Squatter was evicted...

so what?? The story has been splashed all over the papers and been on the television news. Chris "Gardiner" (an assumed name) layed claim to a piece of land under the Gardiner Expressway and built himself a little house. Apparently he's lived there for 8 years. Now he's pissed because his shack was torn down. I just don't get why the man believes he deserved to live tax, rent and mortgage free. I am a single mom who struggles each month to make sure all of my payments are made. I don't take hand outs and never have. Why is he so self-important to believe that he should not have to take on the responsibilities most adults do in this country?
Get a JOB! Get an apartment! Then you will have the rights of a tenant. Then complain and come to me with a sob story about your landlord. Don't steal a piece of land and expect to be treated like me. A hard working, tax paying citizen.

I'm sorry I have no sympathy for a man that has the skills to build a house out of nothing. But can't put those same skills to work on a construction site for a legitimate paycheque.

Since when does the church have a right to silence an opinion on city politics?

Deborah Boschman of Brandon Manitoba was concerned for her city. So she decided to raise her voice. She wrote a letter to a local newspaper. In it she criticized her local political figures and made suggestions to help the city become more prosperous. Seems simple enough. A woman concerned, voices that concern.

Not really. You see, the pastor of her church (the Bethel Christian Assembly http://www.bethelbrandon.ca/) Mike Davis decided that she had stepped out of line. So much so that he wrote her his own letter. In that letter, he boldly stated that he was embarassed when he saw her letter in the paper. He reprimanded her as though she were a petulant child and not a concerned citizen. He even went so far as to suggest that she may want to worship God elsewhere. Pushing away a member of the flock for writing a letter to a newspaper, regarding local politics?? It is completely absurd. Made so by the simple fact that it had absolutely NOTHING to do with the Church, Faith or God.

It is people like this that drive potential followers of faith away. Exclusionary, elitist superiority at it's best. It is also people like Mike Davis that have kept me from even trying organized religion. I believe in God and I do not believe for one moment s/he would approve of his flock being turned away for voicing concern and opionion. After all it is my belief that he wants us to come to him in faith and of free will. Not out of fear and the need to assimilate ourselves in to a society of little unemotional robots that smile and nod.

Is one missing child more urgent than another?

Jordan Bruyere is a 14 year old native boy that has been missing since July 22nd, as I noted in my last blog entry. I have been taking this whole Peter Whitmore case to heart and this whole thing has left me wondering. When is one child's disappearance more important or more urgent than another?

Immediately upon the RCMP discovering Jordan was believed to be with convicted pedophile Peter Whitmore, there should have been a stepped up urgency. There should have been media notification and attention. Yet Jordan, even now, is still ONLY considered a missing person. Not kidnapped, not a child in danger/peril. Even now that there are confirmed sitings and that he is in the company of a man who rapes children. A man that the corrections services reported was 100% likely to re-offend upon release. A man that is presently being hunted for kidnapping a 10 year old boy.

While Jordan did not give verbal indications to his mother that he is in danger or being abused, there is something the RCMP should take as an indicator that something isn't right. That 14 year old boy did not know where he was. At 14 years old it is not hard to figure out unless you are being prevented or threatened to not devulge such information. Another indicator should be from an eye witness who stated that Peter Whitmore was passing Jordan off as his son. Neither of these little particulars are positive things and lead me to believe that either throught threat or violence Jordan is not with a child rapist of his own free will.

So when will the RCMP take this boys 'missing' status to the same level of Zachary? When will this native child stop being treated as less important?

Soon I hope. His life is just as important. His innocence is probabley gone now as well.