A second conversation with imaginary students

Within the last two to three weeks there has been a minor but important shift in the Canadian political landscape. This has occurred not because the politicians have passed a new law or rescinded an old one (in fact it would appear that most politicians have been enjoying their Christmas vacation which means that they have been as effective as ever) but because some ordinary Canadians have gotten angry enough to do something.

When I first responded to a student's question as to what they could do to protest Bill C-45 - my answer was not particularly helpful or perhaps even hopeful. I suggested that the process to create sustainable change in the way our government made decisions would be at best slow.  For this change to occur, I argued that there would need to be a fundamental shift in the voting patterns of students and their families. I further argued that it was our responsibility to be better informed as to what the government was doing before they did it.

I was wrong.

I still think that it will take time to create a population that believes that it has both the right and responsibility to ensure that it is educated and informed. I think that we, as a collective of citizens, are still some distance away from being active participants in our government but the "Idle No More" movement has, in the last few weeks, has created a level of public awareness that just did not exist a month or so ago.

It strikes me that we are at a bit of an interesting crossroad.  For centuries it has been said (erroneously)  that the Indigenous People of Canada needed direction as they were not capable of leading themselves. Now they are leading us. They are the ones who have the commitment and the energy to stand up to the government. They are the ones who are educating their communities as to what the issues are. It is a model that the rest of us should pay attention to. There is no way at this point to know if this new movement "has legs". That is if they has the capacity to maintain their energies and to keep their issues in the forefront. But anytime a bunch of Canadians are committed enough to demonstrate in Winnipeg, in Northern Ontario or Toronto in the middle of winter they have my respect. Maybe it is time that the rest of us joined them. Maybe it is time that we too get up off of our collective behinds and in a clear and peaceful way tell the government that some things are just not OK. At the very least perhaps it is time that we started to talk to each other about what is important to us.

While I am appalled and embarrassed at some of the racist comments one can read on the various internet news pages, it seems to me that most of the comments are at least somewhat supportive. Maybe, just maybe that dialogue about what is important has finally started.

Join in the conversation. Don't let anyone tell you that it is not important to all Canadians.