The picture above was taken in Ottawa last Friday at an “anti-racist” demonstration in the middle of the covid-19 pandemic in which our PM has been talking to us daily from out of his residence.
One must recall that our Prime Minister and another opposition leader (NDP, if Bambi is not mistaken) considered that it is too risky to operate Parliament in the pandemic. However, the packed streets of Ottawa seemed OK now when Trudeau et al. wanted to signal their virtue.
When we read the mainstream media (funded by our government for a large extent) and we take a look at the picture above again, we cannot help not to be surprised at the contrast between this new narrative about Canada and the following message from her Majesty the Queen’s to us on January 1st, 2017 (just three years ago :)), taken from the Ottawa Citizen (https://ottawacitizen.com/news/politics/trudeau-wishes-canadians-happy-new-year-queen-sends-message-to-welcoming-canada):
“I am delighted to offer all Canadians my best wishes and congratulations on the 150th anniversary of Confederation. Countries throughout the Commonwealth and, indeed, around the world, rejoice with you as you embark on this special year.
“Throughout the years, particularly since your Centennial year, I have watched Canada develop into a remarkable nation. You have earned a reputation as a welcoming, respectful and compassionate country.
“Fifty years ago, on the eve of the Centennial, I encouraged Canadians to continue to embody the values of equality, freedom and inclusion.”
End of the message of her Majesty the Queen.
After this form of public self-flagellation followed by some federal ministers sharing personal stories of “racism”, even within our institutions, one can wonder what Mr. Trudeau is up to, now that he has “politically used” the tragic death of Mr. George Floyd (in another country, one must say)? Bambi is asking this question, even if deep inside, he may be genuinely outraged like all of us? In other terms, what do they want us to swallow, as politics or ideas, besides the idea that we are systematically racist and unconsciously biased?
Once again, do our political leaders realize that they are creating “holy” or special groups or brigades of radicals. From an educational point of view, this is not a healthy way to approach “the values of equality, freedom, and inclusion“, to use our Queen’s own words.
On the contrary, this may backfire, one day. Indeed, from Bambi’s own experiences in another place that suffered from civil war, she can recognize the seeds that could turn into ingredients preceding dangerous times. Therefore, she is concerned that what is unfolding in front of our eyes may be a failed recipe where, without wanting to, we may encourage those who claim to be “oppressed” to become (more) radical. Some of the latter may consider that they are above any criticism or any rule of law. Some of these groups may push for extreme ideas that, even if they can appear appealing to some, they cannot be applied in real life (e.g., abolishing borders, police, prisons, governments, etc.). Some of these groups may be funded by organizations or folks who surely do not have our best interests at heart.
In life, extremists usually keep pushing and sometimes use “terrorizing” methods, if there is no common sense or no firmness pushing back, the end result can be ugly (an example that comes to mind easily would be the mindset and behaviour of Islamist groups that can take people, governments, or whole countries hostage).
If there is too much political correctness (and fear), this phenomenon can happen even faster. If no push back is happening, eventually we may see extremism [of opposite side(s)] occurring. Then, any push back would have to be even stronger. If both/all sides push back and forth strongly, we may easily become a large Lebanon… but at least in Lebanon there is true political and intellectual diversity. Perhaps this is what is allowing this tiny country in serious trouble to keep holding on?
Anyhow to come back to our beloved Canada, Bambi will conclude this post with one question: Is our approach to anti-racism still in the spirit of what our Queen referred to in her beautiful message cited above?
