Today is the beginning of Bullying Awareness Week in Canada, and once again this humble campaign's biggest enemy is the indifference of so many Canadians.
As Rick Mercer said in a video last year, for those long out of school Bullying Awareness Week can seem at bit like National Nutrition Week.... and is easily ignored.
Until you google BULLYING and SUICIDE and you realize it's a huge problem. One that can ruin lives or end them way too soon. Or you read what Michaëlle Jean recently wrote:
"Bullying is not only about threats and intimidation, it is foremost about contempt and injustice.”
Or you know that 60 percent of boys who are bullies in elementary school will have a criminal record by the age of twenty-four.So it's EVERYBODY'S problem...and we all have to stand-up to bullies whoever they are.
Which is why I'm so happy..and proud... to see Montrealers like Nico Archambault doing just that.
I was the only guy in the dance part of the sports/dance program and was surrounded by hockey players, divers, gymnasts and swimmers. I was automatically labelled as gay and experienced homophobia first hand.
Cruel jokes, intimidation, insults. People ignored me, pretended I wasn’t there and had no respect for what I had to say. They would steal or damage my belongings and people would team up to hurt me physically. I took a couple of beatings.
And all the parents and teachers and kids who are trying to do something to fight this horrible problem.
This campaign for a kinder, gentler Canada still doesn't have enough support or resources. It's still an uphill struggle in the face of public indifference. For too many kids, like gay teens, school is still a war zone
And of course Stephen Harper's Con government is doing nothing to help gay kids or all the other victims.
Despite these dismal statistics, organizations like PREVNet that work to promote positive relationships and combat bullying among Canadian kids are about to run out of federal funding with no new funding in sight, despite their being linked with 62 expert researchers from 27 Canadian universities, and 49 national organizations. Because these Cons are not just homophobes, they are bullies themselves. Which is the main reason I dislike them so much.
But thanks to people like Nico Archambault and thousands and thousands of others we are making some progress. We just have to do more.
Because whether it's in the schoolyard... or the workplace... or the seniors home ... or wherever. Every life COUNTS...
I am the person who says bullies are cowards, and will fight them FOREVER.
I am the person who believes indifference KILLS. I am the person who says bullying is cruel and EVIL.
I don't think I can ever really understand why Stephen Harper hates Omar Khadr so much. Because I'm not a psychiatrist. But it sure is a creepy Hate Story. The Prime Minister with the cold dead eyes, and the Canadian kid in Guantanamo.Who is slowly going blind, and who just got some more bad news. I used to think it was because Harper wanted to impress George Bush, and show him that he likes torture just as much as he does. Even though there was always more than enough evidence to show that Khadr was innocent. But now I realize that Harper is just feeding his rabid Reform base, who howl with excitement at the pain of others...especially if they're brown,or gay,or women. And who hate the Supreme Court above all Canadian institutions. Because when the Cons roll out the dickhead Pee Wee Poilievre... Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre told reporters that "any decision to ask for Mr. Khadr’s return to Canada is a decision for the democratically elected government of Canada and not for the courts.”
You KNOW they are talking to the crazies... or the morons who think it's OK to torture a Canadian kid because they don't like his family. And after today's hearingone thing is clear: the Cons have run out of arguments and are just extending Omar Khadr's agony, so their rabid base can scream like banshee bigots and keep funding their Perpetual War Fund.
Which makes Stephen Harper look like even more of a psycho. A sadistic freak who would play cheap politics with the life of a Canadian kid. Who was first horribly wounded.
Then tortured. Left to rot in a hell hole like Guantanamo. And is now getting another raw deal. In other words, a Canadian citizen who was captured as a child soldier in Afghanistan, who was dragged over there by his jihadist father, who has rotted without charge for years, will be afforded less fairness and due process than the man accused of masterminding the worst attack on innocent civilians in American history. To repeat: Omar Khadr is a Canadian citizen. Oh boy. I know why he's doing it, but why does Stephen Harper seem to enjoy torturing Omar Khadr so much? When he asked that CBC journalist whether she liked handcuffs I thought he was joking. But now I really wonder.
In the name of human decency when will these foul pervert Cons finally be defeated? Before they corrupt us all...
There are some things I like about Jason Kenney's new Con citizenship guide. Like the big colour picture of Les Canadiens at the top of the sports section. And this. "In Canada, men and women are equal under the law," the document says. "Canada's openness and generosity do not extend to barbaric cultural practices that tolerate spousal abuse, ‘honour killings,' female genital mutilation or other gender-based violence. Those guilty of these crimes are severely punished under Canada's criminal laws. Because it's about time. But as for the rest of this Con Canada Guide it's just another crude attempt by the Harperites to remake the country in their image. As even John Ivison admits. It might easily be dismissed as a glossy brochure, but that under-estimates the thought and effort that went into it. This is not tinsel, it's symbolism and is yet another incremental step in the re-branding of Canada into a conservative country, full of people more inclined to vote Conservative. Full of nods to their rabid Reform base, and ethnic communities they hope to win over. Lots of stuff about religion and religious freedom. And absolutely nothing about the human rights of gays and lesbians. Even though some immigrants come from countries where it's OK to persecute them...or even kill them.
So you'd think that the government might want to protect gays. Like the government of the Netherlands did. But not our Cons because they are homophobes themselves. They are not only openly discriminating against gay and lesbian Canadians, and fuelling a violent anti-gay backlash. Now they're trying to write them out of the fabric of Canadian society. And there's no bigger SoCon homophobe than Our Lady Lord of Perpetual Chastity Jason Kenney.
The fact is that homosexuals aren't barred from marrying under Canadian law. Marriage is open to everybody as long as they're a man and a woman."
Jason Kenney 2005
And no bigger IDIOT...
Except that it's not funny,because his failure to screen out homophobes could endanger OUR lives. And deprive us of the right to live and love in peace in our own country.
You know I'm surprised that more people didn't notice how gays and lesbians had been erased from the Citizenship Guide.
They are changing our country beyond recognition. Anyone just weeks removed from steerage who reads the new guide will think Conservative values of unabashed patriotism, pride in the armed forces and support for the rule of law are synonymous with Canadian values. And the divided left is too IMPOTENT to stop them. But at least nothing these Con thugs do surprises me anymore.
Another good reason to avoid Vancouver during the Winter Olympics. If you don't end up in jail for complaining about this massive waste of money. Or aren't tasered. You could end up deaf.
The device — which is a compact version of its predecessor, the Long Range Acoustic Device — can be mounted on top of a vehicle. It is capable of emitting a blast of directional sound measuring an estimated 146 decibels at one metre away and an estimated 99 decibels at 500 metres.
Sound above the range of 120 to 140 decibels is considered painful and damaging to human hearing.
Or worse...
Some fear it could cause fatal aneurysms. Welcome to the party folks. Welcome to the most expensive loudspeaker in Canada. "The primary function we're using the device for is its ability to communicate with very large groups with respect to crowd control, evacuations, tactical situations where we may need the loudspeaker portion of it," Welcome to the police state they call the Olympic Games...
Well there I was biking down the boardwalk with my friends on a balmy Indian Summer day in November. Skidding on the dead leaves. And it was so excellent I'm starting to think life in Canada couldn't be better eh?
Until I noticed that this year many of the maple leaves are covered in big ugly black spots like tumours. And it just about ruined my day. Because I couldn't help thinking of Stephen Harper and his Cons and what they're doing to Canada. Corrupting its values. Eating away at its fabric, like a fungus. By pitting Canadians against each other.
Like Great Ugly Leader is doing with the gun registry, using it to drive a wedge between rural and urban Canadians. Stirring up the Great Rural Urban Divide over gun control. Even though he himself once supported it.
Calgary Reformer Stephen Harper surveyed his constituents and found broad support in principle for gun control. He supported the bill at second reading. He then conducted another survey, in which he explained the details of the bill, and found a majority opposed to critical elements. He voted against gun control at third and final reading and faced accusations of flip-flopping and/or rigging the survey to get the result he wanted. And was threatened by gun nutz. Calgary Reform MP Stephen Harper, one of only two Reformers to support the bill, has also received “threats against my person or family.” .
But now he's quite happy to join them, as they whip up rural Canadians by claiming the registry only exists because city slickers hate them. Huh? Because I don't hate anyone...except bullies and bigots. I don't judge people from where they come from.
And it all seems like Canada to me...
If you don't rake the leaves in the fall, you'll pay for it in the spring. If you don't shoot the critter eating the chickens you'll go hungry in the winter. You know it's bad enough that Stephen Harper wants to change our gentle country into a nastier meaner place. It's bad enough that the opposition can't get more traction out of this health disaster.
Or all the other rotten things these porky Cons have done. But to allow Harper to play wedge politics in a country as fragile as this one, as he does all the time, could turn out to be the biggest disaster of all. He has turned West against East, rural residents against urban dwellers. He has tried to marginalize women, gays, and artists. During the Coalition crisis he tried to turn English Canada against Quebec. Where will it end I wonder....and how much anger and resentment can a country take before it blows apart?
Which was almost enough to put a cloud over my beautiful Canadian Indian Summer day in November eh?
But not quite...
Because it was too warm and beautiful. And I love and believe in the infinite possibility of this young country too much to give in to despair.
So with that in mind I'd just like to say this to all the decent people in rural Canada.I hate the way some of you are being used by the Harper Cons to drive another wedge between Canadians.
I wonder if you, like me, ever wonder where all this anger and division might lead us?
Because I think I can see where this one is going.
As more and more Canadians ....on all sides.... forget that this country was built on compromise not confrontation... like it was in the United States. And for good reason.
Oh well.... whatever happens in the future, I just want you to know that this city slicker.... from a rural/fishing village so small it makes a small village in Saskatchewan look like Chicago.
Still hates guns in cities. Still believes police officers have a right to try to make their jobs safer. But understands where you're coming from. Desperately wants you to be happy.
I didn't want to write about these women again. It bothers me too much. I've already said what I wanted to say.
But the thought that so many appear to have forgotten them makes me so angry, I feel I just have to keep speaking out.
Or let people like Susan Riley say what I would say.
What a bitter spectacle: MPs from all parties, except the Bloc Québécois, caving to a decades-long campaign by disgruntled gun owners, to U.S.-inspired attack advertising in targeted ridings and to self-interest to issue a death warrant to the long-gun registry
They capitulated to a well-orchestrated disinformation effort, rather than fighting back with reasoned argument and proposed improvements to the existing registry -- rather, that is, than appealing to values, values they conveniently ditched to save their skins.
Dismissed, also, are the victims -- relatives of the women killed at the ÉcolePolytechnique, modern-day parents like Elaine Lumley, whose son was shot dead crossing a street in Montreal in 2007. Lumley was on the Hill this week, shocked and stricken by the vote -- but she couldn't get a hearing, perhaps because she doesn't fall into the Tories' approved victim category.
If they were more concerned with fighting crime than scoring ideological victories, our MPs would find a way to fix the registry, not ditch it. Instead, this week's reversal is a symbolic and emotional blow to victims of gun crime -- and a disgrace to their skittish supporters.
Because it's all so true. it is a bitter spectacle. And it is an appalling betrayal.
Not only are these ReformCons forgetting the women of the Polytechnique, they're stripping their deaths of meaning. And dismissing 20 years of heroic feminist struggle to try to make Canada a safer place.
By taking on the powerful gun lobby, and the women hating Cons who would turn Canada into a blood soaked mirror image of gun crazy Amerika.
Long guns are the most common type of firearm used in spousal homicide, according to the RCMP. With restrictions in place against them, the number of women murdered with firearms dropped by 62 per cent between 1991 and 2004.
So where are the progressive voices of protest? Where are all the strong feminists? Why the deafening silence?
Did these women really die in vain?
Did one of the most important feminist struggles in modern Canadian history really mean nothing?
Didn't we learn ANYTHING?
And what kind of country are we becoming? Those are the questions that haunt me.
OMG.Thank goodness the week is finally over. It was horrible. The defeat in Maine, the sight of the Reform Party back in the House of Commons.
But at least it wasn't half as bad as the week Stephen Harper and his political thugs just had. Because that was a real DISASTER.
First there was continuing meltdown over their failure to prepare the country for a pandemic. Even as the swine flu continues to spread. Then there was the bad economic news. Oh boy. If only they'd squirted a little piggy manure into opposition ridings...instead of squirting it all over themselves...they might have fooled more Canadians into thinking they knew what they were doing.
But of course now they can't...
Because after that simple illustration of the Porky Action Plan even an idiot can figure out what's going on. Allo police? Then there was the way they hacked away at the Gun Registry to please their rabid gun nutz base. Even though that means police officers will be in danger...and even more women will die. Long guns are the most common type of firearm used in spousal homicide, according to the RCMP. With restrictions in place against them, the number of women murdered with firearms dropped by 62 per cent between 1991 and 2004. So now they're not "crimebusters" anymore. Just misogynist bastards and friends of criminals. Then there was the horrible sight of Tubby Van Loan trying to avoid explaining why he hid an RCMP report on guns, until AFTER the registry vote. Sweating like a pig while trying to dodge questions from reporters..
Oink. Grunt.SQUEAL. And finally to put a cap on this disastrous week in Con World ....like a turd cherry on a sundae... there was Puffy Duffy jumping the Swiss Chalet chickenshark. To show us all what these Cons are all about. And how low they can go.
Golly. What more can we ask for ? That'll teach 'em eh? Don't fuck with women AND the police. Or the karma police will get ya...
Ooh I love that toon. I've been waiting to sing for so long. This is what you'll get when you mess with us.
Oh no.What bad timing for the Reform Cons. It's gun hate day in Amerika.
Just 24 hours after their disgusting little gun love day in Canada. And can you believe those scummy Cons? They hid this report until after the vote was over. Even though it it involves the safety of police officers. Those dastardly crime police busters. And can you believe that so many progressives MPs folded like cheap suits or cowards? By caving in on a Reform Party style free vote...instead of acting like members of a party with PRINCIPLES. What will the next "free vote" be on I wonder... ABORTION? But what I also found disheartening was the number of progressive bloggers celebrating the death of the Gun Registry. Including some of the best, most decent and progressive ones.
I'm not going to single anybody out, or deal with their arguments. I dealt with most of them last night. But I would ask ALL of those progressive bloggers why NONE of them bothered to mention that filling out a form could save the life of a police officer? Does the kinder gentler Canada we are trying to build really include a society full of unlicensed guns? What does progressive really mean? Because I'm confused eh? And how, since some of them are such strong feminists, could they all have forgotten to mention the women of the Montreal Massacre?
Not just the ones who died or were injured, but all the others who fought the powerful gun lobby for years to bring in the gun registry, and make sure the victims didn't die in vain. People like Suzanne LaPlante-Edward who believes a gun registry might have saved her daughter. (PDF) We victims of gun violence want more than tears, white ribbons, and kind words. We want action. The semi-automatic Ruger Mini 14 used at the Polytechnique in Montreal is still sold as an unrestricted hunting rifle. With C-391 we will no longer know who owns these guns or the 7 million other rifles and shotguns in Canada. In most cities there will be more information about who has cats and dogs than who owns firearms. Doesn't her opinion count? Or the opinions of so many other victims of gun violence. Isn't it worth more than the yapping of gun owners too lazy to fill out some forms...or the teabagger screeching of the Con's rabid Reform base?
You know a month today we will mark the 20th anniversary of the Montreal Massacre. And I can't think of a better way for some progressives to prepare, than reading up on that terrible day.Studying the history of the heroic feminist struggle that followed.
Fighting to FIX the gun registry ...if it needs fixing...rather than letting these ReformCons and their stooges DESTROY it.
Or as I said yesterday, just watching this movie...
Because we need to decide what sort of a gentler, kinder, more civilized society we want to build.
About nine years ago I used to go down this leafy sidewalk all the time, on my way to meet Sébastien at the Université de Montréal. And I'd pass those stone monuments to the 14 women killed in the Montreal Massacre. And maybe it was because I was crazily in love, and young Kerouac was bouncing along beside me, although it was such a sad tragedy, I remember feeling happy. Sometimes I'd even say "hi Annie" or "salut Hélène."Because they were being remembered. And because I was so SURE that we were building a better society with less guns, so violent men couldn't kill so many people... as well as themselves. So the deaths of all those beautiful young women wouldn't be in vain. But today if I walked past those monuments I'd have to slink by with my head down. Or just say "sorry." Because as far as I'm concerned they just shot them again. OMG. What a Day of Infamy. How could they? Those dirty old Cons. Those dirty old men. Didn't they even see the movie?
Don't they understand that when you don't do all you can to discourage gun ownership in society, violence can explode out of nowhere. Don't they care about the lives of our police officers? Don't they know that a shotgun can blow your head off even better than a hand gun can? Don't they remember that if the gun registry cost billions, it's only because the rabid redneck teabaggers of this country SABOTAGED the system? And should have been jailed for it rather than rewarded. I realize it's a big deal in northern and rural ridings. But it's also a big problem. And if they can register their cars, they can register their weapons as well. And BTW what does it say about Canadians who are too LAZY to fill out a form that could save the life of a police officer...or the paramedics who accompany them? Answer: not very much. And then there's the Bloc, that also represents northern and rural ridings, but still voted as one against this Reform Party bill . Great eh? The separatists as the last defenders of the values that make us Canada not Amerika. What's wrong with that picture? Oh boy.I knew that if Stephen Harper and his foul alien Cons ever got a majority, I'd wake up in a country I wouldn't recognize. But who knew it would happen before that?
What I do know is that when I'm next in Montreal, I will make damn sure I go past those monuments again.
Hi Annie. Hey Maude. Salut Hélène.
I don't know how it happened. I'm so sorry. How soon they forgot you.
But rest in peace sisters.
The battle against those who would turn Canada into Amerika continues. And we will always REMEMBER...
I stayed up late tonight to watch the results coming in from Maine. A steady stream of messages coming in from from my family and friends down there, and others trying to save gay marriage.
First they were excited, then they were hopeful, and then they were disappointed.
As gay Americans have been every single time gay marriage has been put to the ballot, and the majority gets to decide whether they are fully human or not.
I'm so sorry for all the gay people and their straight friends who worked so hard to try to convince people in Maine to do the right thing.
They must be so disappointed.
But sadly the wretched bigots from NOM and the Catholic Church, managed to fool the ignorant into thinking that gay marriage was a threat to children.
Their hateful message worked.
And our gentle message didn't...
But you know I wouldn't change a thing. Because that's why we're better than them.
My brothers and sisters and friends in Maine fought the BEST campaign ever. They were brilliant. I'm so proud of them.
What gay writer Rex Wockner had to say is true:
There will be days like this Tuesday when bigots might force a backward step in the inevitable, unstoppable march to equal treatment under the law for GLBT Americans. The next generation will remember "Yes on 1" voters the way we remember people who believed black folks should drink from separate water fountains. I absolutely guarantee you that.
However long it takes, how many battles we have to lose before we win the war, however hard it is to put your very integrity as a human being on the line for approval by strangers: this is worth doing. This is why we're here. This is what we're supposed to do. History is on our side. The creepy bigots will be defeated.
