A Further Inquiry

"By reframing his classical flaws as modern trauma, depression and guilt, the film significantly alters the very fabric of Homer’s epic. Rather than showcasing a king who actively shapes his fate through pride, curiosity and shrewdness, the film reduces his decisions and the ten-year delay to the effects of hysterical neurosis and regrets associated with the fall of Troy. The epic fall of Troy is not seen as a glorious victory anymore in the movie. This has been turned into a tragedy."
By Khadija Khan

For the full article, click the link in bio

WHO GOVERNS CANADA?

Canada's constitutional order is changing before our eyes.

But perhaps the more important question is one we rarely ask: Who actually governs Canada?

Parliament? The provinces? The courts? Or have we gradually transferred so much authority to unelected institutions that we no longer recognize the democracy we inherited?

In this four-part A Further Inquiry series, I examine Canada's constitutional architecture, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Section 33, the rise of judicial power, the responsibilities of elected governments, and the fragile federal bargain that holds Confederation together.

This is not an argument against rights, or against the courts.

It is an argument for democratic accountability.

What happens when elected governments increasingly defer difficult political questions to judges? What happens when courts become the arbiters of questions that Parliament is unwilling to confront? And what happens when the constitutional balance between Ottawa, the provinces, and the judiciary begins to shift?

From Pierre Trudeau and the Charter to Peter Lougheed, Brian Peckford, the Gang of Eight, and the constitutional democratic compromise of 1982, this series asks a question that may define Canada's political future:

Who governs Canada?

And perhaps the more uncomfortable question:

Who should?

Part I–IV | Who Governs Canada? | A Further Inquiry

https://afurtherinquiry.substack.com/p/afi-roundabout-wildfires-afghanistan

Khadija Khan is a British-Pakistani journalist, broadcaster, editor, and commentator based in the United Kingdom. She edits A Further Inquiry and co-hosts its podcast, examining human rights, women’s rights, minority protections, extremism, Islamism, secularism, and freedom of expression. Through journalism, debate, and public commentary, Khan challenges religious and political orthodoxies, defends dissent, and argues that open criticism of ideas is essential to resisting extremism and safeguarding universal rights and civic equality in plural democratic societies.

In this AFI Roundabout discussion, Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Khadija Khan examine wildfires in France and Spain, Afghanistan-Pakistan violence, allegations against ICC prosecutor Karim Khan, and diplomatic tensions between France and the United States. They also discuss child marriage in Afghanistan, the treatment of girls as property, media framing, male responsibility within coercive systems, and the need to defend women’s rights without turning sympathy for hardship into excuses for abuse or exploitation under Taliban rule.

AFI Roundabout: Wildfires, Afghanistan, the ICC, and Women’s Rights How do Khadija Khan and Scott Douglas Jacobsen examine wildfires, Afghanistan, ICC accountability, media framing, and women’s rights under coercive systems?

Mathew Giagnorio is a Canadian writer, commentator, and co-ost and founder of A Further Inquiry. His work examines Canadian history, civic identity, political culture, patriotism, and the relationship between inherited symbols and contemporary public life. Giagnorio approaches national questions through historical reflection, philosophical discussion, and cultural analysis. He is particularly interested in how Canada’s regional traditions, linguistic communities, political disagreements, and shared institutions contribute to an evolving civic identity grounded in participation, pluralism, memory, and responsibility.

In this interview, Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Mathew Giagnorio examine nineteenth-century Canadian sovereignty, frontier law, and civic identity. They discuss Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie’s contested judicial legacy, including rulings involving Chinese and Indigenous residents, and the creation of the North-West Mounted Police under Sir John A. Macdonald. The conversation also considers the March West, cooperation with Crowfoot, American incursions, the Fenian raids, and Canada’s development through regional, linguistic, Indigenous, and institutional pluralism, memory, and responsibility.

Our History Today: Canadian Sovereignty, Judge Matthew Begbie, and the North-West Mounted Police How did Judge Matthew Begbie and the North-West Mounted Police shape Canadian sovereignty, law, and civic identity?

Irina Tsukerman is a human rights and national security attorney based in New York and Connecticut. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in National and Intercultural Studies and Middle East Studies from Fordham University in 2006, followed by a Juris Doctor from Fordham University School of Law in 2009. She operates a boutique national security law practice. She serves as President of Scarab Rising, Inc., a media and security strategic advisory firm. Additionally, she is the Editor-in-Chief of The Washington Outsider, which focuses on foreign policy, geopolitics, security, and human rights. She is actively involved in several professional organizations, including the American Bar Association’s Energy, Environment, and Science and Technology Sections, where she serves as Program Vice Chair in the Oil and Gas Committee. She is also a member of the New York City Bar Association. She serves on the Middle East and North Africa Affairs Committee and affiliates with the Foreign and Comparative Law Committee. Interview conducted July 11rd, 2026.

In this interview, Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Irina Tsukerman discuss proposed social media restrictions for users under 16, their enforceability, and the risks of shielding young people rather than preparing them for online harms. They also examine Meta’s planned Alberta AI data centre, energy demands, foreign influence claims, domestic opposition, environmental costs, employment benefits, and the need for transparent public consultation, measurable definitions of success, and meaningful community support before large technological projects proceed.

Maple Monitor 46: Social Media Restrictions and Alberta’s AI Data Centre Debate How do youth social media restrictions and Alberta’s proposed AI data centre raise questions about public safety, energy policy, innovation, and community consent?

The intro episode to the new AFI series, Our History, Today 🇨🇦

Khadija Khan is a Pakistani journalist, broadcaster, and commentator based in the United Kingdom. She is an editor at A Further Inquiry and co-host of its podcast, writing on human rights, women’s rights, minorities, extremism, Islamism, secularism, and free expression. Khan argues that open criticism of religious and political ideas is essential to counter extremist narratives, defend dissent, and protect universal rights in plural democratic societies through journalism, debate, and public commentary.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Khadija Khan discuss four news stories for AFI Roundabout: Russia’s intensifying drone and ballistic-missile attacks on Kyiv; the counterterrorism investigation into Ann Widdecombe’s killing; Britain’s designation of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps under new state-threat powers; and allegations that Hamas obstructed United Nations humanitarian aid in Gaza. They examine civilian protection, political violence, foreign interference, media narratives, humanitarian law, and the responsibilities of governments, armed groups, journalists, and international institutions worldwide.

https://open.substack.com/pub/afurtherinquiry/p/afi-roundabout-kyiv-widdecombe-irgc

AFI Roundabout: Kyiv, Widdecombe, IRGC and Gaza Aid How do the Kyiv attacks, Ann Widdecombe murder, IRGC designation, and Gaza aid obstruction expose failures in security and accountability?

"The true Constitution of a country is not merely what is written in law, but what its institutions and its people believe their responsibilities to be.
Canadians speak often about rights. We speak far less about responsibility."
By Mathew Giagnorio

The Constitution Parliament Forgot Part I of Who Governs Canada?

Khadija Khan is a British-Pakistani journalist, broadcaster, and commentator based in the United Kingdom. She is an editor at A Further Inquiry and co-host of its podcast. Khan writes on human rights, especially women’s rights, minorities, extremism, Islamism, secularism, and free expression. A secular humanist, she argues for freedom to challenge religious and political ideas, criticises blasphemy laws, and has contributed to The Freethinker, spiked, Don’t Divide Us, and other outlets in Britain and internationally.

Aisha Ali-Khan is a UK-based teacher, campaigner, activist, and writer focused on human rights and women’s rights. A former co-organiser of Women’s March London, she has spoken publicly on equality, safeguarding, education, and civil rights. Her public profiles describe her as a special-needs teacher and trustee of Basmeh & Zeitooneh. She has appeared in media discussions on British politics, schools, and public policy, bringing activist and classroom perspectives to national debates and contemporary community issues.

Khadija Khan, Aisha Ali-Khan, and Scott Douglas Jacobsen discuss misinformation, ethnonationalism, safeguarding failures, and democratic instability in the UK. Khan frames the debate through secular human rights and free expression; Ali-Khan emphasizes classroom critical thinking, integration, racism, and child protection; Jacobsen compares Britain’s information disorder with Canadian and Ukrainian contexts, stressing journalism, evidence, and courage against propaganda. Together, they examine identity, justice, political trust, and the civic duty to confront falsehoods without abandoning liberal principles.

AFI Podcast: Misinformation, Safeguarding, and UK Democracy How do Khadija Khan, Aisha Ali-Khan, and Scott Douglas Jacobsen examine misinformation, safeguarding failures, ethnonationalism, and democratic trust in the UK?

"That idea was shaped by French explores under the leadership of Samuel de Champlain, who envisioned permanent communities rather than mere trading posts; by British constitutional traditions that gave us parliamentary government and the rule of law; by a mutual intelligibility between British common law and Indigenous legal tradition grounded in precedent and practice; by generations of immigrants who chose not merely to live here, but to become Canadian."
By Mathew Giagnorio

The Maple Leaf Forever On Dominion Day and the Canadian Inheritance