It must have hurt

Vincent J. Curtis

11 Nov 21

RE: We remember Nov 11 by lowering the flag.  Hamilton Spectator editorial of 11 Nov 21.

It must have hurt the editor to write the editorial.  Where’s the courage of the Spectator’s convictions?

Isn’t Canada a nation of colonizers?  Don’t we name the Indian bands on whose land that portion of Canada is now occupying?  Didn’t Canada engage in “cultural genocide?”  Weren’t the flags lowered for six months because hundreds of aboriginal children were murdered, died of neglect, or simply went missing from residential schools?  Aren’t statues of Canada’s founding Prime Minister being pulled down all over the country?  Isn’t Ryerson University being renamed because of Egerton Ryerson’s involvement with residential schools?

Isn’t Canada filled with racists?  Isn’t Dundas St. in Toronto being renamed because Dundas prolonged slavery in the British Empire?  Didn’t the original settlers of Upper Canada bring their slaves with them?  Isn’t racism still a hot matter today in our schools?

Isn’t Canada a hotbed of Islamophobia?  Didn’t a white Canadian man kill a Muslim family?  Don’t Muslims fear the white Canadian majority?

Isn’t transphobia rampant in Canada?  Isn’t Canada filled with white supremacists, science deniers, vaccine deniers, and climate deniers?

Don’t Canadian spew more than their fair share of climate destroying carbon into the atmosphere?  Don’t we ship fossil fuels to other countries so they can as well?  Aren’t our cattle too flatulent?  Aren’t our Armed Forces rampant with sexual misconduct?

Why is the Spectator calling to honour old white men who fought for all this wickedness?  Is that still the narrative, for now?

-30-