned down, but late July became a bit chaotic. On our end, FAIR chapter leader Lee engaged with the Edmonton Fire and Rescue services to discuss race-and-gender-essentialist policies and how to fix institutional culture. Also, after seeing an interview on Reason with the makers of The Coddling documentary, then hearing about watch parties of the film, we floated the idea of hosting a watch party during our next meeting on Wednesday, August 21. I hope you can join us for that. I’m a big fan of The Coddling book, and I’m making my way through Haidt’s The Anxious Generation, so this is in my wheelhouse.
It would be uncharacteristic to leave out at least a reference to the craziness of the last few weeks. I’m going to stay clear of certain global events that were notable (though we can certainly talk about any of these at the meeting after the viewing), but I’m drawn to the sorrow regarding the losses in Jasper recently. It seems that most of the damage was material, and fingers are pointing everywhere, but my thoughts go out to those affected. There are many fundraising efforts to support affected families that I encourage you to consider.
Hope to see you soon.
Best,
Rob Piotrkowski
July 17, 2024
Hello members,
Sorry for the belated message and acknowledgement of Canada Day. I hope your recognition of the holiday went well. If you didn’t read, FAIR advisor Jon Kay wrote a piece discussing how unpacking Canadian history has helped him to see a more positive version of the country’s progress. Kay references the Nations of Canada podcast as inspiration for his perspective, summarizing these thoughts on Quillette.
The gender identity policy that FAIR Alberta wrote an opinion on was rapidly pushed through by Edmonton Public Schools trustees. Kathleen Lowrey writes on her Substack about the meeting and how it came to be that the matter was fast-tracked in spite of a few trustees acknowledging the need to be discerning on topics like these.
Recently, FAIR executive director Monica Harris was on Meghan Daum’s Unspeakable podcast. I recommend giving that a listen. As well FAIR employee David King explores a side project related to non-ideological psychotherapy in an interview with Benjamin Boyce and Aaron Kindsvatter.
While there are other issues of note, we can save that for our meeting next Wednesday. Please drop in if you can using the link below. If you have time for an in-person meet-up this summer, please respond and I’ll see what can get coordinated.
Best,
Rob Piotrkowski
June 19, 2024
Hello FAIR supporters,
We’re enjoying the change in weather and hope that you’re well as we head into summer.
Last meeting, we discussed becoming more visible in Alberta beyond just letter-writing. We entertained the idea of doing some “street epistemology” or engaging people at public events. If you have any suggestions in this regard, please respond.
There is an action item that we’d appreciate you spreading the word about. There is a call for feedback on a school board policy that we consider to contain divisive language. We are crafting a response and I’ll paste our main points below. If you have thoughts on the matter, please consider filling out the feedback form and sharing the link with others. They are accepting responses until June 12.
FAIR leaders just had a meeting with Cathy Simpson, who was dismissed for supporting the FAIR in Libraries mandate to uphold library neutrality. There was an indication that Cathy’s legal costs were substantial and they may start a crowdfunding campaign. If you want more information on how to support this effort, please reply and I’ll send information as it becomes available.
This month, we intend to host Melanie Bennet at the meeting for a discussion about her observations of how cultural differences between Canada and the UK were informed by raising a son in both countries. Melanie has been trying to unpack how ideology has been allowed to infuse into institutions like schools, and has read about critical (queer) theory to make sense of things. Melanie co-hosts a Canadian podcast on this topic while advocating for parental rights and I recommend watching her conversation on the radical center podcast for context.
I hope you can attend in 2 weeks! Link below.
Best,
Rob Piotrkowski
FAIR Alberta talking points RE: Policy HFA:BP
The policy definitions exceed those outlined in the Alberta Human Rights Commission and alignment is recommended.
The policy contains a mix of descriptive and moral statements. The moral statements in this policy unfairly categorize the people they refer to and should be removed.
The policy action items exceed the scope of the Alberta Human Rights Commission, and we recommend re-examining the intention of the action items for better alignment.
The policy makes substantive claims regarding actions that the Board is willing to undertake without recognizing tradeoffs, limitations in resource and personnel, and an austere budget. At times, intended action items conflict with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
May 15, 2024
Dear friends,
This month, we have much to discuss. FAIR Executive Director Monica Harris wrote a piece for our Substack that speaks to the tenor of the campus protests. The comments got a bit out of hand, which is not surprising for 2024. In a side discussion, I offered that when people read things that don’t completely fit with their paradigm, they lash out in these ways. I hope that Lee and I model curiosity and embrace diversity of opinion when engaging in this and other issues.
At the risk of undue promotion, I also want to share some FAIR-minded conversations through Benjamin Boyce’s work. On his main channel, he interviews Eli Steele. Eli previously was part of a FAIR film festival and is currently talking about his short film “Killing America.” Eli claims (and I paraphrase) that America (or the West) previously claimed to act with a set of values and virtues that were not upheld in action. Instead of righting the ship, identity became as the guiding star for policy, and so here we are. Eli recognizes the peril of this ideology and speaks about that.
On his wife’s channel, Benjamin and Leslie speak with Melanie Bennet on a variety of topics of interest to Canadians. Melanie speaks about emigrating from then returning to Canada as a progressive, but noticing that public policies, particularly related to schools, are off kilter. Melanie states, “I noticed some red flags but I didn’t really pay attention to it. … But moving to Canada, …I didn’t quite understand that’s what was going on at home but I noticed a change in my son’s behaviour within months, but also the people that I would encounter, it was a shock.”
Lee and I are working on some guests, including Melanie Bennet to talk about schools and parental involvement, Andrew Lawton about Bill C-63, among others. While trying to get in touch with The Line, a media outlet in Calgary, I noticed that they are holding a conversation in Edmonton in early June (albeit on non-FAIR related topics).
As always, we’d love to talk with you at our meeting in a couple of Wednesdays. Link below.
Best regards,
Rob Piotrkowski
April 17, 2024
Good evening,
First, I’ve recently had updated access to the member database. As such, I have added several recipients to this mailing. Welcome to the list, and deepest apologies that you’ve been left off for some time. Understandably, if your interest in FAIR has changed, please email me and I’ll update my contact list. We hope that you will stay the course.
This month, we are thinking about the Cathy Simpson situation in Niagara-on-the-Lake. Cathy was advocating for viewpoint neutrality in libraries, as supported by the FAIR Libraries chapter, when things turned. Cathy was fired from her position as CEO of NOTL Library and FAIR is intervening. Due to litigation, details are scarce, but FAIR executive director Monica Harris took to the National Post to respond. FAIR Alberta communications director, Kim, created a summary of the situation, which you can read here.
This is on top of other concerning news like Bill C-63 moving to second reading, and the growing voice claiming that Premier Smith’s “parental rights” policy proposal is anti-trans.
As usual, we hope you’ll join us for lively discussion on Wednesday, April 17 at 6:30 pm for our monthly chat. Link is below.
Best regards,
Rob Piotrkowski
March 20, 2024
We’re incredibly grateful to our guest, Eva Kurilova, for sharing her thoughts on the proposed parental rights policy. There is a public conversation brewing which appears to have a particular slant, so to facilitate expressing your voice, we have a template of a letter for you to use and share. It’s relatively neutral in its language on purpose.
I’ll be attending the upcoming Quandaries presentation on DEI. It’s free to attend at King’s University in Edmonton using the link here.
FAIR is encouraging leaders to promote interest in our Substack. I can’t think of a better way of doing this than by sharing a recent article shared by Robert Graboyes. It addresses the “equity” portion of the DEI framework in a robust way that I really appreciated. This is not a call for paid subscriptions to the FAIR Substack, and to be overt there are no perks for being a paid member, so even just adding yourself as an unpaid member would be great.
\We’re trying to line up more speakers; details to come as that happens.
February 21, 2024 – Special Guest: Eva Kurilova
Update on opinion letter to the ATA. (Re: trivialization of Richard Bilkszto’s suicide).
Wednesday’s announcement by Premier Smith is significant and has been met with various degrees of pushback. As I try to engage with people about the matter of parental rights and gender, I find myself needing to be nimble and well-informed. This month’s chapter meeting will host a discussion on this topic with a guest speaker. This will likely be a Q&A style session with an interview portion. Our guest is Eva Kurilova, someone often brought up at chapter meetings who writes on the topic of gender on Substack as well as other outlets.
As a primer on the issue, here is Premier Smith’s announcement, and here is a CBC panel discussing the proposed policy. Many public figures and institutions have already claimed that the policy is or will be harmful (too many to link to…). A few writers are pointing to the shift in European policies or even doing analyses of studies which support gender medicine. Spoiler: the studies don’t claim what the advocates say they do.
I hope to attend a session on the issue on Tuesday, February 6 @6 pm, hosted by Mount Royal through Zoom, which is overtly critical of the policy. I’m doing so to consider their arguments, not because I agree with their position. I welcome your presence there.
Best,
Rob
January 17, 2024
This month, to keep discussion focused, I want to discuss recent developments in diversity initiatives. With Claudine Gay’s “resigniation”, and Peter Boghossian’s prediction that there will be a reckoning in the next 6 months, there will be enough to discuss.
This week, I’ll be sending my opinion to the Alberta Teacher’s Association, and I welcome your feedback on the message, keeping in mind the audience is teachers who may not be familiar with Richard Bilkszto’s story.
Additionally, the Quandaries lecture series hosts a speaker in March on this topic, for which I’d love to get FAIR representation.
Talk soon,
Rob
December 20, 2023
We do bring up notable Albertans at times during our meetings. Recently, Eva Kurilova was invited to a meeting with Premier Smith. The content of the meeting hasn’t been unpacked, but the sentiment regarding the value of the meeting is very positive.
As well, FAIR sent representation to the somewhat incorrectly-named Quandaries event at King’s University. The speaker, Cheryl Whiskeyjack of the Bent Arrow Society, was well spoken and had a positive message about their work. The claim that the talk would address allyship and “pretendians” was inaccurate; instead it was an advertisement for Bent Arrow and light on content. Chapter co-leader Lee tried to broach the question of where relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians are headed in Cheryl’s opinion, for which the answer was vague as if to say that “the work” needs to continue. At some point, you can listen for yourself, but as of the time if writing, the audio of the lecture still isn’t posted. Prior to the public lecture, Cheryl was interviewed by the hosts of Quandaries, and this recording can be found on your favourite podcast outlet.
FAIR Alberta has also been pushing back against local organizations. I’ve spoken about my upset over the trivialization of Richard Bilkszto’s suicide, and I finally had a productive conversation with an ATA representative. As well, Lee had an opportunity to present about FAIR to a local union. The conversation was difficult as the hosts were not terribly open-minded, but we’re happy for the opportunity. We also hope that this primes us for more outreach.
Otherwise, please join us to discuss these updates or whatever else is on your mind. The meeting is on December 20 at our usual time, link below.
Best regards,
Rob Piotrkowski
November 15, 2023
We’re still concerned for the evolving situation in the Middle East. Recently, FAIR Executive Director, Monica Harris, made a statement about the situation. Former FAIR Advisor Bari Weiss has spoken out on the situation, and the Free Press posted an article with perspectives of people closely impacted by the war.
Recently, videos from the ARC (Alliance for Responsible Citizenship) Conference have been surfacing in my recommendations. By and large, they contain great timely messages that I recommend exploring. Here are links to talks by Tinker on energy and economy, Pageau on the guiding principle of policies, and MP Badenoch on race and grievance.
Lee and I are working on some local meetings where we can share FAIR values and we’ll try to update you as we can. In the meantime, I recently saw an advertisement for a lecture/Q&A series called Quandaries in Edmonton. Some of these topics overlap with FAIR values and I’d be interested in organizing group representation to these meetings if wanted.
Hope to see you soon,
Rob Piotrkowski
October 18, 2023
Hello members,
I’m struggling with how to start this notice. Everything that has happened in Israel/Gaza has me very confused about how the pro-human message stays valid in times like these. I grieve the suffering that innocents are experiencing and hope for a speedy resolution. Now more than ever do I feel that it’s important to treat our neighbours well regardless of their immutable traits.
Below you’ll find a link for our next chapter meeting. A notable bit of FAIR news is that Monica Harris has been named our new Executive Director. And in passing I ran across FAIR Advisor Daryl Davis debating on a panel at the 2023 Minds Fest conference in this video.
Top of mind this month is the unpacking of how TED suppressed Coleman Hughes’ TED talk. Coleman unpacks the situation on his podcast and points at how convoluted things became, including the requirement to engage in a public debate about colourblind policies.
Best,
Rob Piotrkowski