Spying on clinics: Back in 1972, I wrote a brief history of the Saskatoon Community Clinic’s first ten years. It was born during a tense doctors’ strike when Medicare was introduced in Saskatchewan. I have now found some information previously unknown to the public. I write in the clinic’s Fall 2002 newsletter about how in 1962 the RCMP had the clinic’s founders under surveillance. This is a pdf. You may have to scroll down for the article.
In Memoriam: We lost our younger brother Jackie Gruending at age 57 to the ravages of multiple sclerosis in August 2021. My sister Charlene Dobmeier and I have produced a monograph memorial booklet released through her publishing company Kingsley. This is our way of saying a loving farewell to our younger brother while cherishing his memory.
Medicare was born amid controversy in Saskatchewan in July 1962, when most of the province’s doctors went on strike rather than cooperate with a new government plan. On Medicare’s 60th anniversary, I published two articles about the dispute and provided an interview to CBC Radio. Among other things, it emerges that the RCMP thought that it was all a communist plot and so it spied upon Medicare’s proponents.
The doctors’ strike had a lasting impression upon me. I write about that for Broadview magazine.
In its opinion section on July 2, 2022 the Globe and Mail carried my article about RCMP surveillance of Medicare and its founders. This piece is based upon material which I obtained under an Access to Information request regarding the RCMP Security Service.
CBC Radio in Saskatchewan was interested in the story about RCMP spying upon the advocates of Medicare. Shauna Powers, host of Saskatchewan Weekend talked to me for 12+ minutes.
COVID-19 diary: I went back and compared national and international events regarding the emerging pandemic with my personal calendar, in an attempt to understand why I was slow to realize what was happening. Here is the piece which appeared in my local community paper in Ottawa, Ontario.
Archiving My Literary Papers: A How-To article in Write, publication of The Writers’ Union of Canada in early 2020. Find the article by scrolling to page 16 in the pdf.
Politics, Part I: In 2013, Victor Enns, editor of the (now defunct) magazine Rhubarb interviewed Dennis about the time that he had spent in federal politics. Victor asked Dennis why he ran for office and how he would describe the experience of serving as an MP. Here is an edited version of part one of that conversation.
Politics, Part II: You can read here part two of an interview with Dennis by Victor Enns of Rhubarb magazine about a life in politics. Victor asked Dennis in detail about the experience of being a Member of Parliament. Here is an edited version of that conversation.
I wrote an article for the Mennonite Creation Care Network (in the US and Canada) about what the 2019 federal election might mean regarding policy on climate change. You can read the piece here.
I was interviewed about my book Speeches That Changed Canada. The piece was published by the Canadian Association of Former Parliamentarians in their magazine called Beyond the Hill. You can read the interview here.
Some forms of populism are democratic and inclusive. Others are authoritarian, spreading hate and scapegoating the vulnerable. I gave this speech about Reframing Populism.
Read my review of the 2018 book Journeys to Justice: Reflections on Canadian Christian Activism.
Dennis’ farewell to the Prairie Messenger, a paper published by the Benedictine monks at the St. Peter’s monastery in rural Saskatchewan, but which has ceased publication. Dennis had written for the publication for decades.
Read my post on Rabble.ca about Rev. Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech delivered a few years before his assassination in 1968.
Read an article by Dennis in Christian Courier on Saskatchewan author Trevor Herriot and his new book, Towards a Prairie Atonement.
Read my article in Policy Options magazine about the political rhetoric employed by Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump in the U.S. election campaign.
Read my review in the Canadian Parliamentary Review of Professor David McGrane’s book, Remaining Loyal: Social Democracy in Quebec and Saskatchewan
The Hill Times: 2015 Canadian Election, a guide for rookie MPs. In this piece, I talk about my special relationship across the isle with the late Liberal cabinet minister Charles Caccia.
Prairie fiction: This piece is thinly-disguised fiction about a school Christmas concert that occurred in my prairie village when I was a child. The story was carried some years ago by CBC Radio and was also published in the Ottawa Citizen newspaper: THE CHRISTMAS CONCERT
Dennis Gruending 