| Crystal Beach STRAND page six |
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| Oh Canada! |
| "It was twenty years ago today..." that I became a landed immigrant in this great country. My US Passport was stamped and I was given a piece of paper that proclaimed that I was accepted to live in Canada. It was a rather anticlimatic end to a long drama, one that actually started several decades earlier when, as a child, I decided that I wanted to live in Canada. We came over to Canada so often to visit friends and to enjoy Crystal Beach that, to a young child, it seemed that it was a magical place, accessed only by a special bridge or a big boat. We understood the seriousness of answering the questions posed by the stern looking customs officer even though we giggled in the back seat that we were going to answer the usual question, "where were you born?" with the answer, "In a hospital!" That was a standard joke as the car approached the customs booth in Canada. But we didn't dare. That "look" from Ma in the front seat was all we needed to settle down. From there, we went past the Old Fort or we stopped to visit an aunt and uncle who had a place on the lake nearby. Or, we were heading to a cottage rented for a week or two and later for a cottage rented for the whole summer. That was the best summer ever still in my memory. A few years later, my father realized his dream and was able to purchase a cottage in the beach. It was after my father died that I really wanted to live in Canada permanently. Plus the Viet Nam War; plus Richard Nixon; plus Watergate; plus the Reagan Years; plus a bunch of other things. But it would be another twenty years before that dream would be fully realized. In the meantime, a lot of loss, drama and bad decisions ensued, as I have made it my life's work to do everything the hard way. But, it all worked out and I'm still here and grateful for every day that I'm allowed to live in this wonderful country. Which begs the obvious questions: Why do I write this newsblog? Why do I complain and stir up trouble? Believe it or not, it's because I love this place so much. I understand that it can't always remain that magical place of my youth, but the beauty and the fun of this town, in my opinion, has eroded due to bad planning decisions; short-sighted goals and downright greed. I cannot stand injustice; I cannot stand it when elected officials betray the trust of the people; I cannot stand people who are willing to sell their souls because someone waved money or power in their faces. Back when I was attending university and working part time at the phone company, something bad happened: a woman was fired for no good reason - except that the single mom was dying of Hodgkins Disease. It took me a while to find the union rep and I asked how the union could let this happen and she said, "We can't do anything about it." I was shocked. And then I got busy. I went to the US Department of Labor and found out all about this union - that was a "company union" that was run by a bunch of retired telephone operators and it had never once filed a grievance over an unfair dismissal in its twenty year existence. By the time I finished my days at the phone company, I had set the stage for the eventual joining with the Communications Workers of America and brought the company's union to its knees with numerous charges of failure to represent and other labor law violations. But, it was way too late for the woman with Hodgkins. She died penniless, her children sent to foster care. Her face, and the faces of the supervisors who tormented her and fired her are still etched in my brain. I "took care" of those supervisors, one-by-one, legally and fairly. More than they deserved, really. That single-minded campaign to right an injustice, took several years of my life and exacted a great toll on my psyche. So, I came to Canada to heal and try to come to terms with the injustices I experienced. I decided to stay and try to become a landed immigrant. Surely, a country that was the envy of every country in the free world for its welcoming policy to immigrants, would have room for one more? Surely, in a country with an enviable health system, no one would have to die penniless, unable to support themselves when they were ill, would they? Surely, a country that saw the folly of the Viet Nam War and harboured its protestors wouldn't turn its back on a burned-out former union organizer, would it? And you know what? Canada didn't. Thank you, Canada. |
