Calgary school principal in hot water for using N-word in discussion with... errr... black students

Apparently the word "nigger", which has been systematically erased not just from the meeja but from our memories, is not totally proscribed after all. Seems it depends who uses it.

A school principal in Calgary -- Canada's ghost-town version of Dallas -- found that out the hard way, having been denounced as a racist etc etc for daring to ask a group of black students why they use the N-word when talking to each other, but get in a frizzy [tizzy? Ed.] if it's used by a person of non-colour.

The meeting between Lianne Anderson, Principal of Saint Michael's Catholic School, and the students was secretly recorded by one of the students. A small portion of it was "shared" with other students and posted online. The students have been suspended for contravening the Calgary Catholic School District code of conduct policy that prohibits recording without consent.

According to CTV News, Ms Anderson can be heard saying, "So how come it's okay for you to say the word 'nigger' in a conversation directed at a group of students of colour?" 

A spokesthingy for the school board said Ms Anderson's comments were made in an attempt to have a "teaching moment" with the schoolchildren about diversity, and the comment was taken out of context.

In the ritual apology and Statement of Wokeness, the spokesperson added, "We have a zero tolerance policy for any racial or discriminatory actions or words that is not tolerated by staff or students." [Eh? Not an English major, I guess. Ed.]  Ms Anderson has been directed to issue her own personal apology and wash her mouth out with soap, but no further disciplinary action will be taken. 

But what about Ms Anderson's question? Why is it OK for black people to call each other "nigger" or (as in Pulp Fiction) "nigga"? Leaders with the Black Lives Matter YYC say the word is harmful only if spoken by the "oppressors". Said Adora Nowfor, who CTV calls the "president of the local iterationof the global movement", "It is never a privileged person’s place to educate or police an oppressed person in their own oppression." Understand, now?

I think we persons of non-colour really should make a greater effort to understand the differences between the way we talk and the way people of colour talk. Here is a guide which I hope you will find helpful. 

VIDEO: "Mad Max" Bernier at Rebel Live in Calgary - full speech

Ed. here. We no sooner posted "Bernier's People's Party of Canada wows Toronto 'deplorables'", earlier this morning, when an assiduous (and sometimes acidulous) reader e-mail to say it was nice to see the positive comments from those who heard Maxime Bernier speak at Toronto. But (he asks) don't you have the speech itself? Errr, no. But I've found the video from M Bernier's speech to a conference organized by The Rebel in Calgary, earlier this month. Here it is.



Gotta love the line about "politically correct nonsense"!

Something you don't see every day -- smashing pumpkins!

Walt doesn't like to be the bringer of bad tidings all the time... even though there's a lot of them around! Ed. reminds me to include, every now and then, something upbeat and, if possible, funny. Here's something.



Yes, that was a giant pumpkin -- 1046 lbs worth -- dropped from a height of about 130 feet onto a Pontiac Grand Am. [Good target. Horrible cars. Ed.] This happened during an annual fundraiser by Blue Grass Nursery and Garden Centre, near Calgary, in support of the Alberta Children's Hospital Foundation. Donations are still being counted but last year's event raised nearly C$40,000 and organizers are hoping for a similar result this time around.

"Real Canadians hate Syrians!" - Calgary graffiti reflect poll results

As Walt told you on Thursday, Canadian Authorities [Capital "A" deliberate. Ed.] have been reluctant to admit that the couple who were victim/perpetrator of a murder-suicide in London, Ontario were migrants from Syria. No point in inflaming anti-Syrian, anti-Muslim, anti-refugee passions already raised to the boiling point by Young Trudeau's pledge to bring into the Great Not-so-white North even more than the 25,000 promised during last fall's election.

Why do I say Canadians are up in arms (figuratively speaking) about opening the floodgates still further? Here are two stories about the what "real Canadians" think of the idea of admitting to their society 1000s of Muslims who cannot or will not conform to the norms of western values. (Many of them didn't really want to come to Canada in the first place, and would like to go back home, but that's another story. See "Surprise! Syrian refugees welcomed by Canada want to go home", WWW 25/1/16)

We start with the results of a poll released by last week by the Angus Reid Institute under the headline "Canadians divided on legacy of Syrian refugee resettlement plan". Here are the key findings:

• Just over half (52%) of Canadians support the government’s plan, while 44 per cent oppose it
• Roughly two-in-five (42%) say Canada should stop taking in Syrian refugees immediately. The rest either say the country should stop at 25,000 refugees (29%), or accept even more (29%)
• Canadians are evenly divided on what the legacy of the resettlement program will be, with roughly the same number saying it will be viewed as a success (23%), a failure (24%), or neither (24%) 15 years from now (29% are unsure)

The researchers go on to say that "Regionally, Canadians remain divided about the plan, with support for it highest in British Columbia and Atlantic Canada, and lowest in Alberta." That brings us to a report from the Calgary Herald headlined "Police investigating after Calgary school hit again with hateful graffiti aimed at Syrians, Trudeau".

Inspector Knacker is said to be investigating after the walls of Wilma Hansen Junior High School were once again sprayed with hateful messages directed at Syrians and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. On the walls of the school, someone spray-painted graffiti including "Syrians are animals" and "Real Canadians hate Syrians" as well as "Burn all mosques". Some of the messages also targeted Canuck Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, thus: "Syrians go home and take Trudeau" and "While Syrians feast in hotels, Canadians starve on the street, kill the traitor Trudeau."

So much for the Canadian version of Angela Merkel's "Willkommenskultur". And the Frostbacks are supposed to be such polite and tolerant people! Of course some would say that whoever committed this crime against political correctness aren't typical Canadians, but Albertans... more like Americans, really. Walt feels pretty sure that similar slogans will pop up from coast to coast to coast, although of course some will be in French. There may be no freedom of speech in the Canadian lamestream meeja, but the government has yet to prohibit the sale of paint bombs!

Gunless Kalamazoo Kop felt "threatened" by Canucks

You probably saw this story earlier this week, but Walt feels it bears retelling, since it's a perfect example of the ignorance and paranoia Americans experience when confronted by anything or anyone "foreign". Even when the non-American country or culture or person is somewhat familiar, friendly, peaceful and polite. Like Canada and Canadians.

What follows is a true story, from beautiful Calgary, Alberta, which every year hosts a large cowboy festival -- a glorified rodeo, actually -- called the Stampede. Walt (no relation) Wawra, a Kalamazoo MI policeman, decided to pay a visit this year. No doubt he was dismayed when he passed through Canadian customs and immigration [You mean you have to do that?! Ed.] and was told he couldn't bring his gun(s) with him.

He must have been more dismayed still when he was accosted in a Calgary park by a couple of Canuck hosers -- perhaps resembling those pictured -- who demanded (twice) to know if he'd been to the Stampede yet! But let's not speculate. Here's part of Walt's account of his close encounter with hosers of the northern kind, as published in his letter to the editor of the Calgary Herald.

Two young men approached my wife and me in Nose Hill Park, in broad daylight on a paved trail. The men stepped in front of us, then said in a very aggressive tone: "Been to the Stampede yet?"

We ignored them. They moved closer, repeating: "Hey, you been to the Stampede yet?"
I quickly moved between these two and my wife, replying, "Gentlemen, I have no need to talk with you, goodbye." They looked bewildered, and we then walked past them.

I speculate they did not have good intentions when they approached in such an aggressive, disrespectful and menacing manner. I thank the Lord Jesus Christ they did not pull a weapon of some sort, but rather concluded it was in their best interest to leave us alone.

Walt (Whiteman) speculates that if only Officer Walt (Wawra) had been allowed to have his trusty sidearm with him, Canada would today be down a couple of hosers. Which would be a shame, because the “very aggressive” strangers he encountered may have just been representatives from an oil company giving out free passes to the Stampede.

Wawra’s response to the seemingly mundane, daylight encounter has sparked scorn across the Internet. And it is very tempting to have a good laugh about the stereotypical Ugly American. But seriously... as Herald columnist Naomi Lakritz points out, the whole farcical story -- especially Wawra's perception of the threat and what his reaction could have been if only he'd had a gun -- "speaks volumes about the cultural differences between Canadians and Americans. It gives the lie to those who say that Canadians are no different than Americans."

Ms Lakritz sums up: Wawra’s mindset is what America’s gun mania has produced. How paranoid and how very sad.

Walt adds: That's how wars -- more accurately, invasions of small, weak countries -- get started. Remember Iraq? The American and British governments lied to their citizens that Saddam Hussein possessed great stores of Weapons of Mass Destructions, which made the mighty USA and the not-so-mighty not-so-Great Britain feel threatened. Unlike Walt Wawra, the USA and the UK still had their guns.

Further comment: "It’s Kalamazoo vs. Calgary in clash of civilizations", by Heather Mallick, in the Toronto Star.

Footnote: Walt is well aware that the eponymous Ugly American was the good guy in the novel. Don't write to me to point that out.

Drunk duo commits typically Canadian crime

For those who don't know, this is a Zamboni. You use it to make a nice surface on an artificial ice rink. Every arena in North America has one.

That includes the East Calgary (Alberta, Canada) Twin Arenas. That facility is lucky, though, that manager Ross Harris was on the alert Thursday afternoon.

As he was working alone in his office, he noticed the arena's Zamboni, which was parked inside, on the move. "I happened to glance at the security camera monitor," he said "when I saw the Zamboni going outside. I really wondered what was going on!"

On investigating, Harris found two men, apparently drunk, trying to use the Zamboni to push their car off an icy patch of pavement. One of the men had walked into the building and broken into the garage area where the ice-grooming machine was parked.

Rather than offering an apology, they asked Harris if he had a truck or tow rope to help them free their car. Telling them he was going inside to get a shovel, he told co-workers to call the cops.

About five minutes later, the Calgary police were there and had the pissed partiers in custody. Using the knowledge of criminal behaviour for which the police are famous, Sgt. Kelly Oberg said alcohol appeared to be a factor.

The tanked twosome appeared in court today, charged with the most Canadian of crimes — trying to steal a Zamboni.