They’ve known each other for almost 60 years and both have reached the pinnacle of their respective fields.
asserted
both → know → fields
Rosalie Silberman Abella was born in a refugee camp in post-World War II Germany and became a justice on the Supreme Court of Canada.
asserted
Abella → bear → Canada
She retired from the court five years ago and now teaches law at Harvard.
asserted
She → retire → Harvard
Bob Rae jokes about being “born in a log embassy,” given that his father Saul was Canada’s ambassador to Washington and the United Nations, the same job in which his son just completed a term.
asserted
son → joke → term
Last month, Abella was awarded the Symons Medal for exceptional service to Canada.
asserted
Abella → award → Canada
Rae was similarly honoured in 2020.
asserted
Rae → honour → 2020
We three discussed some of the themes in Rae’s new book ”Reclaiming Canadian Sovereignty in a Ruptured World” on stage at the Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.
asserted
We → discuss → Charlottetown
I think this audience really wants to hear, in terms of judicial, diplomatic and political issues, what’s going on right now with our formerly close allies.
asserted
what → think → allies
What are you seeing?
asserted
you → see → What
I call it the world turned upside down.
asserted
I → call → it
We saw it as Canadians when the United States voted against Ukraine and voted with Russia, and with Belarus, and with North Korea in the United Nations.
asserted
States → see → Nations
There was a particular day when that’s what happened.
asserted
what → be → ?
And I can remember watching the votes go up on the screen and saying to my team — we were there, we were all watching — I said, “Just mark this down, take a picture of the screen, and show it to your kids in 20 years’ time, and you’ll be able to tell them, this is the day the world turned upside down.”
asserted
world → remember → them
The rupture has happened.
asserted
rupture → happen → ?
It’s not imagined, and it’s not just something that will come back quickly with the election of a different party or a different president.
asserted
that → imagine → party
It’s gone too deep for that.
asserted
It → go → that
And it not only impacts on us as Canadians, but it also has a tremendous impact on the whole global community.
asserted
it → impact → community
How the things that we’ve worked for, for a very, very long time are not just in danger, but are actually being destroyed.
asserted
we → work → danger
And this puts a particular burden on Canada, because we are the closest neighbour with the closest economic relationship of any other country in the world.
asserted
we → put → world
It’s one thing to have a bad neighbour.
asserted
It → ’ → neighbour
It’s another thing to have an arsonist living next door.
asserted
arsonist → ’ → ?
And that’s what we’re facing.
asserted
we → ’ → what
Justice Abella, wouldn’t you love to unburden yourself now, and tell us what you really think about what’s going on down south and how it’s affecting us?
asserted
it → love → us
Can’t you guess?
asserted
you → guess → ?
And here’s what’s heartbreaking.
asserted
what → ’ → ?
My entire life, I felt almost everyone I knew was living the same dream I was living.
asserted
I → feel → dream
It was all about how lucky we were to have come through the Second World War.
asserted
we → come → War
It’s still primal to me.
asserted
It → ’ → me
There was a universal commitment never to let it happen again to anyone.
asserted
it → be → anyone
We had the United Nations.
asserted
We → have → Nations
We had the institutions and the laws to confirm the agreement we made after the war to protect people’s rights.
asserted
we → have → rights
Now, outside of Canada, it’s not clear to me that I’m speaking the same language as half of the country to the south of us, and a growing part of Europe, where people are saying, “What makes you think rights are so important?
asserted
rights → ’ → Europe
Suddenly, protecting people from racism is now considered racist to white, able bodied, Christian men.
asserted
protecting → protect → men
We’re back where we started in 1950.
asserted
we → ’re → 1950
Now, it’s not even possible to have conversations with many people in the United States and some other places, because their world view is not just different.
asserted
view → ’ → States
They think we’re so wrong in what we believe in, that we don’t even have the right to have a platform.
asserted
we → think → platform
And they’re angry.
asserted
they → ’re → ?
And because we let it go, I call it the Chamberlain phenomenon.
asserted
I → let → it
But appeasement never works.
asserted
appeasement → work → ?
Accommodation can, but appeasing the wrong side can’t.
asserted
appeasing → appease → side
…and 52 more, not listed.
The Aporia
