blame

Tuesday June 8, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday June 8, 2021

‘No more crocodile tears’: Residential school survivor demands action from feds

A residential school survivor says she is sick of talk, and is demanding action from the federal government on reconciliation between Canada and residential school survivors.

June 3, 2015

“Canada, no more talk! No more promises. No more crocodile tears. It’s time to take action,” said Evelyn Korkmaz, speaking at an NDP press conference Thursday.

Korkmaz said that survivors like herself have known that children’s remains were buried across Canada even before 215 bodies were found last week at the site of a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C.

The federal government should fund the investigation of the 139 residential school sites across Canada, Korkmaz said, calling them “crime scenes.” She’s also urging Ottawa to identify the missing children and notify their families, complete the 94 Calls to Action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, honour the residential school settlement agreement and stop fighting settlement cases in court.

Korkmaz was speaking at a press conference on a motion put forward by NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh that calls on Ottawa to drop a pair of Federal Court appeals he says represent a “belligerent” approach to justice for Indigenous children.

June 2, 2021

Singh says symbolic gestures are not sufficient and that the moment demands action, accusing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of hypocrisy in sympathizing with Indigenous communities while fighting them in the courts.

The Liberal government is appealing a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruling ordering Ottawa to pay $40,000 each to some 50,000 First Nations children separated from their families by a chronically underfunded child welfare system.

It is also fighting a tribunal decision that widened the applicability of Jordan’s Principle, a rule stating that when governments disagree about who’s responsible for providing services to First Nations children, they must help a child in need first and argue over the bills later.

Trudeau said earlier this week that “an awful lot” of work remains before reconciliation can be achieved, stating that residential school survivors need more support amid profound intergenerational trauma.

Singh is also asking the government for faster implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s calls to action, trauma resources for survivors and a progress report to be tabled in 10 days.

June 3, 2021

Korkmaz would also like to see the Catholic Church account for its role in residential schools.

“The Catholic Church also needs to acknowledge and take ownership to repent and pay for their sins,” she said.

Last week, the Indian Residential School Survivors Society (IRSSS) called on Pope Francis to address the atrocities that happened at residential schools, days after the remains of 215 children were found on the grounds of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School.

The Catholic Church was responsible for operating up to 60 per cent of residential schools in Canada and is the only church involved in residential schools that hasn’t made a formal apology.

Korkmaz said that it’s past time for Canada to take concrete steps toward reconciliation.

“The time has come to act. No more talk. We’re tired of talk. We need action and we need action now. Today.” (Global News) 

 

Friday May 7, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday May 7, 2021

The Political Blame Game

February 6, 2021

For months now, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has blamed everyone for Canada’s trickle of COVID-19 vaccines but himself.

Trudeau and his ministers have gone so far as to blame former Progressive Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney — who was prime minister from 1984 to 1993 — for the privatization, or “the selling off“, of Connaught Laboratories. What he fails to mention is that Connaught Labs didn’t go anywhere. It’s now part of Sanofi Pasteur, the world’s largest manufacturer of vaccines. The Connaught Campus in Toronto accounts for one-fifth of the company’s global vaccine sales.

Experts in Canada’s innovative pharmaceutical industry — as opposed to the generic pharmaceutical industry — say Trudeau’s attempt to pin the blame on Mulroney or a more recent Conservative prime minister, Stephen Harper, is ironic, because were it not for Mulroney, the innovative industry likely wouldn’t exist here at all.

March 9, 2016

Paul Lucas, who was president and CEO of GlaxoSmithKline Canada from 1994 to 2012, started speaking out and wrote an opinion piece in the Financial Post after he heard federal Liberal Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs Dominic LeBlanc being interviewed on CTV’s Power Play with Evan Solomon, saying that GlaxoSmithKline had closed its manufacturing facility for vaccines during Harper’s Conservative government, which is false.

“This facility didn’t close, it’s still producing most of the flu vaccine for Canada on an annual basis,” Lucas said during a recent telephone interview.

“I’ve been very concerned and frankly upset about the lies that are coming from the federal government about this whole (COVID vaccine) file,” says Lucas, who was integral to the production and distribution of the Canadian vaccine for the H1N1 pandemic in 2009. All of the vaccine for that outbreak was produced in the GSK factory in Quebec City.

“Trudeau has badly botched Canada’s COVID-19 vaccine procurement,” states Lucas.

“First, he blamed Harper for his own failings. Then he blamed Mulroney and then he blamed the provinces. Then he actually turned on his own vaccine task force. He blamed them for about a day or two. Then he blamed the companies — Pfizer for delaying the delivery of its vaccines in January,” explains Lucas. (Calgary Herald) 

November 19, 2020

Meanwhile, Ontario Minister of Long-term Care Merrilee Fullerton faced a call from the Opposition to resign her cabinet post on Tuesday, in the wake of two reports that reviewed her ministry’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In recent days, Fullerton has been pressed to explicitly acknowledge whether she feels she shares any responsibility for the more than 3,700 deaths of long-term care residents with COVID-19 in Ontario.

During question period Tuesday, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath asked when Fullerton was made aware that some residents had died of dehydration or basic neglect, which led a tense exchange between the two.

“The premise of your question is bordering on obscene,” Fullerton said. “And the reason why is because all of the ministry, public health, medical officers of health, thousands of people have been working to shore up these homes and they were no match for COVID-19.”

Fullerton said that some long-term care homes became “warzones” within days of the first confirmed cases among residents and staff. 

“What we were doing 24 hours a day was trying to get support to those homes, with an unknown virus that wasn’t fully understood and a shortage of supplies globally,” she added.

May 4, 2021

Fullerton then said the NDP had failed to pressure the previous Liberal government into fixing Ontario’s beleaguered long-term care sector.

“Look at your failure. I was left to pick up the pieces from a devastating 15 years of neglect,” she said. “I will not be spoken to that way by the leader of the opposition that neglected this sector.” 

Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk and the Ontario Long-term Care COVID-19 Commission both released their respective reports last week. While the probes examined different aspects of COVID-19’s impact on the long-term care sector, they reached similar conclusions: the ministry was not prepared for a pandemic, in part due to years of inaction to prevent a crisis. (CBC) 

 

Friday December 2, 2011

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator - Friday December 2, 2011 The real shame of Attawapiskat After seeing the images of Attawapiskat First Nation beamed around the country in recent days, a viewer could hardly be blamed for not believing that they were looking at a part of Canada, or that the people enduring this travesty are their aboriginal neighbours. Plywood walls, plastic-covered windows, 20 people sharing a two-bedroom house, a one-burner hot plate to cook for a whole family, lack of insulation, plumbing or electricity Ð the scene is tragic and heartbreaking. But the people of such remote reserves have been living in a dire situation for a long time. The real shame of Attawapiskat is that the people who knew these conditions existed never told Canadians about them. Stephen HarperÕs Conservatives knew. Shawn AtleoÕs Assembly of First Nations knew. But it has taken a tragedy to reveal the stark truth. ItÕs Mr. AtleoÕs job as AFN national chief to know if his people are living under deplorable conditions. Each elected chief in the assembly has a responsibility to let him know. ItÕs then his responsibility to tell Canada about it and demand action. In turn, the federal government has the responsibility to act. The job of an aboriginal affairs minister includes informing government when people are suffering. With that knowledge, itÕs the responsibility of a prime minister to inform Canadians and tell us what the government intends to do about it. Mr. Atleo failed to show leadership long ago. IÕve been a journalist since 1979, and I know how easy it is to craft a press release, hold a news conference and inform the public. But you have to want to do it. You have to want to confront wrong and demand change. I wonder if having his budget depend on a cozy relationship with the government prevents him from doing that. (Source: Globe & Mail) http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/opinion/the-real-shame-of-attawapiskat/article2257262/?ut

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday December 2, 2011

The real shame of Attawapiskat

After seeing the images of Attawapiskat First Nation beamed around the country in recent days, a viewer could hardly be blamed for not believing that they were looking at a part of Canada, or that the people enduring this travesty are their aboriginal neighbours. Plywood walls, plastic-covered windows, 20 people sharing a two-bedroom house, a one-burner hot plate to cook for a whole family, lack of insulation, plumbing or electricity – the scene is tragic and heartbreaking.

But the people of such remote reserves have been living in a dire situation for a long time. The real shame of Attawapiskat is that the people who knew these conditions existed never told Canadians about them. Stephen Harper’s Conservatives knew. Shawn Atleo’s Assembly of First Nations knew. But it has taken a tragedy to reveal the stark truth.

It’s Mr. Atleo’s job as AFN national chief to know if his people are living under deplorable conditions. Each elected chief in the assembly has a responsibility to let him know. It’s then his responsibility to tell Canada about it and demand action.

In turn, the federal government has the responsibility to act. The job of an aboriginal affairs minister includes informing government when people are suffering. With that knowledge, it’s the responsibility of a prime minister to inform Canadians and tell us what the government intends to do about it.

Mr. Atleo failed to show leadership long ago. I’ve been a journalist since 1979, and I know how easy it is to craft a press release, hold a news conference and inform the public. But you have to want to do it. You have to want to confront wrong and demand change. I wonder if having his budget depend on a cozy relationship with the government prevents him from doing that. (Source: Globe & Mail)