Canada

Today is Remembrance Day in Canada, and in other places as well (e.g. Veterans Day in the USA), where those who died in war are remembered.

A common symbol to wear is the Red Poppy in Canada and other Commonwealth countries.

This year, some war veterans in Edmonton are upset that some are promoting the white poppy as a symbol on Remembrance day, as a symbol for peace.

I always felt that the red poppy is a symbol of war. The poor soldiers who have to go to war and lose their life, body parts, or sanity are not the main perpetrators of war. The politicians are the ones who start the war and let others die for their own purposes.

Sheema Khan wrote an article in the Globe and Mail about how foreign policy and domestic resentment (culminating in "homegrown" terrorism) are intimately tied. This applies equally to Canada, UK or the USA.

Kimveer Gill, a 25 year old Montreal man marched into Dawson College carrying three pieces of weapons, including a semi automatic carbine. He fired tens of shots. One student was killed. Two are still in critical condition, and many others wounded. Gill shot himself in the head after the police shot him in his arm.

Gill was wearning combat boots and a black trenchcoat. His online profile was on a Goth web site (vamiprefreaks.com).

Several interesting observations on the aftermath:

• Some blame the Goth culture,
• Some blamed the internet site he frequented.

Guilt by association, and seeking simplistic answers for complex issues.

• Some praised his actions online.
• Some blamed the police for killing him (ignoring that it was Gill who barged in and started shooting at people).
• Some say he died a good deed.
• Others belittle the "deed" for the low count of the victims, as well as not going out the way it should.

The interesting part is that there was no cause, and no motivation. Still some glorify the atrocity.

Interesting parallels with terrorism, and its aftermath ...

The public inquiry into Maher Arar's case is finally out.

Maher Arar is a Canadian Syrian engineer. After spending a vacation in Tunisia (where his wife is from), he was travelling from Tunisia to Zurich to New York to Canada on Sept 26, 2002. On his stop in New York he was detained by US authorities and taken to Syria, via Jordan. There he was interrogated and tortured for more than a year, and then freed with no charges.

An inquiry was held to investigate the role of Canadian authorities, in his being detained by the Americans and being sent to Syria.

Here is a quick overview of notable encounters between humans and wildlife in Canada for 2006.

Bear

In July, A man canoeing in Northern Ontario killed a bear with a knife when it attacked his dog.

Bison

In August, a North West Territories community is suffering from bully bison.

Cougar

Later in August, a boy was attacked by a cougar on Vancouver Island. The boy's father kicked the cougar and saved his son, who suffered only a deep wound in the scalp.

The CBC is reporting that a Mississauga, Ontario resident has been defrauded of $49,000 in what is known as the black money scam.

The black money scam claims that there are piles of cash that has been dyed black, and needs a special chemical to remove the dye. Of course, money is needed to buy the chemical. A demonstration is made with real money and is convincing enough to dupe the victim into giving money for buying the chemical.

Then after delays, and more money, the victim is left with a pile of black paper stacks and some liquid, and defrauded of his own money.

Although $49,000 is a considerable sum, it pales in comparison with what another man lost: $742,000, as the BBC reported in 2004.

Statistics Canada released the result of a study today about internet use.It says that those who used the internet heavily tend to be more loners, but less rushed and more laid back.What is interesting is that they define heavy internet users as those who use the internet for  an hour or more per day!I guess I am way off the chart then ... 

Two recent polls do not give a comforting picture.The first shows that 18% of Canadians are uneasy in the presence of Muslims, compared to 5% saying the same for Jews, and 31% for born-again Christians.The second says that one quarter of Canadians see Muslims negatively, compared to 10% only for Jews and Christians.

You know something is wrong with the world, when a homeless woman who owns a dog gets a visit from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), and given instructions on how to build a dog house.

Another shameful and un-Canadian racism incident in Canada.Jazz player Oscar Peterson is being racially taunted by a group of youth who drive by his house. Peterson was born in Montreal, and now lives in Mississauga.He is a companion of the Order of Canada, had his photo on a stamp. He is 81 years old.From his comments in the interview, it seems the slurs or taunts made threats to his family as well.