Category: Sackville’s Memorial park

This post begins with news headlines about Lebanon that chill the blood. It ends with Mr. Enrico Macias’ beautiful song about Beirut.

If she may, Bambi would like to offer the song mentioned above to Judge Bitar without knowing him (thanking him for his courage), to the grieving families of the surrealistic Beirut port explosion, and to her friend Maya still healing (and undergoing surgeries!) since August 4, 2020.

They/we are ALL still waiting for accountability… even if it is in the Republic of impunity. Which one is worth waiting for patiently in Lebanon, justice… or Goddot?

Mr. Jean-Marc Khawam is a French intellectual. He is a comedian, a writer, an author, and now a podcastor. As you can notice yourself, he is an excellent interviewer!

Mr. Khawam’s Entredeux Podcast is described by his platform as a “debate and conversation podcast centered around freedom of opinion and expression. Experts talk expertly about their subject of expertise … with a pinch of salt and jokes”.

Of note, Mr. Khawam happens to be of Lebanese origins, like Bambi. In French, they talked about problems of political correctness at universities and about the vision of expatriates of the Western world.

Bambi was both delighted and honoured to be among the first guests of Entredeux Podcast (what an enriching chat!). She thanks Mr. Khawam for his invitation and kindness. She hopes you will enjoy listening to their 2-hour-long discussion and perhaps learn something new from it.

This being said, you may wish to listen to this French interview in the Youtube link shown below. This interview also appears (along with earlier media interviews or videos) on Rima Azar’s personal website:

I’m Rima, Associate Professor of Health Psychology

To conclude this post, whether you will enjoy listening to this interview or not, one thing is sure in Bambi’s mind: Mr. Khawam is full of both talent and humanity. Indeed, she highly recommends his podcast. Long life to Entredeux Podcast!

Congratulations to all those who won the federal elections across parties, including Mr. Trudeau himself. The latter (once again) lost his objective of a majority at a high cost for Canada, namely of CAD $612 million!

This being said, bravo to all those who had the courage to participate, but did not win despite their hard work.

Even if no one wanted those elections (but Mr. Trudeau et al.), it was refreshing to see democracy in action, despite any disappointment, joy, or indifference.

Bambi would like to thank all those who devoted their time with Elections Canada and made this democratic process happen.

To come back to Mr. Trudeau, we are still “stuck” with him in a minority government. Nothing seems to have changed in a major way, except that we are now collectively poorer (i.e., – CAD $612 million).

To conclude this post, since democracy spoke, here is a song from Bambi to Mr. Trudeau AND to those who contributed to keeping him in power for the third time. In his song, Mr. Julio Iglesias’ informs us that “he hasn’t changed“… and then he adds that “you haven’t changed either” (he means his lover). Well, when we re-enter OR decide to remain in a loving relationship, we have a responsibility in our (hopefully lucid) decision. Although there is no guarantee in life, we know that past performance is usually the best predictor of future ones. Bearing the latter in mind, may our federal politicians be as wise as they can be and best wishes to Canada!

Happy Birthday Dearest Maya!

Every day Bambi thanks God because you survived the surrealistic Beirut port explosion. Today more than ever. May your leg injury keep healing as surely and smoothly as possible. May this new year/decade be simply beautiful. Yes, you deserve the best in life, Maya!!

To make you smile, Bambi will offer you a birthday song meant for “Maya l’abeille” or “Maya, the bee” (“Maya, l’abeille” was known as “Zeina” in Lebanon, if you recall this cartoon from our childhood :)).

To try to make you smile again, Bambi will remind you that your birthday is special for Bambi’s spouse and her for another reason. Do you happen to remember why? This is a memory test for you :)… Mmm, OK, Bambi will make it easier on you: Well, it is the anniversary of their first kiss.

In Canada, in 2021, your birthday happens to be our federal elections day (mind you, this may not be as romantic as the story above :)).

To conclude this post, all the reasons are good to celebrate in life, especially friendships. Thank you for being Bambi’s faithful friend (and the daughter of the childhood friend of Bambi’s mom as well :)). Much love to you from not only Bambi, but also her entire family!

If Mr. Trudeau is re-elected in a majority government, which is VERY unlikely, Bambi would offer him the “Mabrouk” song , which is a Lebanese song meant to celebrate weddings, anniversaries, successes, happy events, etc. It is one of Bambi’s favourite songs in life because it is joyful and associated with happy memories.

Now, if Mr. Trudeau either loses OR even wins but with a minority government, Bambi would offer him a French kids’ vacation song that celebrates vacation on each day of the week. Why this song? Because, Mr. Trudeau could (and perhaps even should) resign if he wins a minority government. Indeed, even if he wins a minority government, he would have lost his personal/party political goal. He insisted on taking his country into an unnecessary election campaign (ahead of time) AND in the middle of a pandemic. Why? Perhaps you get it. Bambi doesn’t yet.

Regardless of the song that Mr. Trudeau will receive (hoping he has a sense of humour like Bambi :)), may everyone keep on being safe and sound: him to begin with, all our candidates across parties, and all Canadians too (those who already voted in person or by mail, those who will vote tomorrow, and those who lost hope in politics and stopped voting).

As they say: Governments come and go, but countries stay. All the best to Canada!

What an outstanding job!

Thank you Uptin for your documentary on Lebanon.

Bambi was moved by your video and learned much from the wise words of the people you have interviewed.

Please keep up the great work!

Bambi appreciates Federal Minister Mélanie Jolie. She finds that she became even more competent with the years. However, lately and with all due respect, this politician made a comment that was ridiculously exaggerated to the point of sounding funny.

Indeed, Ms. Jolie commented on Mr. François Legault’s public statement following the fiasco of the English debate (i.e., the moderator’s loaded question to Mr. Blanchet, which was endorsed by the consortium of “independent” journalists). As a reminder, none of the politicians participating in the debate rejected the attack on Québec’s democratically voted bills on the protection of the French language and on the state’s secularism. Indeed, the only politician who made a quick comment about this on his Twitter account was Mr. Maxime Bernier (who was excluded from the debates).

Anyhow, Mr. Legault made a public statement the following day in which he expressed the disappointment of Québeckers (tired of being “bashed”) and to defend the values of Québec. In the Q/A period, he allowed himself to invite Québeckers to think twice before voting. Bambi was happy to see Mr. Legault having a spine by publicly refusing the “systemic” disrespect of Québec (as per her earlier post, shown at the end of this post).

In relation to this story, and as reported by Radio-Canada, Ms. Jolie later made it sound as if Mr. Legault was telling women how to vote by saying: “You know? Our grand-mothers fought for the right to vote. They also fought during the Quiet Revolution in order to have the right to think for themselves” (https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1823513/joly-legault-vote-conservateur).

Bearing Ms. Jolie’s comment in mind, Bambi has a question for her now: Will she say the same about Mr. Obama (who, as a reminder, is American and not Canadian, like Mr. Legault)? Indeed, like in the last electoral campaign, Mr. Obama allowed himself to interfere in our elections. Our media (favourable to Mr. Trudeau) are all relaying his statement.

To conclude this post, Bambi has the utmost respect for Mr. Obama, perhaps even more so lately with his wise public comment about “the dangers of cancel culture” (https://thehill.com/homenews/557317-obama-warns-of-dangers-of-cancel-culture-going-overboard). Mind you, Bambi would have asked the same question to Ms. Jolie, had it been Mr. Trump or Mr. Biden who interfered in our elections (https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/federal-election-2021/obama-wishes-friend-justin-trudeau-the-best-in-the-upcoming-election-1.5588186).

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If lebanon had had a leader to defend its values and interests, as Mr. Legault did for Québec, there might not have been a civil war or a political deadlock. Similarly, had Canada had had such leaders, the latter would have perhaps better resisted to wokeism or political correctness

According to the “new vaccine requirements and covid-19 measures” in Alberta, if Bambi is reading this document well, the new provincial rules for “private social gatherings” include the following statement (https://www.alberta.ca/release.cfm?xID=79835371972F5-959C-11E8-8A4B6C2B5B2084EB):

“Attendance at any indoor private social gathering is not permitted for vaccine-eligible individuals who are unvaccinated“.

We understand we are (still) in a pandemic. We understand that massive vaccination, perhaps along with physical distancing (and/or other strategies, as needed), are the best tools available to public health to help in getting us as efficiently as possible out of the pandemic.

However, why do governments feel entitled to dictate to people whom to socialize with or not? Whom to socially exclude or not? Since when this personal (or maybe familial?) decision about whom to invite to one’s place or not is the business of a government?

Why are politicians fostering social division among Canadians to that extent? Aren’t we already divided enough? And are they going to fine people over this, by the way?

Alternatively, why don’t they use more positive, rewarding educational methods of primary prevention to promote vaccination?

To conclude this post, perhaps it would be wise if our decision-makers learn to avoid overcontrol, even if it is in the name of our protection… and despite their fear of the coronavirus.

MAFA is the Mount Allison University Faculty Association of about150 full-time and 60 part-time faculty and librarian members.

CAUT (ACPPU in French) is the Canadian Association of University Teachers or the “Association canadienne des professeures et professeurs d’université “.

CAUT was established in 1951 and its website describes it as “the national voice of the university body. CAUT represents more than 72,000 professors, librarians, researchers and other academics and is committed to academic freedom and is actively working in the public interest to improve the quality and accessibility of post-secondary education in Canada“.

Thus, Bambi is BOTH honoured and delighted that CAUT is supporting MAFA in her grievance, as per its bulletin of September, 2021.

The CAUT statement in both official languages is shown in the two screenshots at the end of this post.

Alternatively, you may wish to read the same texts directly in the CAUT bulletin. The English statement can be found in the first link and in the top left of page 9 in the second PDF link. The French statement appears on page 11 of the second PDF link:

https://www.caut.ca/bulletin/2021/09/news-caut-defends-academic-freedom-mount-allison

https://www.caut.ca/sites/default/files/september_2021-bulletin-final_0.pdf

In addition to her continuous gratitude to MAFA…

Bambi thanks CAUT from the bottom of her heart!

Oui, merci ACCPU du fond du coeur!