AN OPEN LETTER TO THE TORONTO STAR
I’ve had some time to reflect on the events in recent days
in Toronto, our beautiful city. I am a
divorced woman with a daughter in university on her way to becoming a
productive and capable human being. I am also an immigrant who migrated to
Canada from Jamaica at the very tender age of seventeen years old.
When my mother informed me in 1973 that she was sending me
to Canada for school so that I could have a better life, I knew she was
right. Though I had two older siblings
who arrived in Canada a couple years before me, as domestic helper I had no
idea what life in Canada would be like.
All I knew was from what my sisters wrote, they were doing what they
were not able to do in Jamaica work and fend for themselves something most of
my brothers and most young people on that beautiful island are not acquainted
with.
I came to Canada to study Medical Terminology in a local
career college that now that I am more aware was more to line the pockets of
the owners. I graduated from school and
never was able to find a job in the field I was trained in. Still, I was not deterred, I found other
jobs, worked as a waitress, a dishwasher then something happened and I landed a
job in the Ministry of the Environment. A few years later I met a Canadian man
whom I fell in love with we got married, the union lasted for 10 years. A few years later I met another Canadian
male we fell in love and we had a child, it became apparent to me that I would
be single mother the very thing my mother was trying to avoid.
Still, I made good. After my divorce, I went to Europe to
forget and returned to Canada to find I had no real employable skill, but I was
a great communicator, I knew how get positive response. I created my resume and dropped them off at
the banks and low and behold CIBC called and I accepted. My life turned around
365 degrees. I loved it so much I wanted to advance so I enrolled in bank
courses so that I would provide me with the required accreditation to move forward in my
career. It was not easy. It meant coming home from work, taking care
of a child, and finding time to study and still stay fit in mind, body and
spirit. Hard work, self-control and self- discipline and self-awareness are the required tools to
pull yourself out of apathy and poverty. Being poor is not the problem, poverty
of mind is.
Please forgive me for being severely blunt for what I am
about to say.
I realize that we all have our own burden to carry whatever
they may be, and that though we believe that all people are equal, fact is we
are not. The only true measure of
equality is that of opportunity; equality in opportunity.
Being born poor is not a crime. The crime is not having the environment, the opportunity, and the
exposure to develop meaningful skill that can enable one to live a life of
dignity is at the very heart of the social problems we are having in our city.
Of course, it never fails whenever there are incidents such
as we have born witness, we immediately are looking at the “leaders” of the
community. I do not know who these leaders are but somehow the holy media
search them out to speak on behalf of “The community”. And the chorus is always the same; more
money is to be injected into the community for useless programs. Programs that are created to line the
pockets of those who know how to get funding from reckless governments, on all
levels who, to ease their conscience gives a blank cheques to communities slated to be on the priority list. Not giving any consideration to the real underlying problem of youth unemployment. I agree with Mayor Ford.Young people need to work so that they can feel productive as a contributing member of society and are not seeking handouts.
More money is not
the issue. There is not enough money in
heaven that will solve this problem that require human empathy and practical
understanding of what makes young men so afraid to fight with their fists. The
question we need to ask ourselves is what makes some young men so incompetent
to communicate with words that their only alternative is to pull a deadly
weapon that most, I am sure do not know how to use or the significant impact of
its ill usage.
Just to remind everyone, the problem of youth violence
started in the early eighties, when certain programs were eliminated from high
schools that young men who were not interested in theoretical studies might
find alternative career choice. In addition to that when the premier of the
day, Mike Harris had decided to take parents out of the equation as it pertains
to being involved in student reporting that sent a red flag to the youths that
parents have no power. To further add
fire to the fuel, a very broad decision was made that empowered young people to
leave their homes when they were not getting their own way. Financial
assistance and affordable living accommodation was provided. Now, please don’t get me wrong. I am fully
aware that there are households that are so dysfunctional and are so dangerous
that intervention becomes necessary and must be applied; in order to save mind,
body and spirit of those involved. I get it!
Now, as a parent I know that kids of a certain age can be
challenging, and can literally drive you mad. They have their own minds, and
they have recognized that they do not have to listen to you or take your advice
yet they want you, the parent to be responsible for them financially, pay
bills, buy the toys, gimme, gimme, gimme.
And if a parent/s should insist, the clarion call is, “I’ll call
911.” In a nutshell, the parents must
take all the burdens and none of the reward of providing emotional and
financial support to young people who refuse to abide by the house rules and
regulations.
The fact is we live
in a society that has rules and regulations; we call this a society that
applies the rule of law. Yet, that rule
of law was snatched out of the hands of the very people who are supposed to be
responsible for raising capable and productive human beings to become part of
our society. What we have now are a generation of young people who are so
entitled to getting things they never worked for it is now epidemic. The chicken has come home to roost.
The Schools, are at the mercy of belligerent parents who
expect their way ward kids to be cuddled and treated like babies. No one wants to speak the truth, no one
wants to accept that failure and success are partners and that failure can lead
to success and success without failure makes you weak and fragile.
And then you have new immigrants who have chosen Canada has
their new home, who barely speaks the language, they cannot communicate with
their growing children and so these young people are now more than ever, more
empowered because they are the voice of their parents. Parents, with limited language skill in both
official language who cannot communicate effectively and efficiently when it
become necessary to advocate for themselves or their children hence the
silos. We have people living in our
country who have absolutely no need to learn either one of our official languages
because they do not have the desire or
the need. Everything they need is in their community, there is no need for them
to spread their wings and enjoy the bountifulness of the real essence of what
it means to live in a multicultural society.
Because of this we have ghettos within ghettos that sometimes are
cesspools for violence and abuse and a breeding ground for fair and oppression.
Our prime minister is closing schools and building prisons
assuring us that there will be ample room to lock away the difficult unemployed
youths. We don’t need to see them, we must hide them, lock them away and spend
more money taking care of them with no hope of them ever being rehabilitated to
re-enter society. Meanwhile, back at the ranch we are bawling for more gun
laws, more strident crime bills, more, more of everything that solves NOTHING.
Oh, dear God help us all.
