I have struggled for months to write something in response to my feelings on the current state of affairs in Brantford and Caledonia. Too often I have thrown away what I wrote because I was afraid that it might sound angry or provoke anger on one side or another. Today I finally submitted this to the Expositor. It is likely controversial so it may not be published. Fortunately I have this blog to publish it myself.
Someday I would love to see Canada become a just society. A place where all Canadians are equal regardless of ancestory. The current system obviously doesn't work and is unfair to all parties. We supposedly give people with native ancestory special status making them more than equal. So they don't pay into the tax pot but are expected to draw from it the cost of providing them the services they need. It is a system of dependence and has lead to deplorable living conditions on reserves and a lack of political will in society to change things for a population we see as getting a free ride. What makes things even worse is when we add into the mix claims of ownership that go back hundreds of years and threats to hold our way of life hostage or take away our homes and our rights to do with them what we want. Basically a role reversal of the horrible injustices that were done years ago to our native peoples. Families that have worked for generations on farmland have to worry whether or not that land might be taken away or can be sold for a fair value. A man building a house for his daughter is beat within an inch of his life by teenage thugs claiming to own the property he paid for. Threats and violence on both sides erupt. It is also not fair for an unelected council representing a small minority to claim rights of governance over the rest of us and expect that they can tell us what we can and can not do with our own property. If there is an injustice to be settled from 200 years ago then a legal case must be made and any settlement needs to be expected to be monetary (if any). It is long past due time we started living in the 21^st century again. The reality is the cities of Waterloo, Kitchener, Cambridge, Brantford and Caledonia are not going anywhere and in a free country nobody has the right to tell their populations what to do. We cannot turn back the clock 200 years and displace what must be close to a million people for the sake of the claimed rights of a few thousand. The truth is that every family has been wronged by society or government somewhere in it's history. Life a few hundred years ago was unfair to everyone. We can't apply modern standards of fairness and equality to life 200 years ago and expect the descendants of those wronged in the past to get huge payouts. If we did just about everyone would be entitled to a cheque and there wouldn't be enough money in the treasury to cover them. About 100 years ago children and adults were working and dying in factories in unsafe conditions while government turned a blind eye and women were treated like possessions without rights. Religious persecution and a highly entrenched class system made people flee Europe. Many Chinese lived and died building a railroad for a country they were not welcome in. Not that long before people were bought and sold as slaves. The french in Quebec were conquered by force and made to join a British Empire. Acadians were exiled from their homes in Atlantic Canada. That's just a start and already the financial burden to right these wrongs of the past is probably more than we can afford. What we don't need is more big payouts to individuals. What we need is to apply a statue of limitations so that the past can stay in the past. We also need a equal society where everyone pays into the tax pot and has a right to expect the same modern conviences and services. No more handouts or supposed free rides and no more third world living conditions. But more importantly we need a world where everyone is equal and free and get's the same opportunities to succeed based on their own hard work and skills. Our past should be a reminder of how far we have all come as a society and we should be looking to build a better future together with pride.
