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A home for all
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Phillip Hong
May 13, 2014 |
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"Peel Regional Police after a thorough investigation... have determined that the content of the
flyers... do not meet the Criminal Code of Canada's requirements regarding hate crime".
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Peel Regional Police press release, May 8, 2014
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My elementary school in Brampton held a special ceremony celebrating its 50th anniversary last year,
and part of the reunion involved a very touching speech by the principal who presided through my
first years of attendance. He spoke of fond developments that time and evolution wrought, from new
technology to a more diverse enrollment. The 80s and 90s brought a welcoming of new cultures that
we were able to embraced together as a community, he insinuated poetically, and his years as
Principal were enriched by new and existing residents alike.
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Upon his reminiscing, I felt an overwhelming sense of joy and pride, for being part of a robust
agglomerate of differences and races that made it such a great place to grow up.
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Upon hearing of those bigoted flyers drowning in the headlines, passed around Brampton, I really
felt a lump in my throat. Media reports spoke of how an old picture of what appeared to be Western
people were compared to a snap featuring a Sikh protest. It cynically asked if Bramptonians wanted
a Canada where "mainstream Canadians" were a minority.
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Knowing my childhood, I can most certainly say our society never had issues with either immigration
or differences in creed. I was a son of immigrants living alongside residents who count their
ancestry in places like Trinidad and Tobago, India and even Ireland. But we were together and played
ball hockey together without the thought of who came from where and who came from "the mainstream".
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Race was not something we looked at - I only started learning about our differences consciously
years after we moved out of Brampton. Those flyers don't speak accurately of Brampton, whether it
is from memories in the 80s or now.
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To those who take offence with this flyer, remember this: The group's spokesperson is from British
Columbia, not Brampton. And all flyers are just glorified junk mail.
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Phillip Hong is a columnist with 148.ca.
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