Canada Day False Reassurance

Only days after the mass arrests and beatings that featured in the police crackdown that surrounded the G20 Summit in Toronto, the Queen addresses cheering crowds on Canada Day with a feel-good message that all is well and that Canada is a shining example for the world – exactly what the people want to hear in these uncertain times of war and economic uncertainty and exactly why they still look to an 84 year old woman for semi-divine guidance.

Now the debacle of the G20 can be blamed on a few despicable anarchist morons, the country can go on as normal with its supposedly sacred mission in Afghanistan, its supposedly profitable tar sands showpiece oil industry, its sure to come economic austerity programs, its manipulative Prime Minister, its star hockey team, its down home celebrity singers and figure skaters and its tame gospel of multiculturalism which conveniently ignores the third world living conditions that persist not only on native reserves but in our inner cities and countryside alike – not to mention its ancient draconian anti-sabotage laws from 1939 that can be revived secretly to deal with troublesome dissenters. This was a day of Tim Hortons, monarchy, street hockey, and endless patriotic protestations of innocence by guilty politicians – the inconvenient 2000 protestors who marched in Toronto under heavy police guard were dwarfed by the 100,000 strong mass of flag waving people swarming Parliament Hill.

Too many choose to remain blind and cling to myths rather than face up to harsh realities. Stephen Harper has washed his hands clean of the G20, left any after effects for the Province of Ontario and the City of Toronto to deal with, and taken sweet refuge amid royal pageantry and tradition. The lessons of the past week are telling: There will only be justice in this land, and we will only be a truly “shining example” for the world when 100,000 people throng downtown Toronto to protest against injustice in solidarity with their fellow citizens and a mere 2,000 show up on Parliament Hill to stare at royalty.