Bill 67 - Open Letter - Joel Harden MPP - Ottawa Centre - Member, Standing Committee on Social Policy
Bill 67 wrongly focusses energy on questionable problems instead of positive outcomes
Dear Mr. Harden;
Member, Critic, Standing Committee on Social Policy
Re: Proposed Bill 67
I have left voicemails sharing some of my concerns with this bill in the last week – and also some news about international De-Trans awareness day, which trended in the US and Canada on twitter over this past weekend.
I was once a teacher in a private high school. I was hired because I had training and certifications in conflict resolution, mediation, and negotiations – with a similar framework to what is taught at St. Paul’s University in their International Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution program. I also have a strong background in the study of psychology. The high-school kids I worked with were kids with challenges like Asperger’s, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, severe ADHD and impulse control issues – many of them prone to high-conflict behaviors. I share this for context.
When one approaches conflict resolution it’s important to focus on positive outcomes instead of on the problems. We have common expressions like, “What you resist, persists,” and “what you fear, you create,” which are observations of a psychological phenomenon that presents itself in all areas of our lives. These are understood as brain and cognitive processes that are hardwired in us. We do not cognitively process negative commands well and for this reason for example, police trainees (in the police foundations course at Algonquin and ubiquitously elsewhere) are trained to always say: “Stay where you are!” instead of “Don’t move!”
We also get related lessons in defensive driving courses: if you lose control of a vehicle, focus on where you want the car to go, not on the ditch or the tree. The body, the unconscious, in those situations will fulfill the outcomes of our focus, the car will never go in the direction we want it to go if we’re focused on where we’re afraid of crashing.
Our brains process “Negatives” in a very different way from which we process positives.
When I read proposed bill 67, is see that the entire focus is within a negative frame. The presuppositions of ubiquitous and pervasive conscious and unconscious systemic racism that must be confronted promises very negative outcomes.
Setting aside that I do not believe that we live in a universally racist society in an entrenched white supremacist patriarchy, and that these are beliefs, ideological assertions and claims rooted in Critical Theory, the language of the proposed bill is entirely about attacking systemic racism and inequity, rather than on the educational outcomes we should be prioritizing.
How, if racism is so pervasive do we ferret it out and fix it?
Do we embolden a heavy-handed and punitive anti-racist "police force" to seek it out and prosecute a dramatically broadened definition of racism (Conscious and Unconscious Racism) it in all its manifestations?
How, as left-of-center citizens do we think about dealing with crime? Do we think of heavy-handed bills that increase the number of criminal laws? Do we increase the number of police, expand court capacity, build new jails and increase the number and types of charges we can bring against irredeemable criminals?
In my mind, we increase resources for people dealing with mental health and social factors that contribute to criminality. We increase support for addictions, life skills development, early childhood education, skills training, and employment support. We look at increasing access to affordable housing. We set in motion programs that support human dignity and treat crime as a symptom of other factors. We treat the cause and not the symptoms.
We need to reframe the divisive, punitive and negative-focus of the language of this bill, from “anti-racism” to pro-human.
Anishanbeg Kitigan-Zibi Grandfather and elder, William Commanda, now passed, taught his people, his audience and his students, the greeting and salutation: “I am you and you are me,” in the context of the Rainbow Warrior teachings. He and others teach that the four nations of the earth, as represented in the sacred Medicine Wheel, Red Nation, White Nation, Yellow Nation and Black Nation are all the same. He, keeper of Wampum Prophecy shared this message, shoulder-to-shoulder with people like his friend Nelson Mandela.
“We are all human beings.”
I was very fortunate to hear this message from the mouth of Grandfather Commanda before he died. I remain friends with some of his students.
“I am you and you are me”
In spite of the historic abuses perpetrated against the Red Nation here, traditional elders all across Turtle Island still teach this idea rooted in what we understand as forgiveness. William Commanda, a victim himself of European encroachment, in his younger life was taught this in secret by elders who disobeyed the laws against teaching the Algonquin Language, ritual and stories.
In the east we have the same concept in the sacred Sanskrit expression and teaching, “Tat Tvam Asi,” which means “Thou Art That.” The deepest meanings of Shalom and Namaste carry the same meanings. I greet you as a reflection of my divine and most aspirational self in service of you as a reflection of the Divine.
We also see this in the expression and teaching that arose independently, as far as we can tell, in China, India, and the Levant, our precursor empires, that we should love our neighbor as ourselves and treat people as we want to be treated.
If indeed we are systemically racist, what we need to do is to teach this message. I’m not suggesting that religion be taught in schools. I am though suggesting that we focus on teaching and modelling the behavior we want to see from our children and the next generation, and instead of focusing on all our possible grievances, we focus on our common humanity. We should not be teaching a narrative of victimization, this is like driving an out-of-control car and staring at the tree or the ditch instead of on the safety of the road.
We should be teaching resilience and coping skills in the face of adverstiy.
Shannon Boschy, Initiated Rainbow Warrior
(sometimes known as a dangerous TERF, bigot and ‘phobe)
Constituent,