Canada’s Prime Minister gets Rare Standing Ovation at World Forum

For those of you who might not have had the opportunity to hear Mark Carney’s quiet yet deliberate eloquence, a fellow Canadian blogger has offered us the entire speech. Well worth the read.

Brilliant

I have never been so thankful for our leadership and so proud to be Canadian. No speech writers here – this is our leader at his best.

True North Strong and Free!

Canada says “Hands Off Greenland!”

Note to readers: When I published this I didn’t know that in 1917 Denmark sold its Caribbean islands to the United States – renamed the U.S. Virgin Islands. As part of the treaty, U.S. recognized Denmark’s sovereignty over Greenland.

Donald Trump has such an inflated sense of self intelligence and importance he thinks he’s pulling the wool over our eyes. Trump orchestrates the arrest of Venezuela’s President on drug charges claiming it’s to protect Americans. Nonsense. It was really to gain access to Venezuela’s oil. Now he wants Greenland to protect the United States from potential Russian aggression. More nonsense. Truthfully, what Trump wants is their treasure of rare earth minerals.

This is no game. It’s been reported that the President of the United States has actually directed the Joint Special Operations Command to draft an invasion plan. An undisclosed source says the generals have said, “It’s like dealing with a five-year-old.” Here’s hoping they learn quickly how to play his game, because that’s all Trump knows.

Trump is a five-year-old. He’s taken to referring to North and South America as “the Western Hemisphere” and doesn’t even realize that much of the U.K. and Europe are actually in the Western Hemisphere. He doesn’t have manners or respect for anyone. He thinks everything is a game. He wants his own way all the time. He doesn’t know politics, history, or geography. He is a five-year-old! If you’ve ever played with a five-year-old you know their attention span is short and when they don’t get their way, they knock down the blocks or kick in the sandcastle.

Greenland isn’t a property on a Monopoly board. It is a territory of the Kingdom of Denmark; ergo a part of NATO. While many Greenlanders support independence from Denmark, they certainly don’t want to be a part of the United States. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederikson has said, “You do not change borders by force”. Kurt Volker former U.S. Ambassador to NATO claims that if the U.S. takes Greenland by force it will be the end of NATO. Basically, the world is in agreement: Hands off Greenland!

Greenland and Canada have experienced a long, positive relationship. They are both members of the Artic Council and both rely on indigenous peoples for their input concerning maintenance and protection of the north. Greenland shares a border with Canadian territory Nunavut. There was a long and lighthearted dispute between the ownership of Hans Island yet Denmark and Canada amicably agreed to split it. Greenlanders are Inuit (90% of the 56,000 population) and Canada has over 70,000 Inuit. Canada’s esteemed Governor General, Her Excellency the Right Honourable Mary Simon, is of Inuit decent and has extensive experience in artic affairs. She also happens to be the Commander-in-Chief of Canada’s Armed Forces. To strengthen the ties between Canada and Greenland, the former is opening a Canadian consulate in the latter’s capital city Nuuk.

While Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is taking action on several levels to protect our northern borders, Donald Trump is still playing games – mouthing off at every chance he gets. “We are going to do something on Greenland whether they like it or not”, “If we don’t take Greenland, Russia or China will”, and “The fact that they had a boat land there 500 years ago doesn’t mean they own the land.” Really? No, Denmark and Norway colonized Greenland in the 1700s and acquired the land through the Treaty of Kiel. By today’s standards, Denmark ‘owns’ the land. Morally, perhaps we should consider the Innuit ‘own’ the land. Either way, as Mark Carney has said, “The future of Greenland is for Greenland and Denmark to determine.” Ah, the adult in the room.

Back off, Donald Trump. Hands off Greenland! You cannot acquire, annex, take, purchase or occupy Greenland. NATO won’t let you.

16 Days of Activism: Defined

Many are not aware of what these 16 days represent, so I felt it necessary to explain. The 16 days start on November 25th, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, through to December 10, Human Rights Day. The 16 days call for solidarity to end violence against women and girls everywhere. It’s about time the Ontario government recognized gender-based violence as an epidemic.

16 Days of Activism: Montreal Massacre

In Honour of Alzheimer’s Month 3

Being a caregiver to someone inflicted with Alzheimer’s Disease can be all consuming. Hopefully this might help…

Remembering Mom Part 3 – How to Help Your Dementia Loved One

Canada More Proud Than Ever!

As the world learns how strong and free Canada truly is, its people rejuvenate national pride. Social media is flooded with proclamations of how adults demonstrate strength, clarity, consideration, inclusivity, and poise in citizenship, leadership, and relationship-building. We’re taking the higher road.

An example is this week’s move to by the Canadian Government to halt the Digital Services Tax, which taxed all tech companies, not merely American ones, in order to resume trade negotiations and bring Donald Trump’s administration back to the negotiating table. While some Canadians were livid, many political reporters explained that in lengthy, all-encompassing negotiations, ‘give and take’ along the way is required to eventually be successful. The bottom line is it’s a strategic play. South of the border, though, Karoline Leavvitt announced that Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney “caved” with a smirk on her face. (Someone needs to slap that girl!) Of course the Trump team would brag about this as a win. We’re taking the higher road.

In rebuttal to Trump’s quips about making Canada the 51st State, Mike Myers, Canadian comedian and icon, appeared on SNL wearing a ‘Canada is Not for Sale’ t-shirt suddenly motioned and mouthed “Elbows Up”…a brilliant act inspired by the memory of hockey great Gordie Howe that instigated a national movement. Canadians are not offensive, but will react in defense. We’re taking the higher road.

Today is Canada Day, the national celebration of the 158th anniversary of our confederation. We are a sovereign country, part of the British Commonwealth, and despite some groups who threaten to separate, mostly united in our quest to remain the True North Strong and Free. We have an abundance of natural resources, creative people who are willing to work hard, free health care, minimal gun violence. In past we have relied upon the U.S. for military defense. Now we’re building up our own. In past many of our trading has been North/South. Now it’s East/West and across the seas. In past we’ve purchasing arbitrarily regardless of where it was manufactured. Now most Canadians are vehemently reading labels, researching and sourcing products made in Canada or anywhere but the United States. We’re taking the higher road.

We’re not saying we are better. We still love everyone. We don’t have a need to slander others. We apologize when we’re wrong. We’re trying to reconcile with those we’ve damaged. We understand we live on native land. We admit our weaknesses and the wrongs of our forefathers. We are taking the higher road.

With great pride, I say

Happy Canada Day!

What Keeps Us Young

I live on a street of small houses mostly built 75 to 100 years ago. Its residents are eclectic: seniors who’ve lived here for ages, young families who’ve purchased their ‘starter homes’, and because we live near a university, transient students in rental homes. There are often curb conversations about how busy the younger folk are. Occasionally we seniors chime in with what we handled (just as much, if not more) at their age, but most often we just listen and empathize.

I can remember when I was in my thirties and my Dad would telephone every Friday evening shortly after 6 o’clock (because that’s when the rates went down) to update us on what was new with him and my mother. I distinctly recall one that went something like this, “Well, nothing much is new here. The TV repair man came on Wednesday.” We were in fits of laughter. Can you imagine living a life where the most important news is that the TV repair man came?

Many of the seniors on our street are like my parents. With the exception of grocery shopping and garden tending, they literally sit in their houses all day long and watch TV. Many of them don’t cook – they either order out or snack. They don’t belong to any clubs. My husband and I shake our heads and just don’t understand it.

We think we’re busier than most people our age. My husband gets up every morning and goes to the river to talk to the fishermen and, in nice weather, spends most of his day outside with our dog and the vegetable garden. I go to yoga twice a week, try to go swimming once a week, walk the dog daily and sometimes join my better half outside. And, we’ve been involved small local issues such as going to council meetings for things that others complain about but do nothing.

I think we’re more social too. We’re one of the few older couples that socialize with the younger ones. This morning, for example, the young couple two doors down brought their two-year-old over to visit in our yard. They stayed for about 90 minutes and it was a joyful start to a Sunday. A child’s laughter is one of the best sounds on earth and this kid is always smiling and laughing. The father (he turned 32 yesterday) asked me this morning if Henry (age 75, he and his wife live 4 doors down) was okay because he hadn’t seen him in months. I replied, “Ya, he’s fine. He was out mowing his lawn a few days ago.”

That’s what initiated this blog. It hit me that other than the widow across the street (who is much like us) we don’t see the people our age out and about. It’s like they retired and gave up. What a shame.