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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)

 

Thursday November 11, 2010

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday November 11, 2010

There is a bill we must pay

It has been often observed that old men start wars and young men are sent off to fight them. For all the truth in that, it lets countless others — us — off the hook. It is nations — the governors and the governed — who send their young men and women off to fight, to kill or be killed.

The reality is that most of us born after 1945 don’t have a clue what being in a war is like; even soldiers’ stories are often draped in the compassionate veil of time.

It is those at home who drape the war in glory, triumph and patriotism. We bask in the reflected glory of battling barbarism, genocidal ambitions, repression and cruelty. We feel we, thousands of kilometres from what may pass for a front line, are part of the grand fight for freedom, democracy, eventual world peace, or even the right of young girls to go to school without having acid splashed on their faces.

Part of the enormous debt we recognize in Remembrance Day observances and ceremonies today is that Canada’s warriors fought far away so we didn’t have to fight at home. Whether the fight is against fascism or dictatorship or terrorism, soldiers go to fight in our stead.

Soldiers give what we civilians could not imagine losing: a part of their young lives, innocence, comrades with whom they shared a bond forged in the military experience. They lose limbs. They lose peace of mind, even their sanity. They lose their lives.

In return, they ask us to remember. A soldier’s greatest fear is that he or she will be forgotten. In Canada in the past decade, coinciding with the passing of the last of the veterans of the First World War and the increasing thinning of the ranks of Second World War and Korean War vets, there has been a resurgence of respect for Remembrance Day, the veterans it honours and the fallen it remembers. This is a very good thing. (Hamilton Spectator) 

 

Thursday February 25, 1999

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator Ð Thursday February 25, 1999 No food or drink in pool, breastfeeding mom told A mother breastfeeding while swimming at a city recreation centre was ordered to leave because "no food or drink is allowed in the pool."Shannon Wray, 25, was enjoying family swim time Friday morning at Huntington Park Recreation Centre on the East Mountain when her nine-month-old daughter Chyenne got hungry. "I was sitting in the hot pool with my daughter in front of me and I pulled down my bathing suit strap, " Wray said. "And I took my breast out and put her on it.Ó A moment later, Wray was approached by the pool's aquatic director, who advised the mother she would have to go into the change room to feed her child. Wray said she was told that it's the culture and recreation department's policy that there is no breastfeeding in the pool area. "I'm very sorry you're offended, " Wray told the woman. "But that's your problem. I'm nursing my baby and I'm not moving. You're going to have to deal with it.Ó Wray believes other swimmers complained. When Wray refused to leave, she was told by the aquatic director that she couldn't stay in the pool because of the state of "her attire." Then, she said, a male lifeguard told her she had to stop breastfeeding "because no food or drink is allowed in the pool.Ó Wray said she has breastfed her baby in public many times -- including at the Huntington Park pool -- but never had any complaints before now. "It's unfortunate that a natural act had to become some political brouhaha, " said Wray. "This was very inappropriate and very humiliating.Ó Alderman Mary Kiss, vice-chairperson of the city's parks and recreation committee, said she was "appalled" that breastfeeding in public was still an issue for some people. "It's great to have mothers breastfeeding their children. I'll definitely look into this.Ó The lifeguard and aquatic director were just plain wrong, said Gary Makins, manager of

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday February 25, 1999

No food or drink in pool, breastfeeding mom told

A mother breastfeeding while swimming at a city recreation centre was ordered to leave because “no food or drink is allowed in the pool.”Shannon Wray, 25, was enjoying family swim time Friday morning at Huntington Park Recreation Centre on the East Mountain when her nine-month-old daughter Chyenne got hungry.

“I was sitting in the hot pool with my daughter in front of me and I pulled down my bathing suit strap, ” Wray said. “And I took my breast out and put her on it.”

A moment later, Wray was approached by the pool’s aquatic director, who advised the mother she would have to go into the change room to feed her child. Wray said she was told that it’s the culture and recreation department’s policy that there is no breastfeeding in the pool area.

“I’m very sorry you’re offended, ” Wray told the woman. “But that’s your problem. I’m nursing my baby and I’m not moving. You’re going to have to deal with it.”

Wray believes other swimmers complained.

When Wray refused to leave, she was told by the aquatic director that she couldn’t stay in the pool because of the state of “her attire.” Then, she said, a male lifeguard told her she had to stop breastfeeding “because no food or drink is allowed in the pool.”

Wray said she has breastfed her baby in public many times — including at the Huntington Park pool — but never had any complaints before now.

“It’s unfortunate that a natural act had to become some political brouhaha, ” said Wray. “This was very inappropriate and very humiliating.”

Alderman Mary Kiss, vice-chairperson of the city’s parks and recreation committee, said she was “appalled” that breastfeeding in public was still an issue for some people.

“It’s great to have mothers breastfeeding their children. I’ll definitely look into this.”

The lifeguard and aquatic director were just plain wrong, said Gary Makins, manager of the city’s east recreation district.

As far as the culture and recreation department goes, said Makins, mothers can nurse “at the pool, in the pool or on the side of the pool.

“I think our lifeguard or aquatic supervisor shouldn’t have asked her to leave, ” he said. Makins will send a copy of the city’s breastfeeding policy to each of the pools he supervises and he will write Wray a letter of apology.

As for no food or drink in the pool? “That doesn’t apply here, ” he said. “But if she was eating a sandwich in the pool, that would be a problem.” (Source: Hamilton Spectator)