The Liberal government insists its new online streaming law, Bill C-11, is simply an effort to make big international digital players – the likes of Amazon, TikTok and Spotify – contribute to Canadian culture. It is not an attempt to control or censor the internet. So why does it make virtually all audio and visual content online subject to federal regulation? Fin DePencier exposes the doublespeak within and surrounding the legislation (currently before the Senate) and the grave threat it poses to freedom of expression in Canada, and details the damage it could do to the new generation of online creators who have prospered without the heavy hand of government interference.

Outside of the people who’ve lived it, no one can ever know the true nature of war, or the reasons why some men willingly put their lives on the line for a cause bigger than themselves. One who does is Wali, a retired Canadian Armed Forces sniper who volunteered to fight for Ukraine almost as soon as the Russian invasion began. In an interview with C2C Journal’s Fin DePencier from central Ukraine just before he returned home from the front, Wali offers a veteran’s take on the challenges faced by Ukraine and its International Legion of volunteers, his own horrific experiences on the battlefield and the surprising historical precedents that may shape the outcome of the 21st century’s most dangerous conflict.

Say you grew up in one country with your immediate family, where you were educated and are now enjoying a promising career. And then another country, the country of your ancestors, a poor and vulnerable place in a tough geopolitical neighbourhood, falls into dire straits. Beset from nearly all sides, its very existence threatened, it could really use help from anyone with skills, experience and energy. And your skills are indeed military. Unfortunately, the country of which you are a citizen isn’t especially fond of the country of your forebears. In fact, it’s quietly backing the other side. What would you do? Fin DePencier reports from Armenia on the moral dilemma of a Canadian citizen who answered the call of his ancestral homeland.

The “Great Game” was a series of military and political manoeuvres and confrontations during the 19th and 20th centuries between Imperial Britain and Tsarist Russia over control of central Eurasia. Today that game continues, but with regional power Turkey having replaced Britain. A bloody war late last year between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the ancient battleground of Nagorno-Karabakh represents the latest episode of this ongoing powerplay. Arriving just weeks after the fighting ended, Fin dePencier offers an eyewitness account of the war’s chaotic aftermath, its terrible human cost and the role played by Canadian volunteers in helping Armenia recover from its devastating loss.

Canada’s diplomatic, corporate and legal establishments have worked to deepen ties with China for nearly 50 years, greatly abetting the Communist state’s historic drive for international normalization. Any pushback against such a policy of ingratiation has been fragmented, weak and usually portrayed as naïve or futile. Now this half-century of appeasement has come to a head in the most surprising way. Fin dePencier examines the legal affair of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou, its profound impact on Canada-China and Canada-U.S. relations, the shifting tide of public opinion and our prime minister’s often-sorry role in the ongoing drama.