Intolerance

It isn’t unusual for me to write about intolerance but it is normally about mainstream people and their issues with Canada’s First Nations. Every now and then I get reminded that it isn’t a one-way street. In this case it was a solid hit below the belt.

In a July 27 Facebook post, the current president of the Canadian Aboriginal Veterans and Serving Members Association, Richard Blackwolf, said we are all too sensitive.

Blackwolf, in his mid-70s, commented on uniformed police officers attending LGBT Pride parades. “A parade of mutations and deviations, there should be no military or law enforcement officers taking part,” he wrote.

It wasn’t the first time he has publicly expressed questionable opinions. On July 9, Blackwolf posted a graphic titled, “Let’s discuss what Islam offers.” Labels under black stick figures in the graphic included pedophilia, rape, slavery, hostage-taking and burning people alive. “Where to start? OK Clockwise… Beheading,” Blackwolf wrote beneath the graphic.

This military veteran then distinguished himself by agreeing with another post that contended that right-wing women are better looking. “The further left you go, the ugly index increases exponentially,” Blackwolf observed, pointing to US President Donald Trump’s wife and daughter as examples of “well-maintained” right-wing women.

Ask to comment by the CBC, Blackwolf responded that, “We appear to be under attack from a hate group – a liberal hate group. I guess there’s got to be a first time for everything…They call it snowflakes. I don’t know. I don’t get involved in politics.”

Many Indigenous veterans are outraged by his statements and others have demanded his resignation. He should resign. Intolerance of this kind should not be expressed by a representative of Canada’s Indigenous peoples.

Such voices are a bane of any race, religion or culture. They are given more prominence than they deserve should while voices of tolerance are few and far between in what we see and hear.

Blackwolf deserves to be taken to task and held accountable for his words and the same with all those who are of his type. I would wish those who have such closed minds and attitudes could go someplace else and fight it out among themselves. But they are not likely to go away.

Should we just tolerate them without recourse? No. One simple solution would be to ensure that our educational systems do a better job of explaining our differences.

Fear of the stranger is still something we teach to our children. Stranger-danger. There is no danger in learning of other races, peoples, lifestyle choices, cultures, religions and beliefs that are all around us. We should not be wary of those who are different but rather those who do not respect civilization. Those who think their way is the only way and do not think we have a right