Niigaan Sinclair is one of the most creative, provocative and dynamic thinkers of his generation. As a journalist, academic and son of the late lawyer, jurist, Senator and chair of the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Murray Sinclair, he has spent his life and career thinking about the relationship between Indigenous peoples and the Canadian state.

In his 2024 Governor General Award-winning book of non-fiction, Winipek: Visions of Canada from An Indigenous Centre, Niigaan Sinclair outlines new transformative possibilities for healthier and more productive relations between Indigenous people and Canadians. He imagines a new politics, proposes a collective immersion in Indigenous histories and philosophies, and a return to Indigenous practices in order to inform our collective way forward.

Niigaan Sinclair is a professor at the University of Manitoba where he holds the Faculty of Arts professorship in Indigenous Knowledge and Aesthetics in the Department of Indigenous Studies. He is also an award-winning columnist for the Winnipeg Free Press.

Bob Plamondon is an acclaimed writer and Canadian historian who thinks for too long John Diefenbaker has been unfairly maligned by his critics and hasn’t been given his due.

He’s the author of six books. including Blue Thunder: The Truth About Conservatives from Macdonald to Harper & The Shawinigan Fox: How Jean Chretien Defeated the Elites and Reshaped Canada.

His latest book is called Freedom Fighter: John Diefenbaker’s Battle for Canadian Liberties and Independence.

Diefenbaker was a political maverick- a prairie populist who rose from humble beginnings to become Canada’s 13th Prime Minister.

He was a complex and at times polarizing figure who throughout his 39 years as a Member of Parliament, remained a political outsider, even within the Conservative Party he led.

Diefenbaker’s strong personality alienated some of his fellow MPs in the Tory caucus who regarded him as a lone wolf – brusque, domineering and untrusting.

But Dief the Chief’s charisma captivated ordinary Canadians who were inspired by his commitment to their health and welfare, his oratorical flair, and his common touch. They saw John Diefenbaker as a “Man of the People.”

John George Diefenbaker was born in 1895 in Neustadt, Ontario. In the southwestern region of the province. He was the grandson of German and Scottish immigrants.

When he was 8 years old, he and his family moved West where he grew up poor in the fledgling province of Saskatchewan.

John Diefenbaker served as a lieutenant in the First World War.

After graduating from the University of Saskatchewan in 1919, he became a small-town lawyer who reveled in fighting for the marginalized, downtrodden and dispossessed. He was a self-described “sworn enemy of discrimination and injustice.”

As a young man, Diefenbaker brimmed with political ambition. It took him some years to find his footing, but once he finally won an election, he never lost his riding again.

In the mid-1950s, Diefenbaker took over a fractious and moribund Conservative Party, refashioned it in his image, and transformed it into a political juggernaut, winning three consecutive federal elections, one of them in a historic landslide.

John Diefenbaker provoked strong emotions.

His critics accused him of being an erratic, reckless and ill-disciplined leader. They blamed him for what they regarded as a series of foreign policy blunders, including mishandling Canada’s critical relationship with the United States. They attacked him for canceling a Canadian aviation marvel - the Avro Arrow.

His supporters though hailed him as a principled visionary, praising him for giving Indigenous peoples the vote, championing the Bill of Rights -a precursor to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, instituting a more inclusive immigration policy, and boldly opposing South Africa’s readmission to the Commonwealth due to its failure to renounce its White Supremacist system of Racial Apartheid.

John Diefenbaker was a man of contradictions.

He could be petty, vindictive, unforgiving and even cruel.

But also, warm, witty, generous and magnanimous.

At this fraught moment, in which Canada is facing existential threats to its economy and political sovereignty from the sitting president of the United States, Donald Trump, John Diefenbaker provides a historical example of an idealistic, impassioned political leader who was a fierce, unrepentant Canadian nationalist, and refused to capitulate or bend the knee to American hegemony.

The Far Right is having a moment. Some might even say it’s on the march. Seven EU member states including Croatia, the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands and Slovakia – now have far-right parties within government. The Far Right’s footprint seems to be spreading around the world.

In the summer of 2024, the far right had strong showings in the European parliament elections. Following the federal election in Germany in February 2025 the populist, Eurosceptic, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany Party or AFD is now the second largest party in the German parliament.

In early June 2025 Poland’s nationalist conservative presidential candidate Karol Nawrocki, described by commentators as being part of the radical right, surprised many by pulling off a narrow election victory.

According to the authors of the book “The Great Right North,” Far Right activism is also on the rise in Canada. They point to the growth of Far-right groups like “La Meute” and “Pegida Canada” that, they claim, have attracted tens of thousands of followers across the country. Joining me now to discuss the state of the Far right and White nationalist groupings in Canada is Evan Balgord. He’s the executive director of the Canadian Anti-hate Network.