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Eric Wilkinson

@ericrwilkinson.bsky.social
16 followers 18 following 26 posts

Postdoctoral Research Fellow at UBC. Mostly posting about philosophy and Canadian politics.

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Eric Wilkinson @ericrwilkinson.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
Pleased to announce "Envisioning Canada," a special issue of the journal Dialogue, edited by myself and Elizabeth Trott. A great bilingual collection on subjects like patriotism, borders, apology, language, and the history of Canadian philosophy. #philosophy #cdnpoli #ethics #history #Canada
cambridge.org
Latest issue | Dialogue: Canadian Philosophical Review / Revue canadienne de philosophie | Cambridge Core
Dialogue: Canadian Philosophical Review / Revue canadienne de philosophie
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Eric Wilkinson @ericrwilkinson.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
My latest for Canadian Affairs on the challenges facing Avi Lewis now that he's secured the #NDP leadership. #cdnpoli #canada #politics www.canadianaffairs.news/2026/03/30/t...
canadianaffairs.news
Op-Ed: The NDP's uncertain path forward under Avi Lewis
New NDP leader Avi Lewis has promise, but some of his positions and plans should worry party supporters
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Eric Wilkinson @ericrwilkinson.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
Something I wrote for The Campus Resident about the unafforability of living at UBC for post-docs. #UBC #university #Vancouver #BCpoli
thecampusresident.ca
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...
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Eric Wilkinson @ericrwilkinson.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
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
wilkinsone.substack.com
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.
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Eric Wilkinson @ericrwilkinson.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
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/...
cbc.ca
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.
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Canadian Dimension @canadiandimension.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
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.
canadiandimension.com
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...
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Eric Wilkinson @ericrwilkinson.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
My latest for @canadiandimension.bsky.social on how Alberta's pointless book ban took a page from the Republican playbook. #cdnpoli #canada #alberta
canadiandimension.com
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...
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Eric Wilkinson @ericrwilkinson.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
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
canadiandimension.com
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...
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Eric Wilkinson @ericrwilkinson.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
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
cbc.ca
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.
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Eric Wilkinson @ericrwilkinson.bsky.social · 29/11/2025
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
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Eric Wilkinson @ericrwilkinson.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
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
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Eric Wilkinson @ericrwilkinson.bsky.social · 27/11/2025
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
cbc.ca
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.
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Eric Wilkinson @ericrwilkinson.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
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
apablog.substack.com
The Threat of Legitimizing the AI Narrative
In June 2024, the Canadian Philosophical Association (CPA) held its annual conference in Montreal.
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Eric Wilkinson @ericrwilkinson.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
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
cbc.ca
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.
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markcritch.bsky.social @markcritch.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
My new book launches today!
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Reposted by Eric Wilkinson
John Clarke @johncke.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
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...
canadiandimension.com
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...
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Eric Wilkinson @ericrwilkinson.bsky.social · 15/11/2025
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
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Eric Wilkinson @ericrwilkinson.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
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...
briarpatchmagazine.com
Building rural unions
Reductions in unionized jobs and the specific nature of rural life require new methods of organizing.
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Eric Wilkinson @ericrwilkinson.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
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
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Eric Wilkinson @ericrwilkinson.bsky.social · 10/11/2025
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...
firstgenphilosophers.com
Staying Grounded — First-Gen Philosophers
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Eric Wilkinson @ericrwilkinson.bsky.social · 10/11/2025
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...
canadiandimension.com
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...
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Briarpatch Magazine @briarpatchmag.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
📢 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
briarpatchmagazine.com
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.
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Canadian Dimension @canadiandimension.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
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.
canadiandimension.com
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...
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#first-genphilosophers @firstgenphilos.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
NEW POST! "Staying Grounded" By @ericrwilkinson.bsky.social firstgenphilosophers.squarespace.com/contribution...
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Eric Wilkinson @ericrwilkinson.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
My latest for Peace Magazine: the debate in Armenia over how to move forward and pursue peace. www.peacemagazine.org/archive/?id=...
peacemagazine.org
Peace Magazine: Armenia on a Precipice
Peace Magazine publishes a range of articles on peace issues -- technically accurate, yet intelligible to any reader with a general education and some interest in international affairs and global secu...
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Eric Wilkinson @ericrwilkinson.bsky.social · 18/08/2025
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/...
cbc.ca
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...
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Eric Wilkinson @ericrwilkinson.bsky.social · 17/08/2025
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...
canadiandimension.com
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...
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Canadian Dimension @canadiandimension.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
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.
canadiandimension.com
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...
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Eric Wilkinson @ericrwilkinson.bsky.social · 06/08/2025
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...
canadiandimension.com
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...
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Reposted by Eric Wilkinson
Canadian Dimension @canadiandimension.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
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.
canadiandimension.com
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...
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Eric Wilkinson @ericrwilkinson.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
My latest for Canadian Dimension on how Canada could rebuild its colleges and universities. canadiandimension.com/articles/vie...
canadiandimension.com
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...
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Eric Wilkinson @ericrwilkinson.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
Happy Canada Day! Here's something I wrote for The Conversation about the evolution of Canada's national identity. theconversation.com/canada-day-h...
theconversation.com
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.
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Eric Wilkinson @ericrwilkinson.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
Had a great time in Yerevan (Armenia) at the National Identity in a Time of Crisis, hosted by the Center for Ethics in Public Affairs at AUA!
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Eric Wilkinson @ericrwilkinson.bsky.social · 19/06/2025
My latest for Canadian Dimension: how Canada could protect its economic sovereignty with a new industrial policy. canadiandimension.com/articles/vie...
canadiandimension.com
Shoring up Canada’s economic sovereignty
To hear a Liberal prime minister speak so sceptically about free trade would have been unthinkable just months ago, but Donald Trump’s trade war is an occasion for assessing what kind of industrial po...
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