CFN – Journalism is a funny business. At the heart of it is the act of informing the public of news in the community. Deeper it’s about holding people accountable for the community. It’s serving the community from helping find lost dogs to exposing scandals.
February will mark my fifth anniversary working in journalism and frankly it’s been an education in the hypocrisy of the very industry I now work in and human nature.
Recently we exposed a situation involving Swastikas at CCVS, an Upper Canada District School Board high school. Chiefly how Principal Patricia Brown left them up after two phone calls and one visit from a person who lost family in the Holocaust.
The school recently brought in a speaker; Eva Olsson, a survivor herself to speak to the students; but why this event wasn’t covered by The Cornwall Daily or the local Corus owned radio stations. For some reason they decided to not share what led to Ms Olsson’s speaking.
Some jaded people might think it could be related to the large amount of money that the UCDSB spends with Corus radio?
In today’s Cornwall Daily Eric Spence is reporting on Swastikas in the Upper Canada Bird Sanctuary.
I guess they don’t buy much radio time….
Principal Patricia Brown
David Thomas of the UCDSB
If a community doesn’t “know” something how can they talk about it or take action? When you see media lay down and not cover stories because of advertising pressure have they impeached themselves?
Likewise if a media outlet is “punished” for publishing the truth what message does that send to the community? How can we preach to kids not to bully when our very institutions are bullied by government and corporations large and small?
For two years now for example CFN and some of its client, interns, and contractors have been systematically bullied. It’s a bad TV movie on some days; but clearly this swastika issue is a micro snapshot of the overall situation.
When you look at the makeup of the UCDSB board; zero diversity; no board members or executives a visible minority. Listening to Mr. Thomas talk about our First Nation’s neighbors success at his school while not having a First Nations member of his board and watching the front row watching Ms Olsson speak this week the one question that was running through my mind was.
Did she realize that she was most likely being used by the school board to cover up some of the same attitudes that led to her speaking on this cold day in Cornwall Ontario.
The Standard Freeholder (a Sun newspaper) covered her speech without a word about why she was speaking; ie what led to her speaking that occurred at the high school.
If we do not learn from the lessons of history we are doomed to repeat them. Hate starts with fear and indifference; from ignorance. Surely if we in the media play footsie with facts we are culprit to helping the evils that exist in our societies.
It’s great that Eric Spence and The Cornwall Daily reported on Swastikas in the Bird Sanctuary. But why didn’t they report on Swastikas at CCVS?
Selective truth; like selective justice; doesn’t work.
It’s your turn viewers; feel free to post your comments below.
(Comments and opinions of Editorials, Letters to the Editor, and comments from readers are purely their own and don’t necessarily reflect those of the owners of this site, their staff, or sponsors.)
what comes to mind is that they are selective at reporting CFN news
This is absolutely a hate crime that has gone on. Nobody can tell me that the students of CCVS or any other school didn’t know what the swastikas meant. Canada is full of racism and the same is true in the US. We endured so much living in Cornwall by certain people and would never live there ever again. I wouldn’t doubt that is one of the main reasons why the Jewish people left because of the hate that they endured. Mayor Horowitz who was Jewish was mayor in the 1950’s era and was Cornwall’s best mayor. Today all you see is corruption to the core.
Yes it is mighty true that history repeats itself and that if you do not know history then you are deemed to repeat it. How mighty true that is.
Hate is mighty ripe here in Canada when a people of the same race and ways of life like the English and French do not get along and that too is another hate crime. When you cannot get along with your own kind then you go and pick on others of another and who have done no harm to you.
A big shame on the administration as well as the cops.
This event at CCVS was booked last year; we on Parent Council knew about it before summer. – it’s not easy to get a speaker like her into the schools. It had nothing to do with what happened at CCVS. You totally blew it out of proportion – you actually made the situation worse at the school thanks to the ridiculous article you wrote. You have only yourself to blame for people not wanting to advertise with you.
That’s funny Julia as I asked members of the school board that exact question which was not answered in the manner you just stated which would mean one of the parties, either you, or the member of the school board, is not telling the truth….
Julia we normally don’t allow people to post as you have without printing their name. You are casting aspersions on a person without any factual data or proof. You also have not disclosed your relationship with the school system. If you wish to post further in this manner full disclosure please.
Please provide support to your claims Julia. Here is Ms Olsson’s website. http://www.evaolsson.ca/Main.aspx?ref=splash Her schedule is not posted anywhere. Do you even know the time table to these events that have occurred?
My name clearly appears on my posts. I’m not sure what the problem is? Could it be that you are wrong!?
Julia you have no idea what I do or don’t know anymore than I would a total stranger. It also sounds like you have not even remotely looked at the facts. Again, you have to post your full name to take shots at people on CFN. I do thank you for sharing your opinion that clearly shows that you have zero understanding of the enormity of what Principal Brown’s lack of judgement means. Frankly if you really are on a parental board at the school I hope someone has the sense to remove you from it.
Julia I do believe you have a last name. IE if you want to take shots at people you should be identifiable. If you want to try and act bluff and bullyish you have to stand out of the shadows.
Julia is in full denial that the kids at that school are out of control. When CC was a respected school back in the 80’s there was no vicious graffiti. The kids has self-control. We would not press the red button. There was no need for a parent council. Congrats admin for the direct causality between your story and Mrs. Olson’s appearance after Remembrance Day.
To be fair, CC has become a dumping ground since the introduction of the Catholic schools which, fair or not, are attracting the elite academic and athletic students of all faiths. I don’t think the two board system is fair BTW.
And Ms. Brown, why the long face?
Hey where’s my comment,
I agree 420. There should only be one school board.
Which one?
Jamie (Admin) and 420 I went to different high schools in my day and CCVS was just one of them since I had a hard time to go into St. Lawrence High School which was my preference since I needed advanced French which they didn’t have. I attended St. Michael’s Academy and we had a variety of students even from Mexico and South America and was privileged to have known them.
I personally believe in two boards of education and I believe In the Catholic board which is more strict than the public board. While at St. Mike’s Academy we had Protestant students who attended and they were able to take study during religion. Do you know what the Protestant girls did – they stayed in our religion class back then because they wanted to.
When I attended CCVS, St. Lawrence and the French System of St. Lawrence since I wanted more French and took the subjects all in French which I wanted and improved myself. In those days of the 60’s era and the early 70’s that I recall there was discipline. Today there is no discipline at all compared to when I was in school and a great deal less of it compared to when my kids were in school.
About this swastika thing is that racism seems to be promoted these days. Jamie I said to you that I have a Jewish neighbor on my floor. Well this morning when I was going down with my daughter I saw her near the elevator and we spoke and a nice person indeed. We often see her dad in the garage and a nice gentleman as well.
Furtz I never saw those adds that you mentioned in Cornwall’s SF – toilet paper of record of not wanting to rent to the Jewish people nor have I heard about beaches in Montreal not wanting Jewish people.
In my husband’s country of Lebanon people are mostly divided according to their religion, monetary and social status (they live in different neighborhoods) unlike Canada or the US. Even though we have some of those neighborhoods it isn’t the very same thing. Not only that but you mentioned beaches and in Lebanon there are beaches that are highly expensive to go and yes to pay humoungous money and it also depends on who your family is as well. The class system is very much alive there.
I have never ran into anything like what you described in Cornwall in my entire life and it is just lately that I see this hatred with swastikas. I went to school with Jewish kids from all the high schools and we were treated all the same and we treated each other that way and with respect. I went to CCVS with the Nyman girls, with Carla Fisher and many others and at St. Lawrence High School as well and we were all the same that I have seen. If anything ever went wrong in those days things would have been dealt with on the spot. What was done at CCVS or anywhere is completely and totally unacceptable. There are laws dealing with this today and like I told Jamie that he or anyone could call the ADL and ACLU and other such organizations and they would have come down hard on the administration, the cops and the students responsible for doing this hate crime. Cornwall seems to be a place that is hidden or should I say trying to hide its dirty linen under the carpet hoping that it would all go away but it doesn’t work like that at all. One must deal with it unlike what Julia said to Jamie. I have to say it again and again that the best days for me and for many were the 50’s, and 60’s era before things went down hill to the bottom.
Judy or Julia – you are both posting from the same IP numbers which means I have to report this to the police as some of what you’re typing is actually considered illegal; even in Cornwall. As for your statement as we have over three times the traffic of our nearest local competitor methinks you err. Updated – as your email bounced you have been deleted.
@ Jules. Should we be surprised that you weren’t reading Montreal newspapers as a young person living in Cornwall? It might come as a shock to you, but not everyone grew up in your little world.
Thank goodness for CFN bring this problem into the light of day
I have a Nazi Swastika brought back from WWII locked away in my home
Its a reminder of the evil that can grow when people turn a blind eye
A family member fought this evil for six years during the war
It would have made him angry as Hell to find out during Canadas Somalia Inquiry
that Airborne troops/since disbanded/ had a similar Nazi swastika on display
in their barracks. One of the most shameful things I have ever heard about our troops
The Somalia Affair was a 1993 military scandal later dubbed “Canada’s national shame”
pre-deployment photographs showed him wearing a Hitler shirt in front of a Swastika.
ongoing investigation into their base of CFB Petawawa as a hotbed of white supremacist activity in 2 Commando. This included the adoption of the Rebel flag as the commando’s barracks-room decoration. The flag had initially been presented as a gift from American soldiers, and gradually became an unofficial symbol, although successive commanding officers had tried to ban its usage.
Furtz you are right that I never read Montreal newspapers as a child and not even Cornwall’s. My parents were the ones who read Cornwall’s paper while I would be the one who would line the bird cage with it. LOL LOL.
Furtz I honestly never saw any racism in Cornwall during my time EXCEPT English and French at each other’s throats and not always. We only experienced racism while we lived in Cornwall and when my husband went to work at an industry in Cornwall and couldn’t speak English only French and Arabic and the supervisor would yell out no French, no French. We experienced it after 911 when we went to Cornwall to be near my mom who was dying of cancer. Just lately a lady whose daughter who is half Inuit going to CCVS spotted the swastikas on the walls at school and went home crying. I don’t know what this young lady experienced but I can use my mind to figure that one out. Honest to God Furtz I have never seen anything like this before and that is the truth.
I once read from some American ladies that when the Jewish people took refuge in the US that they were given terrible prejudices and that they worked mainly for themselves and for one another. Well a lot of the same is true with my husband’s people as well – they make their own jobs. An awful lot of the Jewish people along with my husband’s people became doctors, lawyers and business people. Honest to God Furtz I never had any problems with the Jewish people at all nor with my husband’s people. Out of the two the Jewish people are still the better of the two. I don’t just say that but I mean it.
It’s about time someone brought attention to the “branta canadensis” and their goose stepping ilk before it’s too late.
Reports from the Upper Canada Bird Sanctuary, suggest that this would be “master species” (aka Canada Goose), is adopting a variation on their iconic flight formation that now resembles two opposing V’s, and appears as a Z… an obvious precursor to the swastika.
The Ministry of Natural Resources does not believe that this behaviour is the result of recently discovered spray-painted swastikas, swastikas that may in fact be crude training aids… images that are meant to be imprinted on hatchlings.
The Ministry is also unaware of earlier reports, that an inordinate number of nestlings have been found to be right winged.
Disturbingly, it has also been observed as recent as this month, that geese are flocking in Nuremberg rally like numbers, driving even the Cornwall Daily and Corus Entertainment to cry fowl. This has not been the case with earlier swastika sightings.
What went on at the Upper Canada Bird Sanctuary is by no means an accident. As a quilter with tons of patterns I have some on the flying geese and yes some do resemble a little to the swastika but not exactly. This swastika thing is something of hate that is going around in Cornwall and area and has to stop. People have to become educated instead.
I give tons of thanks to Jamie (Admin) on bringing this news to the front. Without Jamie all this would have been swept under the rug like everything else in Cornwall and area. You wonder why I don’t live in Cornwall or area well this is one of the major reasons. We have gone through enough. Many more people will be leaving Cornwall in the near future.
Oh come on Jules. This behavior by Canada geese has to be corrected. It is well past the time when these geese should be educated!
Seaway city welcomes goose in jack boots deficating in public. Pictures at 11.
Furtz I am always walking outdoors and can tell you that geese fly in a V pattern and not in swastikas at all whatsoever. Nobody can convince me otherwise. I think that birds and animals have a lot more intelligence than most people have especially those of today whose nose is stuck in an I-pad or a telephone or whatever crossing the streets looking like complete idiotic zombies.
@ Jules. For many years, every spring and fall, I have observed geese flying over my property. In the last few years, I’ve noticed that their flight paths seem to vary quite a bit and sometimes intersect, creating patterns that could be considered offensive. You in your Ottawa highrise condo might be OK with this disrespectful and outrageous goose behavior, but most people have had enough! Just because you think it’s fine, doesn’t mean everybody does.