By Arthur Weinreb
Thursday, September 13, 2007
The various newspaper headlines said it all:
Considering? May be memorialized? Looking into? When it comes to paying tribute to the 24 Canadians who lost their lives in the United States during the attacks of September 11, 2001, Canada's rapidly ageing New Government is only marginally better than the previous Liberal government was. According to Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, erecting a memorial takes time, what with all the bureaucrats at Heritage Canada having to do their studies or whatever else they do on the taxpayers' dime to slowly bring it about, if at all.
It's all a crock, Stock. If the government really wants to do something they can act decisively and quickly like when the honourable members think that it's time to give themselves a pay increase. In that situation, they are able to move at lightning speed. But Day, whose feelings on the proposed memorial were adequately captured by the above headlines, appears to take the position that erecting some sort of permanent remembrance of the Canadians who lost their lives on the day that changed the world, is really no big deal. The equivocation of Canada's New Government on this matter is reminiscent of the dithering of Paul Martin Jr. (for those who may have forgotten, Paul Martin was the 21st prime minister of Canada who lived at 24 Sussex Drive between Jean Chrtien and Stephen Harper).
You would think that the government would have learned something after the bombing of Air India Flight 182 in 1985. It took over 20 years to erect a permanent monument to the victims of that tragedy and at the rate we seem to be going it will take that long to do the same for the Canadian victims of 9/11. At least with the attack on Air India, it took some time for Canadians to realize that it was a terrorist attack and that the majority of people who died on that flight were Canadians and not Indian nationals. 9/11 truthers aside, we never had any doubt that those 24 Canadians who died in planes and in the twin towers on September 11, 2001 died in an attack which was not just an attack on the United States, but on all of us; on our way of life.
From a political point of view, there were only 24 victims of the attacks and the general population isn't exactly screaming for a permanent memorial. And let's face it, there are more Canadians who at least felt like dancing for joy on September 11, 2001 than there are Canadians who lost their lives and their families. If the government's position on Afghanistan is any indication, the days when Steve does something because it's right are long gone.
Nothing does more to highlight the failure of Canadian governments, past and present, to pay proper tribute to the Canadian victims and their families than the fact that the largest honouring of the 9/11 victims was done not by the government but by private enterprise. Tribute was paid to the victims and first responders of those attacks before Tuesday's baseball game between the Toronto Blue Jays and the New York Yankees at the Rogers Centre. U. S. Ambassador David Wilkins threw out the ceremonial first pitch along with a New York and Toronto firefighter. And emergency workers stood with the players along the baselines while the national anthems were played. These ceremonies took place before approximately 30,000 people. Perhaps it's time for all of those people who think that more should be done for the Canadian victims of 9/11 to say, "Screw the government, let's go Blue Jays".
It should not of course be left to the Toronto Blue Jays to do what's right. But it may be time for Canadians to get together and raise money for a permanent memorial to their fellow citizens who were early casualties in the war against Islamic fascism. If we don't, it will be another 20 years before the government ever gets around to doing something.
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