This Week's Round-Up: June 15, 2026

• Canada and the US are drifting apart

• This week: Education in crisis

• I love soccer. I hate FIFA

• The PR hoax and the band

• Bring back the publishing gatekeepers

Why Alberta Separatists Can’t Stop Talking about Immigration

Support for sovereignty is limited, but it’s tapping into old biases

BY ALOA ALOTA

Concerns about immigration’s impact on housing affordability, infrastructure, and public services have increasingly shaped political debates over rapid population growth. Critics of Alberta’s referendum argue that some of the rhetoric risks reinforcing perceptions that immigrants and temporary residents are contributing to those pressures.

Such political narratives can have broader social consequences by shaping perceptions of legitimacy and belonging, particularly for refugees, temporary residents, and racialized communities. Some newcomers increasingly experience belonging as conditional—tied to whether they are viewed as economically useful, culturally compatible, or politically acceptable.

At The Walrus Talks at Home: Education in Crisis, speakers will share powerful stories and practical insights on what it takes to help displaced children access education. From teachers working outside traditional classrooms to local educators drawing on community history and customs, they’ll examine what it takes to support children in building a foundation for their future.

This week on What Happened Next, host Nathan Whitlock is joined by Alex Manley, whose most recent book is Post-Man: Essays on Being a Neurodivergent Non-Binary Person. Alex and Nathan talk about the realities of a writing career that publishing Post-Man brought home for them, about whether any progress is being made in some of the traditionally straight male spaces they write about, and about their next book project, a novel.

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