A younger Facebook friend replied to a post of mine in which I'd asked how anyone could accept a Prime Minister who was trying to scare us into the belief that there was a jihadist under every bed. He sounded sincere in wanting to try to understand why we should not be afraid. I took him at his word and researched and presented a lengthy history of Canada's rather impressive record:
(It's lengthy. Hang in there.)
This morning I took your questions regarding my comments about that hateful Conservative fear tactic seriously, as though you were really sincere about wanting to understand how it is, indeed, a fear tactic for political purposes. I have had a very busy day, but now, out of respect for your questions and in response to your subsequent comments, I am going to share about three posts: one to address the issue of refugees coming to Canada, one to address the parliamentary history of Stephen Harper and his worthiness to be Prime Minister, compared with the credentials of the other two front runners, and finally, a post regarding bleeding heart liberals. I hope you will take the time to read these in the spirit I. Which they are offered. Based on your gut-instincts, you won't likely agree with me. But I have a fairly long history, some substantial research and as the daughter of a refugee, some life experiences that you might consider. Here goes:
Refugees
My dad's people were refugees, escaping a communist overthrow and civil war in Russia. From the stories, I know a bit about the terrors involved in packing three generations, old and young, male and female, and walking...yes, walking...away in the middle of the night with only what one can carry. Dad was an infant. When they came to Canada as part of a group of about 600 to the Battle River Valley, there were calls from some of the neighbours about letting communists in. Of course, had they stayed in their village, the communists would have killed them, as they did my great-grandfather's brother and all of his family.
I don't know how many Russian refugees were resettled in Canada besides the 600 who were part of my dad's group, but I found a web site that gave the number 20,000 Eastern European Mennonites who came during the 1920's as well. So the total is considerably higher.
Actually the Canadian history of providing refuge for displaced persons goes back much farther --
in the 1770's it was the Quakers, escaping persecution during the American Revolution. (The Yankees were against the Quakers' pacifist religion.)
In the 1780's it was African American Black Loyalists. Thousands came north from the US, and were settled in communities in Ontario, and the Maritimes -- 3000 in Nova Scotia, alone. They were provided with small holdings of land, and household provisions.
1830–1910: Thousands of Poles fled Eastern Europe after Russia, Prussia and Austria annexed Poland in 1793, beginning a period of brutal occupation and oppression. In 1831, a Polish uprising against Russia was ruthlessly suppressed, and a great number of Poles fled to Canada to escape economic, political and military reprisals. Many of these Polish refugees participated in the Lower Canada Rebellion of 1837, using their political and military experience to contribute significantly to the British campaign in that province. During the second half of the 19th century, Poles continued to come to Canada in search of a better life, and many became successful businessmen, politicians, farmers and artisans in eastern and central Canada. During the first decade of the 20th century, the largest wave of Polish refugees immigrated to Canada, and by 1910, Poles represented 0.5 percent of the Canadian population.
1870-1914: At the end of the 19th century, thousands of European Jews came to Canada to escape religious persecution, revolution, and the social and economic changes brought about by industrialization. The first wave of Jewish refugees came from Germany in the aftermath of the failed revolutions of 1848. The second wave came from the Pale of Settlement, a region in Eastern Europe and Russia that had a large Jewish population. Social and political upheaval in this region between 1881 and 1914 resulted in an increase in anti-Semitism, and Jews faced worsening restrictions on mobility rights and economic freedoms. At the turn of the 20th century, European Jews were coming to Canada in the thousands, seeking political, religious and social refuge. The peak year for Jewish immigration was 1914, when 18,000 refugees, mostly artisans, small merchants and unskilled workers, arrived in Canada.
1919–1939: After the First World War, Ukraine became embroiled in a bitter struggle for independence. The Soviet invasion, occupation and subsequent establishment of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1919 created social and economic turmoil in the region. Thousands of Ukrainians fled to Canada, seeking refuge from religious and political oppression, and to escape the ravages of civil war. In 1932, a massive and devastating famine in Eastern Europe, called the “Holodomor,” forced even more Ukrainians to seek the safety and prosperity of the Canadian Prairies.
1945–1952: In the wake of the Second World War, millions of displaced Ukrainians sought refuge in Western Europe and North America. Between 1945 and 1952, 35,000 to 40,000 Ukrainians settled in Canada, largely as a result of the lobbying efforts of Canadian-Ukrainians who had come as refugees earlier in the 20th century. Unlike the previous waves of Ukrainian immigration, those who came to Canada during the post-Second World War period tended to gravitate toward the urban centres of Quebec and Ontario rather than the Prairies. Ukrainian immigration to Canada peaked in 1949 and by 1951, there were nearly 400,000 Ukrainians in Canada, contributing significantly to the cultural fabric of the nation.
1970s: Between 1970 and 1973, Chile tried democratically to create a socialist system under the leadership of Salvadore Allende. Fearing the spread of socialism and communism in Chile and other South American countries, the Chilean military took down the Allende government in 1973. The socialist reforms were reversed and a capitalist dictatorship was established by military coup under the leadership of General Augusto Pinochet. For more than a decade, Chile experienced a period of brutal political repression, economic turbulence and social restrictions. Between 1973 and 1978, nearly 13,000 Chileans fled to Canada to escape persecution and the authoritarian rule of General Pinochet. By 1978, Chilean immigration to Canada represented nearly 2.5 percent of the national total.
1971: Between 1955 and 1971, a state of conflict existed between the Muslims of West Pakistan and East Pakistan who could not agree on political representation and economic systems. After a series of disputed elections, the Bangladesh Liberation War broke out in 1971 between the two states. West Pakistan troops attempted to suppress East Pakistan by taking control of the cities. When the population resisted, the army carried out a series of massacres and human rights atrocities. While East Pakistan won its independence in 1971, becoming the new state of Bangladesh, many thousands feared persecution and economic instability after the war. At first, only a few hundred Bengalis fled to Canada, but between 1971 and 1986, many hundreds more joined their family members in Canada.
1980s: Khmer Cambodians fled their war-ravaged country to find refuge in Canada. Cambodia was increasingly affected by the Vietnam War. Caught in the cross-fire between North and South Vietnam, over a million Khmer were forced from rural areas into Phnom Penh where thousands joined the communist Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot. When Phnom Penh fell to the Khmer Rouge in 1975, Pol Pot undertook drastic reforms to alter traditional society by engaging everyone in state-controlled rural production. He evicted the population of Phnom Penh to rural areas. Over three years, two million were murdered, starved or affected by disease. Vietnam invaded in 1979, driving Pol Pot out. The collective farms collapsed. People began returning to their previous homes, but roughly 40,000 fled to Thailand. They were forced back across the border until Thailand yielded to international pressure and allowed the creation of UNHCR camps. Canada began accepting Cambodian refugees in 1980.
2006: In the fall of 2006, Canada accepted the first group of 810 Karen refugees from Thailand. The majority of the Karen people live in Myanmar, Burma, but they also comprise the largest of the Hill Tribes of northern and western Thailand, near the border with Myanmar. Political struggle and persecution resound throughout Karen history. The Karen fled their Burmese homeland in waves throughout the 1990s and 2000s. Many went to Thailand where they ended up in camps and came under pressure from the Thai government to leave. Many were forcibly evicted. Canada continued to receive Karen refugees from Thailand and eventually resettled 3,900.
2015 only 2500 Syrian refugees have been admitted to Canada, from a commitment for 10,000. Many in government, military, and the diplomatic corps claim that even 10,000 is a ridiculously low number.
I took these examples from an article called Canada: a History of Refuge, on the government of Canada website. cic.gc.ca, on the immigration page.
My points are:
1. I have no doubt that with every new wave of refugees, there have been mean spirited people who have tried to resist their acceptance. I, myself, was called a dirty commie when I went to school in Rimbey. There were only two or three families of Russian descent there, and so there was no one else to target, I guess.
2. History has shown (and I heard this in a commentary on a radio show called The 180) that after the initial cost of resettling refugees, their contribution to our country has consistently proven to be economically profitable for the communities in which they settle. And for the country as a whole. They don't steal our jobs, they do jobs we don't want to do. And they learn and participate and enrich us with their culture and their life experiences. Are there problems? Sure there are. Just as there are among our already-existing Canadians. That's how it is with people.
3. There is a vast difference between a Syrian refugee and an Islamic Jihadist, and I have absolutely no doubt that Stephen Harper is drawing upon his own narrow-minded cowardice to fuel this notion. Fear mongering has been a conservative tactic in many countries. It is unfounded. It is evil. Please approach it doubtfully.
4. Ours is a nation built of immigrants and refugees. It is what has shaped us to this point. We have never established ourselves as being too entitled or too cowardly, or too selfish to open our hearts and our communities before. It is to our shame that some are trying to do so now.
Here endeth the sermon. Stay tuned for instalments on the other two topics.
So he told me that Mr. Harper might be imperfect, but he is sure a lot better than the competition. I choked a little, and borrowed from my friend, Marc. If this list makes a man better than the opposition, I weep:
My second topic, grown from your comments, is that of the merits of our Prime Minister compared with those of his challengers.
Stephen Harper is a student of Straussian Philosophy. Leo Strauss was a philosopher who believed that the elite should use deception, religious fervor and perpetual war to control the ignorant masses. We are the ignorant masses he is trying to control...through deception, through fear mongering, and through legislation, much of which we don't even know because it it hidden in massive, 400 page omnibus bills. But as long as he can keep you afraid of the jihadist hiding under your bed, you won't likely go digging into that legislation. And that is good for him, because most of it wouldn't withstand a challenge if you did know about it.
Stephen Harper gained the leadership of the CPC on a lie. He was leader of the Alliance Party at the time, and based on a signed agreement (a photo of which I will post here) with then PCC leader Peter McCay that there would be no takeover, blah blah blah, he didn't quite wait for the ink to dry before that takeover was a fait accompli. I don't know your position on honesty and integrity, but I do know mine.
Since then, every election he has contested has involved cheating...convicted in court. As I said, I do know my position on honesty and integrity.
Further to that, People, and politicians are flawed, so therefore, no party will suit you to perfection. However, to vote Conservative I would need to plug my nose and ignore:
1. Book burning
2. Scientist muzzling
3. Constitution ignorance
4. Witness tampering
6. Baldface lying
7. Contempt of Parliament
8. Jailed MP (first in 60 yrs for actions as an elected official) (Irony Of Minister of democratic affairs being jailed for breach of democracy)
9. convicted of Electoral fraud (in every election they have won)
10. Poor economic management
11. Failure in their own most important files (think pipelines)
12. Pierre Polievre
13. Worst economic performance of any Canadian PM - ever.
14. Abdication of all things environment.
15. Did I mention baldface lying?
16. Refusal to speak to the 4th estate aka...Canadians.
17. Centralization of power beyond anything we have seen in this country
18. Nine straight deficits
19. A foreign policy that makes George W. Bush look anti-Israel and moderate.
20. An expensive Dumb on Crime policy
21. Billions wasted on the F-35
22. The death of ministerial accountability
23. A vision limited to "How fearful can I make the Canadian populace?"
24. And still with the lying.
25. Publicly funded partisan ads
26. Something about the Senate but who remembers?
27. Governing in the dark due to the end of the long form census.
28. A disdain for the Canadian people by refusing even to campaign to non-Conservatives.
29 Paul Calandra... And the lying!
30. An international reputation so diminished that we can no longer support Canadians in trouble overseas. (Fahmy)
31. Vote rigging and strategic disenfranchising.
32. A cold-hearted silence towards and a departure from Canada's traditional role as a world leader in humanitarian causes.
33. Ministers (Chris Alexander) who blame the media for their own lack of action. Did I mention this minister lied... a lot...in order to point blame.
34. Joan Crockatt.
Now some of those are bigger issues than others. It is extremely insulting, unsupported and difficult to swallow that "oh sure, he's bad, but the others would be worse." Worse based on what? Precisely! I must be tiring, because I want to throw that ball back into your court.
So he told me that the worst thing for this country is bleeding heart liberals. Of which I am one, he thinks. Episode 3:
You say that like it's a bad thing. "The worst thing in this country is you bleeding heart liberals." Well you can stop that right there. For one thing, you only say that because you heard some other person say it, and for another, you have no idea what you are talking about. Respectfully. But that pinches a nerve. I am calling BS. It is unfounded, it is insulting. The worst things, in my opinion, in this country are ignorance, entitlement and selfishness.
This whole country was formed and developed by the bleeding hearts. When a new settler was moving in during the homestead years, whole wagon loads of bleeding hearts loaded up and trundled over to help raise a barn, set up a shack, work up some sod, lend a cow. When one neighbour finished up his fall work, his bleeding heart took him to help his next door neighbour. Until the whole district was finished and in the bin. I recall a family who lost an entire calf crop due to an illness brought on by the sour gas plant. Every family in the district donated at least one replacement calf. We have always done for each other. My families have been on both sides of the bleeding heart largess. We formed lifelong relationships that way. We gave with no expectation of payback, and we received with every intention of payback. That is how our country was.
What ever happened? When did we suddenly find ourselves in the midst of you non-bleeding hearts? You tiny-pinched up-hard-hearts? You,who only believe what you hear on Fox News, you who instantly resort to finger pointing and name calling, you who think it is all ours, and our way is the only way. (Taking a break here to curse into a pillow.)
Whew. I am angry, fed up, disgusted and discouraged. But I hope you have taken the time to read and consider, and possibly learn and respect that other attitudes are worthy of consideration. That disagreements should be informed, And that our own convictions should be challenged so that we can defend them without resorting to name calling.
By this time, I was pretty suspicious that he really wasn't wanting to wrap his understanding around any new notion. Instead, he began posting clips from neo-nazi sites to my time line. A mutual FB friend sent me a DM defending him, and telling me I was narrow minded, and a FB friend of
his wrote a lengthy diatribe in the comments with all sorts of obscure references to a Muslim soccer team in Ontario. Proving my point, perhaps, that we are being fed a lot of fear.
However, in summation, I have learned that just because a person says he wants some understanding, he doesn't, necessarily. And more than anything else today, I know:
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