HELLO JI!
A WORD (OR TWO HUNDRED) FROM THE EDITOR
A warm Canadian welcome for a mother and child just landed from Afghanistan. Image credit: IRCC, photo by JP MOCZULSKI.
My friend Jyothi, who lives in the US, enjoys so much travel that it can’t be legal, I tease. On a recent visit to Barbados, she met several Canadians.
“The Canadians I met were all so nice!” she wrote. “On the whole, Canada is a lovely country, except (pardon my saying so) for the weather. One lady seemed very upset that Trudeau was moving the country toward socialism and curbing the freedom of the press. Do you think so?”
I agreed that Canada is a lovely country (but cold). But it’s more a capitalist country with strong public welfare policies, not socialist. Universal public health, free schools, subsidized university education, affordable childcare, and so forth. As for curbing the freedom of the press, with everyone who heckles Trudeau getting their full five minutes of fame, I don’t think so!
But recent headlines have me wondering how good a job of looking after everyone we are really doing.
The government of Canada’s web page describes medical assistance in dying (MAID) as “a complex and deeply personal issue” and informs us that the government “is committed to ensuring our laws reflect Canadians’ needs, protect those who may be vulnerable, and support autonomy and freedom of choice”.
But there are reports of people asking for it because they can’t make rent or pay their bills. People in good health succumbing to a sense of hopelessness.
Of shoplifting on the rise because people can’t afford basic groceries.
Of people sleeping on the TTC, a man so exhausted shunting between trains and buses that he actively considered acting out so he would be jailed – all for a hot meal and a warm space.
Many years ago, a cousin who was visiting from India was taking a Porter flight out of Toronto. Driving him downtown on a frigid winter morning, we were shocked to see the number of homeless people on grates huddled under mounds of sleeping bags. Cocooned in our suburban lives, we hadn’t witnessed the impact of homelessness to such a degree. But now they are keeping warming centres open in suburbs, too. And a lady at a grocery store tells me she sees several homeless people in the parking lot at night. There used to be a lady with bags in a supermarket trolley whom she bought coffee for.
“But I haven’t seen her for a few days,” she says, sounding worried.
It’s evident people are falling through the cracks.
Actor Abhay Deol keeps packets of cookies and bottled water handy for those who approach his car for alms at traffic lights in Mumbai. Not money, because he doesn’t know if their handlers will allow them to keep any and if so, what they would do with it.
As long as there are people who care, we will come up with creative ways to help.
Happy Easter!
Baisakhi ki badhai!
Eid Mubarak!
Happy Earth Day!
Shagorika Easwar