Canada: Political

Canada's Shame: Generations of Children Kidnapped and Brutalized In The Name of "Civilization" and "Christianity"

Yesterday was truly a great day for Canada. After years and years of waffling and procrastination, the federal government finally did what everyone knew had to be done: The Prime Minister, on the floor of the House of Commons, apologized to the Native People of Canada for the horrific and racist residential school system that this country ran for more than a century, a system that destroyed tens of thousands of lives. It's the single most shameful chapter in this country's recent history and an official apology simply had to be made. So, it's certainly not very often that you'll find me heaping praise on Stephen Harper, but today he most definitely deserves it.

I was just listening to a great 30-minute interview with Avi Lewis on CBC radio a little earlier and it reminded me of just what we've been missing with him no longer on Canadian TV, with him no longer entertaining and informing us with his progressive ideas, provocative interviews and passionate insistence on justice. It also reminded me of the letter I sent to the CBC last month:

Yesterday was a great day for all those of us who truly value freedom and strongly believe in the right to self-determination. The people of Kosovo are finally free. And they definitely deserve their independence and their freedom from Serb domination and oppression. Simply put, they wanted their own country and, therefore, they deserve their own country.

And, hey, you know it's a rare day indeed when I applaud a decision by George W. Bush, but, after his quick recognition of Kosovo as an independent nation yesterday, he simply must be praised... even by the likes of me. And, no, I'm not being sarcastic here.

Hey all you fellow Canadians out there, as Bob Dylan once asked, how does it feel? How does it feel to have a government that is such a disgraceful embarrassment on the international stage? I mean, when your country's only real ally on a major issue is George W. Bush's America you've really got to stop and ask yourself just what the hell went wrong? And the answer, obviously, starts with the election of this Stephen Harper-led right-wing Bush-a-like government of ours two years ago. The only question now seems to be, just how far down do these jokers plan to drag us?

The American gulag in Guantanamo Bay has one - just one - remaining Western captive still being held by the U.S. government. His name is Omar Khadr. And he's Canadian. Every other Western government did all it could and eventually won the release of every single one of its citizens held in that Kafkaesque joke of a camp. But not our government. No, the Canadian government has abandoned this guy. And the worst thing is he was already abandoned back when he was just a 15 year old kid. That's how old he was when the American's locked him up and started their mental and physical torture regiment on him. Torturing kids? Yup, that's how fucked up the American government has become. Abandoning Canadian kids in foreign gulags? You bet, that's exactly how fucked up the Canadian government has become.

In case you may have missed it, Canada, as the policy now stands, would turn back at the border Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Rosa Parks, everyone ever jailed in the gulags of Stalin or Kim Jong Mentally-il, and anyone else who has ever stood up to unjust laws and regimes. It seems we just don't want their kind around here. Way to go Canada, way to make me proud to be Canadian.

It's a great day. The Black Hole of Arrogance, also known as Conrad Black or, as his pompous self would most definitely prefer, Lord Black, is going away to jail.

It is a feeble country indeed that attaches itself so passionately to a zed. What the hell am I talking about? Well, last summer my friend Ken hooked me up with an Alphabet website that his daughter Mhari was totally into. And ever since then we've been checking out a few A, B and Cs here at our place just about every single day. Kaishan loves it and he especially loves to sing "The ABC Song", almost as much as he loves singing "The Birthday Song" and Todd Snider's "Age Like Wine". Well, whenever he sings it with a certain type of person around you should hear the almost-deafening roar that ensues once he gets to "zee". "Zee is not Canadian!" the loud protests echo throughout our new house, as Kaishan looks around confused while making a valliant attempt to finish the song with the "Now I know my ABCs..." coda.

"Zee is not Canadian", the indignant and proud Canadians proclaim again and again.

As every Canadian should already have heard by now, we are, per capita, the worst contributors to greenhouse gas pollution and, thus, global warming in the world. But this isn't the only thing that has distinguished us, or at least our government, as pathetic in recent times. No, when it comes to the environment, we're truly world leaders and, as of late, world famous for our resource-gobblin', nature-destroyin', bottom-trawlin' and overall-environment-thrashin' ways.

I hope you all checked out Avi Lewis' show again last night ("The Big Picture with Avi Lewis: Part 3 - Can We Save Planet Earth?"). Debating how to deal with global warming may not have stirred up quite as passionate of a debate as the shows from the past two weeks on torture and religion did; but, really, it's the much bigger - and much more important - topic by far.