Americans ask "Why do they hate us?"... Why do you think?!

As the saying goes, one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. In 2001, after the 9/11 attacks happened, it seemed that a lot of people were confused. "Why do they hate us?" and "Why would someone do this?" seemed natural questions to ask in the wake of a tragedy. But of course, the Bush administration fed Americans the same BS that we hear all the time: "They hate our way of life. They want to take away our freedom". In the aftermath of the recent tragedy in Boston, we've heard these same statements all over the media and from government officials.

Can we just think about this for a second... How is "they hate our freedom/way of life" an acceptable or rational answer? Who are "they"? What do they hate about our way of life? What kind of freedoms are we really talking about here? Ok, let's just say "they"are scary foreigners who practice a religion that is not the dominant one in our culture. "They" are young men, armed and dangerous, ready to die for what they believe in, no matter how insane their beliefs maybe. Now, let's use our imaginations for a minute. Picture you are living in Kabul or Baghdad. Foreign soldiers invade your city, and soon death and destruction is everywhere. The soldiers claim to have a noble (or even religious) motive for the violence, but either way your loved ones are maimed or killed in the crossfire. You would probably not have very many nice things to say about those soldiers, would you? You might even feel the need for justice (i.e. revenge) so that the bastards that killed your family or friends wouldn't go unpunished. Now, does this scenario sound familiar? This is probably how some Americans are feeling right now.

Now I'm not saying that the Boston attacks are exactly the same as the US invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. Both US soldiers and Al Queda extremists are ready to die for their causes. In the case of the US, the "cause" (fighting for our freedom) is so ambiguous, politically manipulated and purposefuly deceiving that sadly many don't even understand it themselves.

The CBC posted an article today about the interrogation of the surviving Boston bomber. According to officials, Dzhokhar told the FBI that they were angry about the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the killing of Muslims there.

In this time of absolute sorrow and despair, it is seriously messed up to think the best way to prevent future terror attacks is to have an "eye for an eye" attitude. Or to treat the accused as an "enemy combatant", virtually stripping him of all human rights. If Americans are so worried about preserving their freedom, then I think they need to step up and lead by example. If Americans can uphold basic international laws such as the Geneva Conventions, and stop killing innocent civilians by drone-malfunctions and pointless occupations of far away places, maybe the international community will actually respect Americans and their foreign policy. If you ask me, it is constant US invasions (for oil or whatever be the excuse the next time) that are breeding terrorists. As westerners, we need to swollow our pride and be the bigger person sometimes. This is the perfect time to show how civilized us westerners really are.

Finally an update on the Robocall Scandal!

Leave it to Maude Barlow to stick to her guns when most other Canadians have stopped paying attention. The Council of Canadians, the organization that Maude Barlow chairs, is refusing to let the federal government sweep the robocalls scandal under the rug. The Council of Canadians is backing 9 Canadian voters who are challenging 7 conservative MPs for their involvement in the scandal. However, lawyers for these 7 MPs have said asked the challengers to put up $250,000 to cover the MPs' costs in case the challengers lose. Can they even do that?! These 9 voters are the same people who last week applied for Elections Canada to release more information about the situation to the public. Surprise, Surprise... They were denied.

I think it's extremely sad that so many Canadians are not bothered by this. If it was the other way around, there is no way that the conservatives would let this slide if they thought the NDP or Liberals were cheating. Stephen Harper barely secured a majority government in the last election. The National Post reported that at least 34 ridings were affected by robocalls. For a country with such a small population, 34 ridings are a lot to mess around with.


Some people have said that we need to stop "whining" about robocalls. For those people who might not see how blatantly deceptive these calls were, here is an actual transcript from one of the calls:

"This is an automated message from Elections Canada. Due to a projected increase in voter turnout, your poll location has been changed. Your new voting location is at the Old Quebec Street Mall, at 55 Wyndham Street North. Once again, your new poll location is at the Old Quebec Street Mall, at 55 Wyndham Street North. If you have any questions, please call our hotline at 1-800-443-4456. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. (French version recorded in another woman’s voice follows.)”

That message was left to a voter in Guelph on election day. Weird, huh? Because Elections Canada claims they never made such calls.

I think that all Canadians need to be more concerned with this situation. Because if it's ok to let the conservative party cheat and get away with it scot-free, what is to stop candidates in the next election to follow in their footsteps? Maybe next election, the Liberal party will think of an even sneakier way to steal votes. If Harper can do it, why can't they? Why can't the Green Party? The NDP? Is that really the precedent we want to set for Canadian democracy? I sincerely hope not. Good on ya, Maude. People will always call you crazy when they are trying to cover up a scandal. Keep stirring up the conversation until justice is served and our democratic system that we hold so dearly is protected and restored to what it once was.

Guor Marial: A True Olympic Superstar

In the past week, there have been several athletes who have become overnight international celebrities. Missy Franklin is the USA's "it girl", Ryan Lochte is the new Micheal Phelps, etc. But one athlete's story incredible story has gone a little bit under the radar, and is definitely worth talking about.

Guor Marial is a refugee from South Sudan living in the United States. He fled his home country at age 16 during the brutal civil war that killed dozens of his family members and friends. In fact, 28 of his family members were killed in the war. He was also kidnapped twice. Now he's been living in the US for 12 years and has become one of the top marathon runners in the world. He qualified for the 2012 London Olympics, but was unable to compete on team USA because he is not a legal citizen (even though he is a permanent resident). Officials tried to convince him to compete as part of the Sudanese team, but he refused:

“I lost my family and relatives, and in South Sudan 2 million people died. For me to just go and represent Sudan is a betrayal of my country first of all, and is disrespecting my people who died for freedom." he said to one reporter.


Since South Sudan is still such a new country, they are not members of the IOC at this time so he could not compete under the South Sudanese flag. Luckily, he appealed to the IOC and was granted permission to compete as an independent. There are only three other athletes competing as independents this summer in London.

Before arriving at Heathrow airport, Guor told reporters:

"I will be wearing the Olympic uniform, but inside I will be holding the South Sudan flag in my heart, and the people of South Sudan and the refugees.These are the people I will be representing at the Olympics."

Although his personal best does not put him as a frontrunner in his event, he is expected to finish between 15th-20th. But just the fact that he is there representing the people that many Northerners forget about: refugees. I think a lot of people would rather not hear the stories of rape, loss, and desperation that is the reality for millions of refugees world wide. It's much easier to think that these people are just greedy, and here to steal our jobs and tax dollars. But stories like this one, heartwarming enough to grab the media's attention, are a reminder to everyone that refugees ARE in your neighbourhood. They have been through experiences that most North American's can't even imagine. And they are worthy of our respect, in the spirit of the Olympic games.

Don't forget to cheer for Guor on August 12th!

Remember that Child Soldier in GITMO? Neither does Canada

I hope I am not the only person who has been wondering about the Omar Khadr case over the past few weeks (OK, years). For those who don't know about Omar Khadr, I'll give you the recap:

July 27 2002 - Omar Khadr, a 15 year old Pakistani-Canadian, is captured by American forces in Afghanistan following a four-hour firefight. He was accused of throwing a grenade at a US soldier which killed the man.  The firefight began because US soldiers were trying to break into his residence "with or without consent", and the occupants opened fire on the Americans. However, the Western media failed to convey some pretty major details. Khadr threw the grenade AFTER US forces had bombed the compound he was staying in, killing several civilians. The US soldiers had ALREADY thrown a grenade into the living complex, before Khadr supposedly threw his grenade. The soldiers proceeded to shoot Khadr 2-3 times in the chest (reports vary) Funny... I don't remember those details being emphasized on the news... But to clarify, reports do vary of which side fired first. But Khadr personally did not throw the infamous grenade unprovoked.

Omar Khadr - Being treated by medics after being shot in the chest by US soldiers

Now let me be clear here: I mean absolutely no disrespect to the Americans and Canadians who have served in Afghanistan. I'm not even trying to argue whether Khadr is guilty or not. Honestly, he might have done it. But what happened after this day in 2002 is troubling, to put it lightly.

Khadr was treated by US forces for his injuries. How sweet of them. They then proceeded to ship him to Guantanamo Bay, and torture him for 10 years. Some of the techniques the US admitted to using while "interrogating" Khadr include:

1. The "Fear Up" technique. This technique is described by the judge as "a technique used as an attempt to raise the fear level of a detainee." In Khadr's case it included telling him that a detainee who "lied to interrogators" was raped in the showers by "big,black guys".
2. The "love of freedom" and "Pride/Ego Down" techniques which, according to Judge Parrish are "attempts to gather information through appealing to a person's desire to go home or implying that he was not really an important person.."
3. The "Fear of Incarceration" technique which the Judge said was "an attempt to gain cooperation in order to return to a normal life rather than be detained."

Oh and these are only the techniques that were used on this fifteen year old boy BEFORE he was hooded and sent to GITMO indefinitely. I strongly encourage everyone to at least read the Wikipedia entry about this case for further details.

So in 2006, Khadr signed a pre-trial agreement, pleaded guilty to the charges and all details of the charges, and accepting an 8 year prison sentence (not including the years of torture he already endured at GITMO) but with the agreement that he could be transferred to Canadian prison to serve the rest of his sentence there.

Still smiling after 10 years... Can he taste the freedom?

Fast forward six years later. It is now 2012. Where is Omar Khadr? Well for one thing, he is now 25 years old. And face it: whether he was a terrorist before or not, he probably hates the West a lot more now after spending 10 years being tortured in a secret prison. Today, news broke that his lawyers and Senator Romeo Dallaire are headed to Ottawa to ask why the hell his transfer is taking so long. This is a CANADIAN citizen, who was 15 years when he was arrested. He was never allowed a fair trial, and has now spent over 1/3 of his life in the most notorious, lawless secret prison on earth. And sorry if you didn't catch that: remember Romeo Dallaire? He's the guy who witnessed the most atrocious crimes against humanity imaginable in Rwanda, some of which was committed by child soldiers. You would think he would be the guy who would want punks like Khadr put away for good. Sorry, but that's not the case. Senator Dallaire has decided to use his celebrity and political power to fight for the human rights of Khadr. Because that's the thing about human rights: They are supposed to be for everybody, even fanatical kids who live in the mountains of Afghanistan. Christ, Luka Magnotta is currently having his day in court right now, and reportedly the government paid tens of thousands of dollars to ensure that he got transferred to Canada for a fair trial. No one put a hood over his head, as far as I know he hasn't been tortured, and he even gets a really good lawyer. Go figure. Oh and also, the five US soldiers who shot Khadr in the chest, bombed the compound killing several people and animals... what happened to them? They all got rewarded Purple Hearts. True story.

Is it just me, or has the world gone completely crazy?

I am positive that just about everyone in the world has heard of the "Montreal Butcher". I almost don't want to say anything more about this story, because I know that sick people like him are happy to be notoriously famous for completely disgusting acts. What I think is completely ridiculous is that in the past week or so, the media has been FLOODED with stories of cannibalism, body part slicing, sex with severed bodies, etc. If any big corportations or politicians have any skeletons in their closets, I strongly advise them to spill now because absolutely no one will be paying attention, and the media won't care.

I'm sure I'm not the only person who at first thought all of these horrible reports of cannibalism and dismemberment were about the same case. Wrong! So just to clarify, I've decided to make a short list of the killers of the week:

1) First of course, is Luka Rocco Magnotta: the Scarborough (aka serial killer capital of the world) born porn star who filmed himself killing a university student with an ice pick, sexually assaulted his corpse, and then mailed various body parts to the Conservative Party headquarters, the Liberal Party and two Vancouver elementary schools. Thankfully, it only took the police a day or two to catch him reading articles about himself in an internet cafe in Europe. Two things: a) is there any other use for an ice pick these days BESIDES murdering people? I'm pretty sure you can get pre-cubed ice machines. Also... why the Liberal party and not the NDP? Did theirs get lost in Canada Post? There are still a lot of unknowns about this story...

Labatt doesn't seem to be buying the "there's no such thing as bad press" theory

2) "The Miami Zombie" - Probably the second most talked about news story in the past week. A man in Miami tripped out on the designer drug "Bath Salts" and chewed off a homeless man's face while they were both naked. I swear I didn't make this up. The whole thing was captured on camera and lasted 18 gruesome minutes. If you are completely sick and deranged, you can find the video online. Apparently "Bath Salts" are legal in Canada. For now... Apparently there have been other cases of people going absolutely crazy on this drug and growling and "threatening to eat people". Actually. The homeless man in this case survived, but is still in critical condition. And doesn't have a face. This is messed up.

The guy on the left is the "zombie" and the right is the victim

3) The Brain-eating Killer Roommate - This is the story that has COMPLETELY gone under the radar. A man in Maryland killed his roommate, dismembered his body (#trending), and reportedly ATE the heart and brain of his now missing roommate. On Tuesday, the killer's brother went to his house and discovered tins containing a human head and two hands. The accused tried to convince his brother that the remains were not human, and then destroyed the evidence as soon as he had the chance. The rest of the roommate's body was found in the garbage near a church.

The smiling guy is the victim, the guy with the creepy stare is clearly the murderer.

I don't even know what to think of all this.... I guess they say bad things happen in threes? 

The Ghosts of Residential Schools Continue to Haunt the Federal Government...

I'm happy to hear that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (set up in 2007 as part of the apology to First Nations people affected by residential schools) is still digging deeper to solve the horrible mysteries of Canada's past that many people would rather forget. The CBC announced today that Ontario's chief coroner (Dr Andrew McCallum) has been searching through Ontario's records and has found that at least 120 "missing children's cases" were actually deaths associated with the residential school system.

I don't know if my education was typical, but I first heard the word "residential schools" in first year university. I had NO idea that the Canadian government had treated its own children and families so brutally. I was taught in my public school education that John Cabot "discovered" Newfoundland in 1497. We did learn about the Beothuks, a aboriginal group that settlers legitimately killed off, some killed as game. But no one EVER told us that the Canadian government had forcibly taken away aboriginal children from their families, forced them to convert to Christianity, in many cases abused them physically and sexually, and forced them to forget their own languages and culture in a drastic "white-washing" effort. Maybe we didn't talk about residential schools because they still existed until the 1990s. When I was in elementary school, residential schools probably still existed in Canada.

 

 

 

Shanawdithit - Last of the Beothuks

I feel ashamed that this happened in my country for so many years. But the best thing we can do is to honor the people who are alive today and STILL living the repercussions of the residential school system. The more we talk about these children, many of whom ran away and died in their attempts to return to their families, the more people will understand why so many Aboriginal people today are dealing with decades of inter-generational pain and suffering. Aboriginal people have been through more than probably any other race. And they are still fighting today to retain their culture and languages. Hopefully the more residential schools are in the news, and in our school books, the more respect the survivors will be given by the general public. This isn't something that happened hundreds of years ago. This is something that the parents and grandparents of young people today lived and suffered through.

How the Conservatives are Ruining the Canadian Immigration System

If you haven't heard of the omnibus Bill C-38 yet, you should probably take a few minutes to look into what is going on in regards to Canadian immigration policy. Bill C-38, aka the "Jobs, Growth, and Long-term Prosperity Act" is likely to pass this summer, and implements several dangerous provisions of the Harper government's budget. This budget has a decidely anti-immigrant tone, part of which includes eliminating the 280,000 current immigration applications in an effort to get rid of the "backlog". Take a second and think about that number: That's 280,000 individuals, many of which are separated from their children, spouses, and other loved ones. Many of which have the job skills that our country and labour market are in DESPERATE need of. Canada is the second biggest country in the world. We have PLENTYof room for more Canadians who will pay taxes, contribute to our economy and bring a wealth of knowledge from another part of the world. Luckily, some Canadians have noticed that simply axing these people's long, painstaking applications is completely immoral and simply unfair. A group of lawyers are seeking a class-action suit against the government, and seeking an injunction so that if Bill C-38 does pass, they will try to block it from actually being implemented. Civil litigation is perhaps the last remaining aspect of our legal system that protects the human rights of people, and not corporations or governments. Let's all try to spread the word about the conservative party's plan to axe these applications.

These are the people who only come to Canada to "steal our healthcare"... That baby might even be a terrorist...

Perhaps even worse (actually probably much worse) for Canadians is Bill C-31, which Jason Kenney introduced this past winter. This bill essentially destroys all human rights that are currently provided to immigrants and refugee claimants in Canada. This bill strips refugees of their rights by making it legal for the government to imprison refugees for one year without charge or even a warrant. It also imposes strict timelines that unrealistically force claimants to prove their claims in a very short ammount of time. This is done intentionally to reduce the number of successful claims. The new provisions also give the government power to revoke refugee status at ANY time and deport the person back to their country, regardless of the danger this may pose the person. Even worse, the new bill destroys the right to family re-unification for refugees, making it much harder for refugees and immigrants to reunite with their loved ones and children. If a person is finally granted refugee status, under the new law,  reunification with spouses and loved ones is delayed for 6-8 years. Just imagine how you would feel if you were forcibly separated from your child for 6-8 years. That is a significant chunk of your child's life. In some cases, the child might not even recognize their parent once finally reunited. Furthermore, Bill C-31 gives the government the power to forcibly TAKE any refugee children under the age of 16, again without any warrant or reason, and keep them from their accompanying parents for one year. Oh and also don't forget, this bill also strips refugees of much of their health care. Sorry to the Somalian diabetic grandmother who has just escaped decades of brutal civil war. I guess you'll just have to go without insulin for a while.

What the hell is going on at the Ministry of Immigration? Who in their right mind made a middle-aged, racist, white guy the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism? Isn't that a bit counterproductive? I guess that must be Harper's idea of "multicultural"...a white guy from Calgary who believes that Canada's decision not to invade Iraq was a collosal error as it "damaged our relations with the US". Oh, he also does not believe in gay marriage,and he denied citizenship to Guy Valliere, a man who had served this country in the second world war because he did not make a "solid application with a strong case". I'd rather the manager at Starbucks run the immigration department than this moron.



This is who Harper believes best represents multiculturalism and immigrants in Canada ... Seriously.