Eric Wilkinson

OPINION: Post-Docs Cannot Afford to Live at UBC - The Campus Resident At UBC, the Provost’s Office and Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies held consultations in November and December last year about the challenges that postdoctoral fellows are facing. A dominan...

Something I wrote for The Campus Resident about the unafforability of living at UBC for post-docs. #UBC #university #Vancouver #BCpoli

Building rural unions Over the past 20 years, the number of unionized jobs have gradually declined across Canada, and rural unions face unique challenges that make combatting this harder.

If you want to make change, often the best place to start is close to home. Rural unions in Canada are facing unique challenges, but people are still making progress when it comes to organizing. #cndpoli #canada #politics #democracy #news

FIRST PERSON | I was an international student chasing stability but Canada made me question who I was | CBC News Pari Mokradi arrived in Canada full of hopes and dreams. When he was unable to land a job after graduating, he started to feel invisible.

A really powerful perspective in the CBC on the immigrant experinece and the dystopian affordability crisis in Vancouver. #cdnpoli #vancouver #immigration

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Rethinking the ‘Indian international student crisis’ What’s often framed as an “international student crisis” is less about migration numbers than labour. As Canadian universities become revenue engines and work rules shift with market needs, internatio...

What is often described as an “international student crisis” in Canada is, in reality, a deliberately constructed system designed to extract tuition revenue and cheap labour from migrant youth—many of whom are South Asian—while propping up the gig economy, corporations, and landlords.

The culture war comes for Alberta’s books Book bans must be challenged both at school board meetings and in public debate. School libraries exist for students, not to enforce fear or ideology. By censoring imagination and critical thinking, A...

My latest for @canadiandimension.bsky.social on how Alberta's pointless book ban took a page from the Republican playbook. #cdnpoli #canada #alberta

Forget free trade When compared to price that Canada is already being asked to pay, the cost of walking away from a trade agreement with the US is not so high. Free trade with the US was always a mixed bag. The origina...

Since the U.S. is threatening to leave the CUSMA trade deal, it's worth reconsidering whether Canada even needs a deal with the U.S., before we give up more to secure one. #cdnpoli #Canada #CUSMA #USMCA

Alberta unveils plan to resist enforcement of Ottawa's firearm buyback program | CBC News The provincial government has detailed its plan to fight Ottawa’s gun buyback program, describing the federal plan as an unconstitutional attack on the rights of Albertans.

There's considerable irony in a Premier calling bog standard federal legislation unconstitutional when they're mostly known for passing unconstitutional legislation. #canada #alberta #cdnpoli

I'm reading letters from 1943-1946 between Z.M. Hamilton (journalist and historian) and W.W. Gibson (pioneering aviator), who grew up in 19th-century Saskatchewan. It's refreshing how critical they were of the government's policies toward Indigenous people. #Canada #history #Indigenous #cdnpoli

I'm always looking for old, rare works of Canadian philosophy. At Vancouver's MacLeod's Books, I found John Clark Murray's "Introduction to Ethics" (1891). He was an early ethics professor at
McGill University and fought to have McGill admit women.

#McGill #philosophy #Montreal

Quebec to table new secularism bill today banning prayer rooms in universities, CEGEPs | CBC News The bill is expected to include a ban on prayer rooms in universities and CEGEPs, along with an expansion on a face-covering ban to educators in the province’s public and subsidized daycares.

A government should only restrict our liberties when it promotes some good or prevents a serious harm. It's never been clear who is harmed by having to occasionally see a cross or a hijab. But attacking religious minorities is easier than governing. #cdnpoli #quebec #laicity #secularism

The Threat of Legitimizing the AI Narrative In June 2024, the Canadian Philosophical Association (CPA) held its annual conference in Montreal.

Philosophy - as an academic discipline - is increasingly captured by AI hucksters. Chasing an influx of cash and new jobs, philosophers relitigate stale AI debates, beating dead horses because tech bros and credulous governments pay them to. It damages our credibility. #philSky #philosophy #AI

Family distraught as Manitoba maintains it won't pay for treatment for 30-year-old with degenerative disease | CBC News Tears gathered in Jeremy Bray’s eyes as he absorbed the news that his pleas for Manitoba’s government to cover his life-sustaining treatment hadn’t changed the health minister’s mind.

Canada needs national pharmacare. Our patchwork of means-tested provincial plans is failing the people who most need coverage and does not benefit from the same economics of scale. #canada #cdnpoli

My new book launches today!

Nick Kakeeway: a story of Indigenous survival Nick Kakeeway was a fine human being with a great deal to offer a society that was too racist and unjust to do anything other than lock him away and try to crush him. There will be no official tribute...

My tribute to the life of long time OCAP member, Nick Kakeeway. The basic element of #Indigenousresistance is the struggle to survive that is taken up by people like my friend Nick. Thanks to @canadiandimension.bsky.social for publishing this.
canadiandimension.com/articles/vie...

Spoke today at the biennial conference of the Association for Canadian Studies in the United States (ACSUS) in Seattle! Fantastic Canadian philosophy panel with Joseph McGinn. #philosophy #canada

@acsus.bsky.social

Building rural unions Reductions in unionized jobs and the specific nature of rural life require new methods of organizing.

For @briarpatchmag.bsky.social recent Labour Issue, I wrote on the challenges facing rural unions in Canada. Organizing workers can be that much harder in a smaller, geographically isolated workplace. #cdnpoli #unions #writing #canada

briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/vie...

Lest we forget. Verse from Robert Stead's, "He Sleeps in Flanders" (1923):

He saw not where his path should lead,
Nor sought a path to suit his will;
He saw a nation in her need;
He heard the cause of Honor plead;
He heard the call, he gave it heed,
And now he sleeps in Flanders.

#RemembranceDay

Staying Grounded — First-Gen Philosophers

Something I wrote for First-Gen Philosophers. Having one foot in the academy and the outside world can keep you grounded, but you have to be careful not to fall through the gulf inbetween. #philsky #philosophy

www.firstgenphilosophers.com/contribution...

The myth of the immigrant threat Anti-immigrant sentiment is surging in Canada, with politicians and far-right pundits blaming newcomers for crises in housing, health care, and unemployment. But these problems stem from policy failur...

My latest for @canadiandimension.bsky.social on how scapegoating immigrants for Canada's problems prevents us from finding real solutions to them. #cdnpoli #canada

canadiandimension.com/articles/vie...

November/December 2025: The labour issue Workplace drug policy is hurting workers and unions can do more. Plus: lessons from a harm reduction union, solidarity with incarcerated workers, sewing solidarity in Winnipeg, rural unionism, and more. Cover art by Amanda Priebe.

📢 Our labour issue is out now and ready to order!

Featuring: pushing against harmful drug policy, rural unionism, garment worker wins, a reading list, and more

Cover art by Amanda Priebe

The myth of the immigrant threat Anti-immigrant sentiment is surging in Canada, with politicians and pundits blaming newcomers for crises like housing, health care, and unemployment. But these problems stem from policy failure and in...

We can have a sober national conversation about how much immigration is suitable to meet our social and economic goals. But scapegoating immigrants for the state of housing and health care obscures the real causes of these crises and stokes resentment against vulnerable members of our communities.

NEW POST!
"Staying Grounded"
By @ericrwilkinson.bsky.social

firstgenphilosophers.squarespace.com/contribution...

My latest for Peace Magazine: the debate in Armenia over how to move forward and pursue peace. www.peacemagazine.org/archive/?id=...

Air Canada cancels plans to resume operations as flight attendants defy back-to-work order | CBC News Air Canada says it has suspended plans to resume limited operations after the union representing the airline's flight attendants said Sunday it will defy a federal back-to-work order for binding arbit...

It took decades of labour militancy to have the right to strike recognized in Canadian law. It's no surprise that ignoring those hard-won rights led us back to this.

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Air Canada and the erosion of collective bargaining The Air Canada strike has has exposed how corporations manipulate government intervention to sidestep fair bargaining. With flight attendants underpaid, passengers stranded, and Ottawa stepping in, th...

My latest for Canadian Dimension: decades of governments undermining collective bargaining rights in Canada has led to companies like @aircanada.bsky.social running straight to them to end strikes instead of bargaining in good faith.

canadiandimension.com/articles/vie...

Forget free trade When compared to price that Canada is already being asked to pay, the cost of walking away from a trade agreement with the US is not so high. Free trade with the US was always a mixed bag. The origina...

Canada has bent over backwards to meet Trump's demands—on defence spending, border security, taxation, and foreign policy—yet the tariffs keep coming.

If free trade means surrendering sovereignty with no return, maybe it's time to walk away.

Forget free trade When compared to price that Canada is already being asked to pay, the cost of walking away from a trade agreement with the US is not so high. Free trade with the US was always a mixed bag. The origina...

My latest for Canadian Dimension: why we should give up on free trade with the US if it's going to mean selling out our political independence.

canadiandimension.com/articles/vie...

Rebuilding Canadian post-secondary education Canada could be an educational superpower. Taking advantage of the brain-drain from the US, we could recruit the best and brightest to fill our labs, faculty lounges, and classrooms. By leading the wo...

NEW: While Ottawa considers spending 5% of GDP on defence, it should ask itself why we spend only 0.2% of GDP on our universities.

This isn’t just budget math, it’s a statement of values and priorities, writes @ericrwilkinson.bsky.social.

Rebuilding Canadian post-secondary education Canada could be an educational superpower. Taking advantage of the brain-drain from the US, we could recruit the best and brightest to fill our labs, faculty lounges, and classrooms. By leading the wo...

My latest for Canadian Dimension on how Canada could rebuild its colleges and universities. canadiandimension.com/articles/vie...

Canada Day: How Canadian nationalism is evolving with the times — and will continue to do so Canada has proven more resilient than even some of its founders might have anticipated, but not for lack of effort. There will always remain the work of building a better nation.

Happy Canada Day! Here's something I wrote for The Conversation about the evolution of Canada's national identity. theconversation.com/canada-day-h...