École Polytechnique, Dunblane, Columbine, Sandy Hook, and so many others in so many places over so many years, with Tumbler Ridge now joining this infamous list.
While I have to admit that I had not thought of the federal governments interaction with our rural citizens I think you are right about that. However, I think the biggest problem is the lack of mental health support in Canada. My first thought when I read that the person was wearing a dress was that they were trans and that they had been subjected to bullying over their need to transition and broke down and reacted badly. I am sure that this is a direct result of them living in small town Canada where there isn't even a hospital as shown by the need to fly survivors to other centers for treatment. And yes, I know what it can be like to live in a small town where reports of your misdeeds made it home before you did.
I suspect you are right on all counts here, but as it's only a suspicion I did not want to make that the focus of this piece. Bullying was, however, the focus of my discussion with my nearly-12-year-old daughter about the incident.
I think you were right to not make it a focus of your post in the absence of information. Good for you for making the focus of your conversation with your daughter. I hope more people do that. I had that conversation with my 13year old son many years ago when something he did bullied someone in his class and he ended up being suspended for it.
I have been on the receiving end of bullying and there were many times when I fantasized about "solving" the problem inappropriately. Thankfully I did not have the means available to do so.
May I ask: was it your daughter that wanted to talk about bullying, or did you want to bring that up?
Rina and I never had children, but I do wonder about these types of conversations. Many of our friends are parents (some quite young children), and these conversations are so different now than they were when we were younger.
She hadn't even heard about the incident, which surprised me as I assumed it would be the subject of discussion at school yesterday. I brought it up to her for a longer discussion about bullying and our individual responsibilities with regard to it.
I believe the problems are much larger than rural-vs-urban, but I agree this is far more than about the appropriate-vs-inappropriate uses of firearms (and other tools that you don't see regularly used in more densely populated regions).
While over 70% of Canada's population is south of the 49'th parallel, only a tiny percentage of the geography is. It is a basic statistic that seems to be forgotten in conversations about "National Unity" when this set of government institutions accumulated jurisdiction over a land base in a very unnatural way. There has never been any Truth or Reconciliation process surrounding the contradictions in the formation of these institutions and various jurisdictional claims.
Southern populations generally don't (even try to) understand the North, and this deliberately generated conflict can be seen in how provinces were drawn north-south (provinces were imposed "taller"rather than "wider"), which directly conflicted with existing population demographics that were east-west.
There are good reasons why much of the more northern populations feel like they are always treated as a subordinate periphery controlled by various distant southern "centers" (IE: in an empire of empires like fashion).
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Separate:
Canada is likely the second most proud member after Britain itself of the British Commonwealth, the ongoing expression of the British Empire. A lack of recognition of mental diversity and importance of mental health is something that is quite common within Anglosphere worldviews. I say this as someone who was only assessed as an Autistic person in my 50's, having lived in a culture that isn't very accepting of diversity of any kind. I wish inhabitants and governments on this continent would mature past these worldviews.
I speak openly about Autism as I know how stigatizing any diversity is, and I want younger people to feel they aren't alone even if they can't easily "come out" in their own communities.
While I have to admit that I had not thought of the federal governments interaction with our rural citizens I think you are right about that. However, I think the biggest problem is the lack of mental health support in Canada. My first thought when I read that the person was wearing a dress was that they were trans and that they had been subjected to bullying over their need to transition and broke down and reacted badly. I am sure that this is a direct result of them living in small town Canada where there isn't even a hospital as shown by the need to fly survivors to other centers for treatment. And yes, I know what it can be like to live in a small town where reports of your misdeeds made it home before you did.
I suspect you are right on all counts here, but as it's only a suspicion I did not want to make that the focus of this piece. Bullying was, however, the focus of my discussion with my nearly-12-year-old daughter about the incident.
I think you were right to not make it a focus of your post in the absence of information. Good for you for making the focus of your conversation with your daughter. I hope more people do that. I had that conversation with my 13year old son many years ago when something he did bullied someone in his class and he ended up being suspended for it.
I have been on the receiving end of bullying and there were many times when I fantasized about "solving" the problem inappropriately. Thankfully I did not have the means available to do so.
May I ask: was it your daughter that wanted to talk about bullying, or did you want to bring that up?
Rina and I never had children, but I do wonder about these types of conversations. Many of our friends are parents (some quite young children), and these conversations are so different now than they were when we were younger.
She hadn't even heard about the incident, which surprised me as I assumed it would be the subject of discussion at school yesterday. I brought it up to her for a longer discussion about bullying and our individual responsibilities with regard to it.
I believe the problems are much larger than rural-vs-urban, but I agree this is far more than about the appropriate-vs-inappropriate uses of firearms (and other tools that you don't see regularly used in more densely populated regions).
While over 70% of Canada's population is south of the 49'th parallel, only a tiny percentage of the geography is. It is a basic statistic that seems to be forgotten in conversations about "National Unity" when this set of government institutions accumulated jurisdiction over a land base in a very unnatural way. There has never been any Truth or Reconciliation process surrounding the contradictions in the formation of these institutions and various jurisdictional claims.
Southern populations generally don't (even try to) understand the North, and this deliberately generated conflict can be seen in how provinces were drawn north-south (provinces were imposed "taller"rather than "wider"), which directly conflicted with existing population demographics that were east-west.
There are good reasons why much of the more northern populations feel like they are always treated as a subordinate periphery controlled by various distant southern "centers" (IE: in an empire of empires like fashion).
------------
Separate:
Canada is likely the second most proud member after Britain itself of the British Commonwealth, the ongoing expression of the British Empire. A lack of recognition of mental diversity and importance of mental health is something that is quite common within Anglosphere worldviews. I say this as someone who was only assessed as an Autistic person in my 50's, having lived in a culture that isn't very accepting of diversity of any kind. I wish inhabitants and governments on this continent would mature past these worldviews.
I speak openly about Autism as I know how stigatizing any diversity is, and I want younger people to feel they aren't alone even if they can't easily "come out" in their own communities.