Talking about the Ottawa obituaries. Today, two I recognized: One was for one of the partners in the law firm that handled my adoption in 1947, the other for a woman I knew at Carleton about 52 years ago. Redmond (Red) Quain was the son of the lawyer who handled my adoption back in 1947 because my parents were considered to have been in a "mixed marriage". Why? My father was Catholic and my mother Protestant, thus the province considered them unfit parents.
I kid you not!
So, they went to the Salvation Army Bethany Home and picked out a girl of 18 who was about to give birth. Red Quain, sr, arranged it all before I was born and at six weeks old -- torture for the birth mother -- I was handed over to my wonderful parents. When pregnant with my second child, I started to wonder about my genetics. So, I wrote a letter to Red Quain, jr, forged my father's signature, and asked him to give me my file. He sent it to me, but all it contained was the name of the mother, Shirley Ann Latimer, and that she was a music clerk. This was before the internet and I scoured city directories for Latimer's. I finally found a family in Kemptville and called them.
When Gladys Latimer picked up the phone, I told her I was a long-lost relative of Shirley's. "Oh, that's too bad. Shirley died a year ago." I was devasted. Shirley had only been 49 years old when she died of lung cancer from smoking. I did find her family and realized I was lucky to have been raised by my parents because the Kingston Latimer's were pretty rough "townies". Having met everyone who had been alive back then, I came to the conclusion that although they were my birth family, they were not my family.
Sadly, Shirley had married later in life, but was unable to have children. I was her only offspring. She died without having known what had happened to me; at least I knew what had happened to her.
_______________________
The other death notice was about the wife of a guy I had known when I was at Carleton. The guy I was dating at the time was a close friend of this couple, so we double-dated frequently. She was lovely, but I wondered if their marriage had lasted because the notice said, "Loving wife of Br..., for 54 treasured years of marriage." Really? I laughed because he had made passes at me on numerous occasions while he was married. I am sure I was not the only one to whom he did that. But evidently, she stuck by him. Anyway, I put a remembrance in because I really liked her.
Just listened to the uber "woke" mayor of Victoria, Lisa Helps, flagellating herself on the airwaves about cancelling Canada Day. Lisa Helps was the first mayor to do so, but true to Canadian form, many others are following suit.
Thanks, Lisa, but this is wrong.
Why is everyone weeping and reaching for a hair shirt because of the coverage of the graves found on residential school sites? Yes, it was tragic, but it happened a generation or two ago, before any vaccines and medicines were available to treat the many diseases that killed them, as well as thousands of non-Indigenous children. (Notice I said diseases killed them, not people.) Since then, natives and leaders have been given full and respected voice in this country, along with the health care afforded everyone else, if they choose to apply it.
Canada is a wonderful country, one that millions risk their lives to come to every day. Although Trudeau is doing his damndest to destroy and divide it, Canada will prevail as always. So, as well as going along with anything and everything Quebec pulls -- illegally, by the way -- the pseudo "woke"-to-the-back-teeth Trudeau is staying silent on the Canada Day fiasco because that would be very damaging to the middle-of-the-road vote he needs to win.
I would like to add that much of the abuse was meted out by other native students. A friend of B's (non-Indigenous) grew up in the north and went to a residential school, where he was mercilessly beaten up and abused by native students. But that's another fact you will never hear from the lazy media. Now native leaders are insisting every grave site be designated a crime scene. Insane!
So, it's both sides of Trudeau's mouth and full speed ahead! Frankly, I am going to fly my Canadian flag out my car window because I know it's the right thing to do.
....stepson's girlfriend called last night to ask us to give S $20,000, so she could kick him out. Whaaaaaaat!@#%$^#$#!!! He already owes us thousands, but conveniently declared bankruptcy thus stiffing his many creditors, including us. When we declined, she started raving. Obviously drunk, she called B an asshole and a bad father and then hung up. "Do you want your son on welfare?" she screamed. Anyone on welfare only has to look in the mirror for the answer to that one.
Then it was my turn to enjoy her irresistible magic. In a series of vicious and abusive texts she told me we had to "own S" because she hadn't given birth to him. Really??!! The guy's 48 years old, for Gawd's sake. Then she really got going. "You disgust me!! Toxic bitch. You are an obtuse, horrible, angry creature," perfectly describing herself in the tirade.
Wow, what a charmer! Frankly the term "white trash" came to mind when I first met her. "Sociopath" and "narcissist" also sprang to mind, but I did put up with her and was civil and welcoming whenever we were in Ottawa. We often took them to lunch and paid, of course. The evenings always start fine, but after she drains her beloved pitcher of martinis, things go south and we take our leave before it gets out-of-hand. A real female Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
A few Christmases ago, we spent Christmas dinner with them and her family. She announced that the oven was broken, so she hadn't been able to cook a turkey. "Oh, what bad luck. Your oven breaks on Christmas Day!" I sympathized. Turns out the oven had been out-of-order for seven months! So, her poor mother made deviled eggs for Christmas dinner -- a first for us -- while madame drained her pitcher. I blogged about this sorry episode at the time, but she whined and had S phone to tell me to delete it. Out of respect for B, I did -- reluctantly but now very regrettably in view of her charm offensive of last evening. However, this gives you a little taste of her charisma and magnetism.
So, here we are. All very sad, but as my late Mother said, "Every family has something." We, unfortunately, have two somethings. All I can say is, thank Gawd we live in Calgary!
1. Why are 40,000 native kids in care? Perry Bellegarde threw this around yesterday in an interview with Evan Solomon, but what he evidently completely failed to grasp was what this said about the parents.
Of course, no one would dare ask this question, because they are shoddy journalists, but you'd think it might occur to Bellegarde that this reflects very badly on the parenting and family support skills of the parents whose kids have to be taken into care. In his mind, it's all the fault of the evil white man. And don't think this is done willy-nilly. It's very expensive to have children in care, so were it unnecessary, it would not be done.
2. Speaking of shoddy journalism, yesterday I actually heard a female CBC "reporter" say, "Prime Minister Ford of Ontario......" I KID YOU NOT!!!
3. Finally, a word about cyclists. I am sick of them behaving like pedestrians when it suits them. You never know what they'll pull next, but you can be sure it will be illegal. They ride on sidewalks and cross at pedestrian crosswalks whenever it suits them. No wonder many are hit. You never know what rule they will flout next?!
Maybe I'm just old, but I remember having to pass a test to get a bicycle licence. We also had to have working lights and reflectors for evening riding. I also remember Elmer the Safety Elephant coming to our school to give us safety lessons, usually accompanied by a friendly policeman.
Ah well, all gone now....sigh.....
Commentary, Aboriginal Futures, Brian Giesbrecht June 6, 2021
The discovery of human
remains at the site of a former residential school has set off a firestorm that
has already resulted in demands for another national inquiry, and massively
expensive forensic and excavation projects. But maybe we should take a pause,
and ask some questions.
The Kamloops Indian
Residential School operated as a residential school from 1890 to 1969. Its peak
enrollment was around 500 in the 1950s. Although there has understandably been
an outpouring of sympathy, it is not clear at this point how many of the bodies
detected were residential students. It’s also not clear that there was even
anything sinister about the discovery.
In fact, it is
shocking that many people seem quite willing to accept slanderous conspiracy
theories about teachers and priests murdering, and secretly burying, hundreds
of children. There are many forgotten cemeteries in Canada. It is far more
likely that the deaths simply reflected the sad reality of life back then. We
should take a look at the history.
Tuberculosis was a
major killer, and it didn’t spare children. From 1890 until the 1950s it was
responsible for many child deaths. Influenza was also a particularly deadly
disease for indigenous people. The 1918 Spanish flu killed a disproportionate
number of indigenous people, but even ordinary influenza was particularly
deadly for them. Other diseases that have all but disappeared now, like
Whooping Cough, Meningitis and Measles, routinely took yesterday’s children.
Disease took many from
every demographic, but indigenous people suffered most. They died mainly in
their home communities, where the Grim Reaper was always close by. Infected
children entered residential schools, and infected others. Many died.
In our comfortable
times we forget how hard life was a hundred and more years ago – Dickens’ world
of chimney sweeps, and the Poor House. Stories are now being written about
Canada’s “Home Children”, for example. These were mainly English orphans, and
children from poor homes, who were taken from their parents and sent by
themselves to Canada. Little children – some as young as seven – would arrive
with cardboard signs around their necks advertising their free labour.
Boys would be taken by
farmers and used as labour, in return for their keep. The girls would be used
as domestic workers. Some received good treatment – some were treated very
badly. Many died alone and forgotten. It is a coincidence that the number of
“Home Children” roughly equaled the total number of children who attended
residential schools – 150,000.
The Home Children are
one example only of the sadness that was part of the lives of all poor children
who had the misfortune to be born in those times. Indigenous children suffered
more than most. This historical snippet in no way mitigates the importance of
the Kamloops discovery. But we should consider the harshness of previous times,
before letting emotion overtake good sense.
The dead should be
appropriately honoured, but we should be mindful that some opportunists will
exploit these dead children for financial and political gain. The residential
school story has now been exhaustively told. Canadians have heard it – and we
get it. We have sympathized, and billions of dollars have been paid by people,
most of whom weren’t alive then, to people who mostly weren’t either.
Brian Giesbrecht, retired judge, is a senior fellow at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.
So now we have the headline-desperate, Perry Bellgarde, calling the tragic deaths at residential schools "genocide". Please
Genocide? Really!? Even Justin Trudeau would not use the term because he correctly said it had a very narrow definition. In fact, genocide is defined as the deliberate killing of a race, or ethnic group, but what happened to the children in these schools was not deliberate and it was not killing. It was disease. Many children -- indigenous and non -- were dying of pneumonia, influenza, yellow fever, cholera, smallpox and typhus. In fact more non-indigenous children died of these diseases than indigenous. I have blogged this before (see "A Must Read"), but Bellgarde's elevating it to a genocide will amount to yet another cash grab, not helped by Murray Sinclair's financially-ruinous chorus of "every grave must be exhumed and all remains identified". To what end? He's just dredging up old and painful memories for families whose people went through this.
As we know, many families willingly sent their children to these schools because they were dying of starvation and they hoped they would have a better chance in care. They also hoped their children would get an education, which they did.
So, let's stop being hysterical. And while you're at it, do a little research to learn what really went on. As a former journalist, I find it disgraceful that the media just slaps things out there without looking into the facts. In fact, an off-reserve status native friend of mine here in Calgary said her mother and aunts went to a residential school and have many happy memories of life there. Why not look into a few positive stories? In my years as a journeyman scribbler in Toronto, my editors would never in a million years have let anything pass I hadn't backed up with hard evidence.
To my ingrate of a step-daughter, Sarah Leslie (who's been denigrating the name "Marley-Clarke" for too long, like her mother), who didn't wish her Dad a Happy Father's Day. Didn't send a card, didn't call -- nothing! Yay Sarah! Way to go! Man, you really stepped up!
I have been holding back on blogging about her many transgressions because I wanted B to have access to his grands, but there is now no point. For a long time, he called down there every Sunday to talk to everyone. When he finally realized what a waste of time it was, guess what?! When his calls stopped, his daughter neither noticed, nor called back to ask if everything was alright.
Way to go, Sarah! What a great daughter!
Nevermind the thousands we have spent visiting her in Houston, nevermind the many thousands we spent 40 years ago fighting her bitch-of-a-mother for the smell-of-an-oil-rag joint custody -- which finally resulted in custody to B because of her intransigence and denial of access -- nevermind how hard we've worked to maintain good relations with her, her n'er-do-well husband (whose firing was camouflaged as a "retirement") and her loser, Texan in-laws. No, nevermind all that. This is the last straw for me. She's done. And God help her if B dies first and she tries to attend his funeral -- just for the selfies and facebook posts, mind you, nothing to do with his passing -- she will be shown the door. And guess what?! I will be blamed -- as usual.
No one has been a better father than B and frankly, no one has been a better step-mother than I. I didn't expect her to recognize my birthday or Mother's Day, because I have always been the evil step-monster in the dynamic, but I did expect her to laud her long-suffering Dad who has given her everything. The other three stepped up with flowers, cards and calls. She didn't. She puts a fb post about "Happy father's day" to all the fathers out there. Hey, what about your own father?! That is unforgivable.
So many of us have lost our fathers, and would dearly love to see them again, yet here she has a father alive, approaching his 80th birthday, and she does absolutely nothing for father's day. It's beyond comprehension.
Way to go, Sarah! She is a textbook case of narcissism and sociopathy. Look those pathologies up, you'll find her name there.
You can take that to the bank.
See, this is just another example of how women constantly shoot themselves in the foot (or is that "feet"?) Anyway, the first woman to be elected to the House from Nunavut, also had an "Annime Paul" hissy fit and quit because she claimed the place was racist and hostile.
Well, duh! Of course it's hostile if you're in opposition. That's the way the Westminster model works. You didn't really think you were entering a place of group hugs, did you?! Having worked for a number of ministers, I know politics is a killing ground and it takes no prisoners. It's not for a starry-eyed 23-year-old. But you were elected by people who wanted you to represent them and you have failed to do that.
"I've had security jog after me down hallways, nearly put their hands on me and racial (sic) profile me," Mumilaaq Qaqqaq said in the House on Tuesday." Hey, that's their job! "It took a long time for me to realize how hard and how much I was working and trying to push against a system so much, so intensely that ultimately — in every way shape or form — it was still to work against the people I represent and to work against me."
Of course, that's politics! Qaqqaq didn't hide why she took two leaves from office, either. The first was to deal with depression and burnout, which left her absent for eight weeks.
She said she wasn't sure what was next, but for now, she was enjoying the little things, such as beading. She
also just sanded and restained her deck. Really?! Get serious.
"I've shown youth and Indigenous people that we can be in places, even if we don't feel like they're made for us," Qaqqaq said. Except you quit. Her decision is yet another example of how many women can't take political blood sport and reinforce the belief that has dogged so many of us forever and one against which women of my cohort have been fighting our entire careers. Instead of lauding this young women, they should be questioning why she has let them down.
________________________________
And here's another example of what I have blogged about so often. Parents blaming the child welfare system, when they should really be asking themselves why their kids had to be taken into care in the first place. So entrenched is the native attitude that the white culture is always to blame, this thought would not even occur to them.
So, now we have the Green party squabbling over Israel and Gaza. WTF?! Why do they care what's going on in that mess? They certainly have their own chaos and disarray right here in Canada to sort out!
Jenica Atwin -- in a breathtakingly cowardly act -- crossed the floor to join the Liberals. Nevermind the voters who put her in as a Green, who cares? She's crossed because she likes her chances better with the government (currently) running the country (into the ground).
Apparently, it was a hissy fit between Atwin and Paul -- the latter of whom did nothing to placate the former into staying. Great leadership there, Paul! And now Atwin has to completely reverse her position on Israel, one which she describes that country as committing genocide against Palestinians, because the Liberals don't hold that view. In fact, they hold the same view as Paul. Problem is, Paul can hold no other because she is Jewish. Once again, the principle of the separation of Church and State has been ignored. Do all politicians need a refresher course on what this means? Obviously.
Just to add to the "mean girls" syndrome, Elizabeth May refuses to give up "leadership" to Paul and is aggressively working behind the scenes to undermine her and presumably get back into power. Guess she didn't get the memo about former leaders fading into the background and shutting up. I think I have told you how I was cornered at a cocktail party a few years ago by May and driven to the brink of suicide. The drivel she spouted was incomprehensible and clearly delusional. Perhaps she had been over-refreshed, as was the case on a plane a few years ago.
Just watched Paul in a press conference and on 'Power Play' and she aggressively blamed all criticism of her on racism and anti-semitism. How ludicrous. If you don't like my style and positions, you must be an anti-semite. Oh, and by the way, you must also be anti-lesbian. Come on! Once again, people of colour seem to have only one agenda: Race. Sad. I have to say, the way she behaved during the interviews confirmed all the criticism leveled against her. She is intolerant, arrogant, smug and immovable. The only thing I did agree with her on was that she said Trudeau is no feminist. That's for sure!
So, the Greens are burying themselves with public bickering. As I said, just dumb.
Please, what a crock.
Here's a guy trying to cover up a cover up with another cover up. Frankly, although I don't golf, I have heard that your emotions can take quite a beating on the merciless fairways and greens. As I have said, they even shut down the entire Hylands Golf Club so no one would catch sight of the three-some enjoying a few rounds. I mean, if it was so innocent -- just basically a health tonic for Vance -- why would they need to hide among the holes? You can bet other types of tonic were enjoyed too.
As I have repeatedly said, Sajan must be fired. The buck ultimately stops with the hapless Trudeau, but Sajan heads the defence file. He needs to go, but Trudeau will never do this because that would be admitting he had made a mistake in appointing him in the first place, so never going to happen.
Now Rouleau is taking "indefinite medical leave". This just smells to high heaven. Obviously, it's to protect his sky-high salary, which early retirement would diminish. How dumb does he think Canadians are??!!
This was written by a 35-year RCMP veteran and it’s a must read:
_____________________________________________________
The “Discovery” of the children’s bodies found on the property
of the Tk’emlups te Secwopmc First Nation in Kamloops, B.C has captured
the attention and the hearts of Canada.
This residential school
operated from the 1890’s to the 1960’s and now in 2021 pronouncements are
circling the globe claiming a “discovered” “mass grave”, where the bodies of
two hundred and fifteen children have been interred. The clear and intended
implication was that the bodies were hidden purposefully to avoid criminal
responsibility. The discovery with the use of ground radar, was now held up as
“proof” of the “genocide” of the Indigenous perpetrated by the government of
Canada, the Catholic church, and the often not-mentioned Protestant religious
groups.
It is an event or story which
leaves even those some distance from the issue, affected, wordless, searching
for things to say, or at least some sort of explanation. The death of any
child, society’s innocents, layers us in emotion and draws up unstoppable
grief. As some anonymous person said, “losing a child is like losing your
breath… and never getting it back”. It is routinely described as unimaginable
and easily overwhelming. It is a difficult story, but there is a problem—
it is not totally accurate.
It seems that we have reached
a state of affairs in this country where one must question almost all that is
being written or reported in the mainstream media. It is becoming painfully
apparent that almost everyone has an agenda, whether it be political, or
social, and, it is permanently warping our ability to trust. Context is almost
always missing. Instead, we are being fed polar views delivered by the loudest
insistent voices of there being only one truth. In this case, there is the
immediate gush of fury, followed by outlandish statements and demands for
retribution. There is a palpable governmental and corporate fear of being on
the wrong side of any issue and the factual information is lost in the
rush to judgement.
By putting the deaths of
children in “grisly” and “shocking” terms, the headlines wrote themselves. All
who may have been directly or indirectly involved are immediately identified
and placed on the wrong side of the blame spectrum; accusing fingers
pointing at the presumed guilty, the stain of that guilt never to be removed.
History has shown us many times that this quick need to assign fault, the
ignoring of rational alternative records, has not served us well, nevertheless
we rarely learn.
To ask questions, to examine
the record, of that which is being portrayed in this residential school story,
risks insulting the mainstream. Alternate stories are guaranteed to offend
almost all who only see black and white. Be forewarned, I am about to offend
those of you who only think in straight lines. That rationale that it has been
said therefore it is true. Reality is that almost always the facts are found in
various shades of grey. Often, a single one-sided glance can be
deceptive.
These deaths are difficult to
process, but it was equally dismaying to see the commentary on the news; the
reporting of the deaths as a “genocide” a “crime scene” of unequalled
proportions all of which reverberated through the radio, television and print
media. Children “stolen” from their homes and culture. The media in its
various forms showing no compunction in knowingly feeding the fire of outrage.
The oft repeated story portrayed intrepid searchers stumbling across the
evidence of heinous crimes. An unmarked grave site, where children were buried
in anonymity. Predictably, politicians of every stripe, climbed on board the
indignation train, innuendo solely fed by untested claims of criminality.
Jagmeet Singh, the Federal
leader of the NDP, dramatically, breathlessly, and tearfully, literally unable
to speak. The Liberal Apology Party, having apologized several times before, to
no avail, are now demanding apologies from the Vatican— a political sleight of
hand designed to make you look the other way. The wokes scurrying around the
country trying to hide the statues of Sir John A., the now damned originator of
residential schools.
The purpose of this post is
not to examine the policy of the residential schools. Was it an attempt by
colonists to wipe out the Indigenous culture, or on the other hand was it an
effort to assimilate and educate? The answer is likely somewhere in the middle.
The current accepted view was that it was a misguided policy at the very best
and it is likely equally clear that many of those involved in the early years
were unconcerned at the time with preserving the “culture” of the First
Nations. That is a never ending circular debate. The purpose of this post is to
merely examine what the evidence actually shows up to this point in time.
The early reports of the
findings by the use of “ground radar” gave one the impression of it being an
unexpected “grisly discovery”. Grisly yes, but it was not a
“discovery”.
The National Centre for Truth and
Reconciliation in examining residential schools identified
the names of, or information about, more than 4100 children who died of the
150,000 children (some estimates are lower at 3200 children). That represents a
fatality rate of 2.7%, or if one accepts the lower rate, 2.13%.
In 1950, in
Canada, the infant mortality
rate was 2.92%. A higher death rate nationally than in the
residential schools.
That aside, that children
were dying in saddening numbers in the years of the residential schools is a
fact. However, the biggest killer in 1900 was pneumonia and influenza and those
two illnesses alone recorded 202 deaths per 100,000 people in Canada. There
were other killer diseases lurking: smallpox, typhus, cholera, yellow fever,
and tuberculosis. TB by itself was widespread in children after WWI. It
was also deadlier, as it was slow to recognize, as it affected the glands,
bones and joints rather than the lungs. Those children that contracted
tuberculosis had a very low survival rate. So this is being reported as a “genocide”
when to date, there has been no evidence of anyone being purposefully
killed.
The second question was why
were they then placed in unmarked graves on the property? Was this an attempt
to hide wrong doing? There is a simpler but yet unpalatable answer. The cost of
returning the bodies to the families was prohibitive during those austere
times. That has been documented. Secondly, record keeping in those times both
on the Reserves and by the Church were spotty at best and often totally absent.
Many children had only their assigned names and a guess as to their true age.
So the children were by
necessity, dictated by the times, buried on the property. The fact that the
children were buried on the sites of the residential schools throughout the
country— some in unmarked graves, others in marked graves, has been known for a
very long time.
The Indian Residential School
Settlement Agreement had already recognized that there were
139 residential schools across the country. (These are only those that received
Federal support, there were others run solely by religious orders or provincial
governments). An undertaking to return the bodies to the families would
be, even to this day, a logistical nightmare.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission
in 2015 in releasing their report even included a section
on missing children and burial grounds. They recommended 94 calls to action.
One of those calls was for the the Federal government to work with churches,
indigenous communities, and former students “to establish and maintain an
online registry of residential school cemeteries, including where possible,
plot maps showing the location of deceased residential school children”.
So two years ago, in the 2019
budget the Liberal Federal government allocated $32 million to implement the
burial recommendations. There is still $27 million left. Now, Mr. Trudeau says
the government is leaping into action and is going to distribute the money “on
an urgent basis”. These graves were not uncovered and fully documented
sooner for a simple reason—government and Indigenous bureaucratic inefficiency.
We should also keep in mind that the Provincial government paid for the examination
of the the Kamloops residential school site. This clearly was not a cover
up.
There is the additional claim
running rampant as part of the cover up theory— that the Catholic Church and
the Federal government is withholding records from the schools.
In fact, the Federal
government did indeed destroy documents related to the residential “school
system between 1936 and 1944, including 200,000 Indian Affairs files”. Were the
records destroyed as a result of a governmental cover-up, or were they destroyed
as a matter of routine? Government records often run on a twenty-five or
fifty year timeline. One could presume that death records of any kind should
never be destroyed, but that is a separate issue.
In the early
times of the residential schools, accurate record keeping was in short supply.
Children were coming in from Indigenous communities where there were often no
records of births or deaths, that was the custom. The schools upon receiving
these children, were also seemingly sparse with their documentation when
compared to standards of the 21st century. Also contrary to the current
reporting, in fact, records at the Kamloops residential school have already
been provided. It showed only fifty one deaths compared to the two hundred and
fifteen, but is that the result of poor and absent record keeping, or was
it a conspiracy to only reveal some of them?
Mary Ellen
Turpel-Lafond, the academic director at the Indian Residential School History and
Dialogue Centre at the University of British Columbia,
stated that the records from the Kamloops residential school had not been
provided to the Truth and Reconciliation group. However, she admits that the
“churches handed over most residential school records, but in a few cases, the
narratives were withheld, notably at Kamloops and St Annes (in Ontario)” So the
Church records, like the children’s bodies were and are hiding in plain sight.
The fact that no one has acted on them is probably the story that should be
pursued.
The final question is whether
or not this is a site where there is evidence of criminal activity. Is it
as NDP MP Leah Gazan says, that all the residential schools are the sites
of “active crime scenes”?
Well no, they are not crime
scenes, because crime scenes need to have evidence or confirmation of wrong
doing. Now some may argue that the stories told by the Indigenous “survivors”,
is evidence enough of criminality. In recent years we seem to have taken
the approach that allegations standing by themselves are sufficient evidence of
wrongdoing. As any homicide investigator will tell you, that is an
untenable position.
Little is yet known as to the
condition of the bodies. Ground radar (actually it works like sonar) shows very
little, other than shapes in the ground. The exhumation of the bodies and
subsequent pathology could possibly show evidence of assault, or lead to
estimations of causes of death, but to pronounce it so, so early in the
investigation is unprincipled.
Was there wrongdoing at the
schools in the form of physical abuse or sexual deviance? Lets ask the current
Armed Forces or the RCMP whether its possible that their organizations have
been open to abuse and sexual assaults over the last number of years? Would we
think the Catholic churches any different? It would seem impossible that
the Catholic church, whose wrongdoings have been hauntingly exposed during the
last several years around the world, would not be guilty of some criminal
offences over such a lengthy span of time. However, the evidence in the burial
site will not likely aid that level or type of investigation.
Even if
one is to assume that this was in fact a crime scene, then it should be
suggested that the RCMP do more than “offer its full support” to the First
Nations who are now in attendance and overseeing the “crime scene”. A
crime scene by the way, which will now be forever tainted in the event
something is discovered amongst the bodies. The RCMP, if they believe that this
is a possible crime scene, should be taking charge and control of the scene if
that were the case. Instead, the Minister Bill Blair says
the RCMP continues to go forward with its “work towards reconciliation”
Mr. Blair also apologizes for
the RCMP having performed according to the law and carried out the “clear and
unavoidable role”. He is late to that apology, probably confused, because
Commissioner Zaccardelli apologized in 2004, and then Commissioner Paulson
apologized in 2014.
Despite all these
inconsistencies, the fallout damage in the reporting on the residential school
is now done. The political gains that the Indigenous movement hoped to engender
have been cemented. The world is now believing that Canadian history includes
the genocide of their Indigenous population.
Now, of course, when pressed
on the word “genocide” the spokespersons are falling back to the more
acceptable argument of “cultural genocide. And, only yesterday an Indigenous
spokesperson walked backed away from the “mass grave” description and now
clarifies the record to say that they were actually “individual” un-marked
grave sites.
The Perry
Bellegarde’s of the Indigenous movement will now proffer up the discoveries as
a lever to aid in the battle to get passed– the recently introduced Liberal
legislation Bill C-15— the United Nations
Declaration on the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples Act. Who
would dare to question the bill, while expressing their overwhelming guilt in
the treatment of the Indigenous. There is a valid argument that this future Act
could give the Indigenous possible veto power over the economic development of
Canada. One would have to be incredibly naive to think for a moment that this
point has been lost on the Indigenous leadership in Canada.
In the next few months,
monies will be provided for further examination of marked and un-marked grave
sites throughout the country, a process which could take years and years of
painstaking “investigation”. The Mounties will no doubt dutifully continue to
“standby” and “provide support”. Commissioner Lucki will be the lead
social worker.
The Indigenous can and will
be encouraged by the media to continue to narrate the verbal claims of abuse
and “incarceration” at the schools. The dominant reported narrative, like the
one surrounding the Indigenous Missing Women’s task force, will remain by its
very origin, clearly slanted. The masses will be satiated with apologies or
flowered monuments. The truth will have to surface on another day and in
another time.
Prime Minister
Trudeau and Minister Mark Miller will continue to ask the Pope for an apology
as their preferred policy option. It is interesting to note that Cardinal Thomas
Collins of Toronto of the Catholic Church, said that he
felt Trudeau’s comments were “unhelpful” and “not based on real facts”.
Amen to that.
That truth is that children
were removed from often desperate situations and sent to sparse boarding
schools during a time of disease and illness— ailments from which this country
could not protect them; run by religious groups who brought with them their own
inherent dysfunctions. This is a difficult story, but up to this point in
time, only a partial story.
Now Alberta has to have a lottery to entice people to get vaccinated. WTF?! Are there really that many anti-vaxers out there? Gawd, I hope not, but I guess so. These people are preventing the province from opening up because we have to get to 70% first doses to do so and thanks to these selfish louts, we're not there.
Hence a lottery.
So, here the rest of us are, desperately trying to follow the rules, get appointments and wait for second doses, while these knuckle-draggers keep us all down. What really pisses me off -- just one of the many things that do -- is that people much younger than I have already had second doses! Why is this? Because after I dutifully went through the provincial process for a second, they were opening up sites for anyone and everyone because they were empty. In fact, Premier Kenney was on the news last evening, standing in a completely empty area amidst tons of empty vaccine stations begging people to come in and get a jab.
I'm finally getting my second tomorrow, but the province has completely bungled this. When they found they had more appointments available, I should have been phoned to come in and get one. But no, that would make too much sense. Instead people in their twenties and thirties and younger are all taken care of, while I still wait.
Pisses me off completely.
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Apparently, the military has learned absolutely nothing. The other day, a few of the top generals in charge of changing the sexual abuse culture in their charge were out golfing at the Country Club with Vance while he was under investigation! They even closed the club so no one would know Vance was playing golf with his buds! The old boys club is alive and well. Hard to believe they are so out-of-it, but we all know they are and will continue to be.
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As if the stress of being imprisoned with your spouse for 16 months wasn't enough to drive you into the loony bin, I decided to throw moving into the mix! Apparently, the most stressful life experience is moving, so I went for it. After 30 showings and two offers that died, we are desperately trying to keep the one we have alive because I can't take anymore showings, for which I have to sanitize the house so it appears no humans actually live here!
When we listed, I instructed the realtor to price it to sell. "I don't want tire-kickers and snoopers in here and I will not do any open houses. And the price has to reflect that this is a condo, which makes it even more difficult because our fees are ludicrous," I told her. So, she prices it waaaaaay too high. I finally had to tell her to drop it $30K, which she reluctantly did. Now we have a good offer, for which she takes credit! Hahahaha! Ah well, onward and upward!
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So, Victoria has cancelled Canada Day because of residential school abuse. Folks, this is also the city that welcomes hundreds of cruise ships every year that pump millions into municipal coffers, while at the same time decrying the use of carbon. Here's a bulletin: Cruise ships run on carbon. Duh! This is also the sanctimonious city that dumps tons of raw sewage into its harbour every day without batting an eye! Complete BS.
And as for abuse in residential schools, even Senator Murray Sinclair found that student-to-student sexual abuse was rampant. So, pinning it all on those that ran the schools doesn't compute. In fact, many students who were abused were afraid to come forward because they did not want to confront their abusers who were often family and kin. Thankfully, Sinclair had the nuts to call them out. But does the media report this? Never.
The tragedy in London, ON, of the mowing down of a Muslim family got me thinking about "Islamophobia". What exactly does that mean? I guess it means many Canadians are wary of Muslims because they don't know much about that culture, but Muslims actually isolate themselves within very tightly-knit communities, which means they are purposely not integrating into mainstream, secular Canadian society.
There is a Muslim school right here in Rocky View and I wonder what they are teaching? Do they integrate the Alberta curriculum into their teachings? Who knows? Yes, yes, I know the Catholic Board teaches Catholic values, but it must adhere to the provincial curriculum. Do the Madrasis? Who knows?
That's a problem, in my view.
Another decision came down today regarding another segregated group: Natives. In addition to the $40 K given each family, a member of which went to a boarding school, those native children who went to a day school are now being given $10 K. $10 K!! These are children who went to school during the day and went home every night -- just like the rest of us. Should every Canadian be given $10 K for having gone to school? I guess so!
Naturally, the perennially-dissatisfied Cindy Blackstock says it's not enough. for her, nothing ever is. These native children went to school every day and went home at night. They even have a crisis hot line for third generation kids of kids! It's insane! What's the effing issue??!! Canada is a ridiculous country.
So, the World "Health" Organization is asking Canada to donate doses to poor countries. The WHO is the same organization that did nothing about anything while the virus was spreading around the world. This is the same organization to which the incompetent Tam belonged and did nothing to warn Canadians we were in danger.
Why are these countries begging for vaccines? Because they're poor. Why are they poor? Because they are corrupt. So, no way should Canada give away one dose until every Canadian has had two. But with Twinkle Toes Trudeau always trying to impress the world with his "virtue signalling", he'll probably do it!
On another file, what the eff is the incompetent Freeland doing striding around London at the G7?! She is a complete embarrassment to Canada, as is her boss. Seeing her smugly marching into a meeting of finance ministers and mugging for the cameras was disgusting. And the most ridiculous thing is she actually thinks she's doing a great job!
Her "budget" fudged all the numbers -- lied, actually -- because Canada's debt and deficit are much worse than she said. She's basing Canadian assets on things like the CPP and other pension funds that are owned by people, not the government. If you can find it, read Konrad Yakabuskie of 'The Globe and Mail', who wrote a great column outlining what's really going on with the money. Canada is headed to junk-bond status very soon.
My poor grandchildren.
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Just a note about the special kind of gall and disrespect it takes to name your baby after the Queen's private, childhood nickname. But Meghan has it in spades! Shameful.
I have blogged about Mike Copeland before (See, "The Prince of Ottawa"), but photos that came up as memories conjured up more lovely moments with this wonderful man.
For a number of years, Mike would meet us at Mass every Sunday. He was always dressed to the back teeth and always smelled beautiful. After Mass, he would come to our place with our family for lunch; I suspect it was for the martinis he knew awaited. Nevermind, we loved having him. All this was before he descended into alcoholism and the streets.
Back then, he was such a gentleman and true friend. Even after he had to depart to live in a facility for hopeless drunks, what did he do? Why, he seduced the director of the home and had her eating out of his hand! Of course he did! As I have said, the ladies loved Mike.
One time, between husbands when I must have been crazy, drunk, reckless or desperate, I tried to seduce him. No dice. "Griffy (he always called me "Griffy"), that's a dumb idea because I never want to lose you as a friend. That would wreck everything." Of course, he was right. We stayed best buddies.
The last job he held, before the booze took him, was as bodyguard to Pierre Trudeau. He guarded the PM fiercely. The first thing we had to do when we were travelling, he told me, was to find the nearest Catholic church because the boss always went to Mass every morning. When the new Air Canada Centre opened in Montreal, B and Mike went to the ceremony and sat with Trudeau. After a while, Trudeau said he had to leave. Who escorted and walked him home? Mike, of course. "He's still the boss," he said.
Sadly, he ended his days at the Mission. They found him dead in a snowbank in the street. We still miss our wonderful, unique Mike.
