Ontario to remove Sir John A. MacDonald's name from school's

Rant

Our treatment of aboriginal peoples has been and continues to be abysmal. Want to do something positive? Honour signed treaties. Learn and respect native philosophy. Provide much needed support. The suicide rate among natives is the highest in the country. Abuse and murder of aboriginal women is high and pretty much ignored. Renaming schools would be the least that could be done. Par for the course. The LEAST. Fix those things I mention and the native community will be much better off.

/End rant

a reply to: intrepid

Well said, and that was exactly my point. This isn't doing anything for the indigenous people at ALL - save a few feelings. The way they've been left behind to literally rot is disgraceful. Like you said, the suicide rate, addiction rate, murder rate is astounding and more needs to be done there..

Not removing names.. they are just taking steps towards Orwrellianism.

originally posted by: starwarsisreal
a reply to: knowledgehunter0986

Next they are probably gonna demand that the US Constitution should be removed because it was created by slave owners.

Don't give them ideas

The way things are going, the Antifa's would probably beat up some hip-hop stars sitting around a beach party with a camp fire simply for wearing "Conehead Hoodies"

splashysplash.com...

Oh oh.

John A. MacDonald is my great great great uncle...

Does that make me a bad person too ?

Shall I start packing my bags now while I still have the chance ?

a reply to: CranialSponge

Well according to the logic of some, you have inherited the blood on your hands and bear full responsibility for something your great, great, great uncle did a very, very, very long time ago.

Bad girl!

originally posted by: intrepid
Rant
Our treatment of aboriginal peoples has been and continues to be abysmal. Want to do something positive? Honour signed treaties. Learn and respect native philosophy. Provide much needed support. The suicide rate among natives is the highest in the country. Abuse and murder of aboriginal women is high and pretty much ignored. Renaming schools would be the least that could be done. Par for the course. The LEAST. Fix those things I mention and the native community will be much better off.
/End rant

I agree with what you've said. I think that as far as the school name issue is concerned, leave the names BUT make the whole story readily available...warts and all. I mean...it's not like he was a traitor or anything. I say that as one with a certain amount of skin in the game.

And yes...this is the teachers' association voting. Not the government and not the trustees, which is to say anybody with any actual juice.

originally posted by: knowledgehunter0986
a reply to: intrepid

Well said, and that was exactly my point. This isn't doing anything for the indigenous people at ALL - save a few feelings. The way they've been left behind to literally rot is disgraceful. Like you said, the suicide rate, addiction rate, murder rate is astounding and more needs to be done there..

And I might point out that just because it don't fix everything, doesn't mean feelings don't matter in this case.

Canadians do things differently it seems:

The founder of a group that removes hate symbols was shocked to learn that he was not allowed to remove a swastika from a public park in a Quebec village.

An open-air museum in Pointes-des-Cascades, Que., nearly an hour outside of Montreal, features dozens of historical anchors, including one with an engraved swastika on one side.

www.ctvnews.ca...

The American hysteria hasn't completely made its way to Canada yet...

Opinions...keep the swastika anchor?

a reply to: JohnnyCanuck

Feelings do matter, and in the case of the indigenous people, they have every right to be offended. The problem is when feelings take precedence over common sense or rationale and dictate decisions. That's not a path we want to go down because feelings are subjective and relative to each person, so who gets to determine what's offensive? The thought police?

Hello authoritarianism! ... Disguised as a freedom loving utopia.

originally posted by: knowledgehunter0986
a reply to: CranialSponge

Well according to the logic of some, you have inherited the blood on your hands and bear full responsibility for something your great, great, great uncle did a very, very, very long time ago.

Bad girl!

Yeah but...

I can drink anyone under the table, and I make a homemade 'from-scratch' poutine that can curl the hairs on your arms.

So... can I stay ?


[insert eyelash batting here]

And so it rebegins. . . . again. . . . . . .

a reply to: WhereAmEYE

I see no reason to remove any symbol. Art is meant to be controversial, and unless it's physically hurting someone (which it isn't), why do we need to remove it? To appease those too sensitive to handle an image?

Honestly if you find an image offensive, that's on you and not the image.

a reply to: CranialSponge

Me personally? I have no problem.. but you're going to have to take it up with the Thought-Police.

originally posted by: DBCowboy
And so it rebegins. . . . again. . . . . . .

No, actually nothing is beginning. Please bypass the title and actually read the article. This is just a desperate attempt by some "offended " union.

The ETFO passed Pareja’s motion as a recommendation, which means it will now be up to different school boards across Ontario to decide whether they implement the change or not.

Stop falling for the media's tricks. They're making a huge deal out of nothing and playing with your emotions.

It seems that anyone who identifies with any label are acting without thinking (or reading for that matter). Stop letting them trigger you.

Even though it's annoying that this union thinks that their opinion on names matter, nothing is happening.

a reply to: knowledgehunter0986

I agree art and monuments should be left alone unless you're toppling the Saudis or their ilk.

As for the names in your op and the anchor I'm not offended either.

The names of the school are to commemorate history and the anchor predates the Nazis, many sailors used this sign for good luck. Even if it were a Nazi anchor it's still a valuable piece of history.

I think the person who thought it was a Nazi anchor and a sign of hate is an idiot.

Omg all this political correctness gone awry, so far as to try to change history. Or apologize for history? I don't even know what to call all this. Gonna ban ten dollar bills in Ontario too because his face is on them ? I get it...we were jerks taking over this country, but you cannot eliminate the way our ancestors did things. I don't believe this makes it all better. This is widespread mass hysteria and it's spreading.

originally posted by: WhereAmEYE
a reply to: knowledgehunter0986

I agree art and monuments should be left alone unless you're toppling the Saudis or their ilk.

As for the names in your op and the anchor I'm not offended either.

The names of the school are to commemorate history and the anchor predates the Nazis, many sailors used this sign for good luck. Even if it were a Nazi anchor it's still a valuable piece of history.

I think the person who thought it was a Nazi anchor and a sign of hate is an idiot.

I know the proud Northern Ontario residents of Swastika are equally inclined to tell detractors to pound sand. Politely, eh?

a reply to: WhereAmEYE

If North Korea decided to wake up tomorrow and attempt to topple Lil Kim's regime with a physical coup, it would be justifiable if they destroyed everything including all their statue's.

Now compare that scenario with what's happening here in the West.

Eventually they will see the 'bigots' on their money and burn it all.

Then they won't be able to afford going anywhere to tear down statues.

a reply to: WhereAmEYE

No, actually nothing is beginning. Please bypass the title and actually read the article. This is just a desperate attempt by some "offended " union.

there should be one mega thread where the easily butthurt types can convene over stories of their favourite racist whatever being removed rather than a new one popping up every couple of hours.

do people understand these sites posting these stories get paid by people hitting the story, people need to look up hit counters and the like.
if every trump fan is so easily offended and visiting every news story with a headline containing statue it's no surprise no mark local sites are posting erroneous stories, they must be laughing their collective asses off at how gullible people can be.
'hey mike run down the bar and buy some wino a beer get him to slate a statue we gonna run it as the main headline tomorrow.'
and the money flows right in...

originally posted by: WakeUpBeer
Eventually they will see the 'bigots' on their money and burn it all.

Then they won't be able to afford going anywhere to tear down statues.

The identification of an issue doesn't call for mockery. It calls for serious consideration on both sides to find an equitable solution.