In Darwin’s Footsteps – Birds, The Galapagos and Evolution

My family travelled to the Galapagos in 2010. We hoped to return but that may not happen.

So, today we’ll travel to the Eastern Pacific Island group in our memory aided by our photos and a short piece I wrote for Empty Nest magazine.

As you know, these remote islands gained fame as a result of a visit by British naturalist Charles Darwin in September and October of 1835.

Finches

After landing at Seymour Airport (GPS) on Baltra Island, following a nine hundred kilometre, two hour plus flight from Quito, our attention was drawn to several nondescript birds just outside the terminal .

“They are some of Darwin’s finches,” Chris Eckert, a biology professor from Queen’s University in Kingston told us back in February 2010.  Chris was along as a resource person for our expedition. “This is the mecca for evolutionary studies,” he enthused. 

There are 17 different types of finches (cactus finches) on the Galapagos.  These finches have different beaks, depending on which island the reside.  That demonstrates they have adapted to different types of food.  They’ve changed over time through natural selection.

Darwin’s analysis took many years.  He turned his bird specimens over to ornithologist John Gould.  Soon Gould delivered the “unexpected and startling news” that the finches “belonged to a new group of birds previously unknown and found only in the Galapagos,”  

Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859 twenty-four years after visiting the Galapagos on his five-year journey. There was, of course, pushback from the scientific community. Perhaps surprisingly, there wasn’t significant opposition from UK Christian Church community.

More recently, in 2005, Dr. Eckert noted that: “even though the theory of evolution dominates academia, 47 per cent of Americans are creationists, and creation science is taught in 15-20 per cent of U.S. schools? How about the fact that 40 per cent of Americans believe human beings were formed in the exact state we are now, or that 52 percent believe dinosaurs co-existed with humans?”

Hmm!

Back to our trip.  Shortly after we boarded the M/V Santa Cruz and in the coming days visited several other unique Galapagos Islands. North Seymour, for example, featured blue footed boobies (below) and frigate birds.

The Galapagos, a province of Ecuador, and is made up of 18 main islands. Ecuador is a poor country so that it is remarkable that decision makers and environmentalists are invested in protecting the sustainability of the islands in a way that I wish we could do here. 

One way they do this is by limiting the number of visitors and requiring they be accompanied by a local guide. The year we travelled just 80,000 visitors were permitted.  In 2023, a record-breaking nearly 330,000 tourists explored the islands.  Concerns have been expressed with this escalation. 

What’s Going on with those Eastern Island Tomato Plants?

In the last month new research has put forward the idea that some tomatoes in the Galápagos actually seem to be going backwards, not forwards in evolutionary terms Call it De-evolution, or reverse evolution,

“It’s not something we usually expect,” Adam Jozwiak, a molecular biochemist at UC Riverside and lead author of a study said.  “But here it is, happening in real time, on a volcanic island,” he told Newsweek magazine.  Tomato plants on westerly warmer islands don’t seem to be experiencing this change.

It isn’t a concept that easy to explain.  The theory is that modern tomatoes and other plants all make use of alkaloids. These tomatoes seem to be making the wrong alkaloids. 

“Instead of creating the alkaloids that the researchers expected to see in a tomato, the de-evolving plants are churning out a version of alkaloids that have the same molecular fingerprint as eggplant relatives from millions of years ago,” Newsweek reported.

It is hard to say whether devolving tomatoes are a good thing, a bad thing or just a new challenge to further understanding of evolution. *

Most visitors come to the Islands to see the unique wildlife, like blue-footed boobies and marine iguanas, that you can’t find anywhere else.  Al Purdy visited around 1980.  He must have gone to North Seymour as you can imagine from the ending of his poem Birdwatching at the Equator.  

                                           The blue booby’s own capsule

                                                          comment about evolution:

                                                          If God won’t do it for you

                                                          do it yourself: 

                                                          stand up

                                                          sit down

                                                          make love

                                                          have sone babies

                                                          catch fish

                                                          dance sometimes

                                                         admire your feet

                                                         friggit:

                                                         what else is there?

*A good description of the de-evolving tomatoes can be found at Scientists Stunned As Tomatoes “De-Evolve” in the Galapagos

It’s Climate Change, Stupid

Evacuations brought on by wild fires out west find me recalling when my family was forced out of our home by the Mississauga Train derailment in 1979.  

On November 10th our bedroom lit up like a 24th of May aerial fireworks display.
From a second floor we could see flames. They were coming from the Clarkson Go Station about a half mile away, we thought. In fact, the fire originated due to a derailment that had just taken place on Mavis Rd. at Dundas Street about 8 kilometres as the crow flies from our home.

Later we learned that an east bound CP Rail Train carrying hazardous chemicals (Of most concern was liquid chlorine.) derailed and caught fire.  The derailment and fire were caused by a failure of the lubricating system. 

What followed was a mass evacuation of 240,000 residents from an area stretching from east-end Oakville to west-end Etobicoke. Three hospitals were evacuated.  

There were no deaths and apparently only one injury.  Mayor Hazel McCallion sprained her ankle overseeing the City’s response and was carried into a meeting by a city official - a great photo-op for the Mississauga rookie mayor that undoubtedly contributed to her political longevity. Her worship was re-elected eleven times until retiring in 2014.

As for us we were out of our home.  For many that evacuation lasted six days.  We sneaked in earlier after lasting three days with in-laws.  I’m somewhat ashamed to admit that living with family for those few days was quite disruptive.  A temporary relocation was a great inconvenience. But, of course, nothing like what many across Canada are experiencing right now.

Western Canada on Fire

The number of Canadians displaced by wildfires this spring is a moving target. As I write, the estimate is in excess of 20,000 and climbing.  A few examples:

Pelican Narrows Saskatchewan, a town of 2,000, was evacuated on May 28th.

Across the border in Flin Flon that city’s 5,000 residents had to leave that day as well.  Reports indicate no “assets” have been lost in Flin Flon, so far.

Denaire Beach (only 22 kilometres south west from that northwestern Manitoba city) was not so lucky.  On Monday this week half the town burned.  

Three hours drive to the west (under normal conditions), La Ronge Saskatchewan, a town of 2,600 north of Prince Alberta, was evacuated. 

"There were lineups and lineups of people at all the gas stations in La Ronge. It was actually quite a scary thing," Tom Roberts told CBC's Morning Edition.

After travelling about 40 kilometres south Roberts was stopped by RCMP and firefighters.

"We sat there for two hours waiting for an opening in the fire. The fire was going just all over the road just south of there."

Apparently, the smoke was so thick at one part of his journey that it was impossible to tell where he was, but kept remembering what the firefighters and RCMP had told him: "Don't stop, just keep going."

Yesterday, Ruth Bonneville from the Winnipeg Free Press reported that hundreds of wildfire evacuees were expected to fly to Ontario Tuesday, where a third-party organization has arranged for them to stay in hotel rooms. 

A security and evacuation support service firm called Xpera (Who knew there was such an organization?)  had already organized flights for 793 evacuees who are already staying in Niagara Falls. As many as 800 additional evacuees were expected to make the journey on Tuesday. 

What Now?

The year 2023 was a bad one for wildfires.  This year might be worse. The future looks bleak.  Natural Resources Canada estimates that fire-suppression costs could double by 2040 as Canada attempts to keep up with the worsening risk.

On Sunday Lori Daniels, a wildfire Professor at the University of British Columbia (UBC), was interviewed on CBC’s Sunday Magazine. 

“We know that climate change is one of the drivers of (the wildfires). It is bringing to us earlier springs that dry out the forest early making them more susceptible as we are seeing this year.”

We’re victims of our success at putting out fires, notes professor Daniels. There has been an unintended consequence of this success. It is called the fire suppression paradox. We have actually added to uniformity of the forest by allowing fuel to accumulate.
 
Reponses to wildfires must be more coordinated.  But governments must be proactive in the off season as well, Daniels asserts. Unfortunately. government leaders are talking a different language.

In the midst of the wildfires Prime Minister Carney and the Premiers met in Saskatchewan this week and came together around the concept of decarbonization.  Unity is nice.  We need more of it.  However, decarbonization would appear to be more political jargon rather than a proven scientific fact.  

“There is no such thing as decarbonized oil and gas,” says Simon Donne a Climate Scientist at UBC and Scientist Co-chair of the government’s Net Zero Advisory Body.

Indeed.   We need to tell our politicians to get serious about climate change.  That means leaving gas and oil in the ground.  Lives depend on it.    

Jackie Robinson - April 15th

Spring is here and the Major League Baseball (MLB) season has begun.

In 2004 a special day was launched to honour Jackie Robinson, who broke baseball’s colour barrier in 1947.  On April 15^th every major league player and umpire wears the number #42.

 Other than Robinson himself, Branch Rickey, a baseball executive, was the person most responsible for that breakthrough. I read about Rickey in Pulitzer Prize Columnist Jimmy Breslin’s last published book Branch Rickey.  Breslin’s book took a lot from Arthur Mann’s earlier work on Rickey that had formed the basis of The Jackie Robinson Story, a 1950 film (starring Robinson himself and Sandra Dee).

Robinson was some athlete. It is arguable that baseball wasn’t even his best sport.  In his rookie season on July 26^th at Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field he stole home and hit a home run.  Achieving that feat in the same game is perhaps a good indicator of his athleticism.  In his rookie season with the Dodgers he had a .297 batting average, an on base percentage of .383, twenty-nine stolen bases and twelve home runs.  He retired with a lifetime .311 batting average and a 409 OBP. 

1956 World Series.  Robinson stole home. 

I have vague memories of Robinson at the end of his career but certainly didn’t fully appreciate what he had to endure in order to break into the league and then excel over 10 seasons with the Brooklyn Dodgers.  Rickey and Robinson faced incredible bigotry.  Significant portions of white America at large, sportswriters and the other owners weren’t interested in change.

MacPhail Report 

The owners, for example, issued a statement in the summer of 1946, the year that Robinson was tearing up the International League playing second base with the Montreal Royals. 

"Certain groups in this country including political and social-minded drumbeaters, are conducting pressure campaigns in an attempt to force major league clubs to sign Negro players. Members of these groups are not primarily interested in Professional Baseball. They are not campaigning to provide a better opportunity for thousands of Negro boys who want to play baseball. . .. They know little about baseball -- and nothing about the business end of its operation. They single out Professional Baseball for attack because it offers a good publicity medium…."Signing a few Negro players for the major leagues would be a gesture -- but it would contribute little or nothing towards a solution of the real problem."

The report went on to say:

"A major league player must have something besides great natural ability. He must possess the technique, the coordination, the competitive attitude, and the discipline, which is usually acquired only after years of seasoning in the minor leagues

That required seven years in the minor leagues, according to the owners.

“The young Negro player never has had a good chance in baseball. Comparatively few good young Negro players are being developed. This is the reason there are not more players who meet major league standards in the Negro Leagues."

Fifteen of sixteen owners voted for this declaration.  Rickey’s was the only opposition.  I guess you could call him a social-minded drumbeater.

This particular statement the owners issued was in response to the Ives-Quinn Act of 1945.  Sponsored by the New York Republican Irving Ives, it was the first state law to prohibit discrimination in employment on the basis of race, creed, color, or national origin. Rickey, a Republican, had lobbied hard for this legislation.  Its passage meant that the Dodger boss had the legal backing to bring Robinson up to the majors.

 Rickey earned a law degree, practiced for a day or so before returning to his alma mater to coach baseball.  And baseball was where he stayed. Branch Rickey invented the baseball farm system changing the “look of baseball long before he ever heard of Jackie Robinson.”

 Rickey understood better than anyone that there was a business case for Negro League players to play in the major leagues.

 He did a great thing in American life, says Breslin.  Later in the McCarthy era, together with Robinson, he got caught up in attacking actor/singer Paul Robeson’s alleged communist views and later threw in with Richard Nixon. Breslin would have told them that “the wise shoemaker sticks to his trade and maintains a mouth filled with nails.”

 Rickey argued that, “ethnic prejudice has no place in sports, and baseball must recognize that truth if it is to maintain stature as a national game.” 

 That was a tough case to make and he made it.  It would seem though that case still needs to be made. Afro-American participation in the national pastime has declined. After reaching its peak in 1991 when 18% of big leaguers were black now only 7% are.   There are many reasons suspected for the decline but lack of access to facilites and rising costs of registration are two barriers often cited.

 On the other hand, stats from the seven Negro leagues have recently been merged with  

Baseball’s historical records - “long overdue” say MLB officials.  Josh Gibson, who played in the Negro Leagues mainly from the Homestead Grays, has replaced Ty Cobb as the greatest hitter.  Cobb’s great grandson approved calling the development “exciting.”

Not sure what his great grandfather, the Georgia Peach, would have thought.

 In 1952 he told the Sporting News that “The n**** has the right to compete in sports and who’s to say they have not?”

 Baseball – its the American Pastime.

Seniors Say, “Let’s Get Serious about Climate Breakdown”

I'm a member of a group called Seniors for Climate Action Now (SCAN!).

We have strong feelings about the provincial election that is underway in Ontario.  

The climate crisis is here. It’s costing us money. The cost of living is skyrocketing. rent food heating and cooling insurance 

What’s the link to climate breakdown?

Let’s Get Serious about Climate Breakdown.  We can’t afford Ford. Later is too late for the climate.

Here is one of a number of leaflets we have produced related to the election.

Check out Fossil Fuels are Costing You Money We need cheap, reliable energy · Wind and solar are cheaper than gas. Ford chooses gas and subsidizes their companies. · Wind and solar are much cheaper than nuclear. Ford chooses nuclear. Ford’s climate policies mean we

February 10/25

Crazy Town Revisited

 

Although sometimes painful it is my view that there is value in checking back once in a while, to see if what one has written makes any sense.  Case in point is a book review I penned a little more than ten years ago.

The subject was Robyn Doolittle’s excellent and entertaining book Crazy Town (Penguin Canada).   At the time Doolittle was with the Toronto Star.  

If you’ve forgotten Rob Ford elected was as mayor of Toronto in 2010 with the slogan “Stop the Gravy Train.” We learned out that there really wasn’t a gravy train and watched as Ford rode a runaway train of his own on a path of self destruction.  Brother Doug was elected to Council that same year,

I read Crazy Town in the spring of 2014 and wondered about the author’s prediction that Rob Ford could win the October election given his various stumbles.

But “Ford’s unyielding opposition to tax hikes and new city spending (had) attracted a dedicated following, especially among the city’s growing population of working-class immigrants,” notes an entry in the Canadian Encyclopedia.  

After Doolittle’s book was released, Ford had troubles that might have landed other mere mortals in prison.  But, as Doolittle noted, his approval ratings always went up after bad publicity.  

Doolittle supported her arguments by citing Bricker and Ibbitson’s bookThe Big Shift. (The Big Shift: The Seismic Change in Canadian Politics, Business, And Culture and What It Means for Our Future by Darrell I Bricker, John Ibbitson Harper Collins Publishers, 2013). The authors argue that a lengthy period of conservative rule was on the way as new Canadians move into metro areas.  These people are more religious and socially conservative and averse to debt. The authors call them “strivers.”  These strivers want to own a home in a safe neighbourhood.   

Another cohort described in the Big Shift are “creatives." Creatives (who the privileged Fords would likely call "elites") are more concerned with “community supports, the environment and international engagement.” Ford and politicians of his ilk will be more and more successful with this change in demographics.  

At the time I didn’t agree with the authors of the Big Shift but now…well, I’m not sure.  Three of the highlights from Crazy Town noted in my review:

On telling the truth:  Clearly, Rob Ford was challenged in this area.  He comes by it naturally, however, as his father Doug basically “airbrushed” his partner out of history as it related to developing the Deco label business.

On chutzpah:  In the 2000 municipal election, the Fords approached Councillor Gloria Lindsay Luby, suggesting that she run in another ward, not the one she had represented for 15 years.  They’d even help her.  Lindsay Luby declined.

On the Public Mood: Doolittle argues that Ford has a “natural gift for reading the public mood.”  George Smitherman was an experienced politician ran second to Ford in 2010. During the campaign his team organized a focus group. Smitherman’s handlers knew their man was done when they got this comment from an attendee:
  
“If I have to choose between someone who wastes our money and someone who beats their wife, I’ll choose the person who beats their wife.”

On May16th 2013 pictures from the famous crack video went public more or less validating the work of Doolittle and others at the Star. Rob Ford’s poor health prevented him from running for mayor.  Instead, he ran in his own ward and was elected to City Council with 58% of the vote. Rob Ford died March 22nd 2016. Doolittle is an investigative reporter with the Globe and Mail now.

In retrospect one of the more interesting parts of Crazy Town is where Doolittle writes about how the media is better able to track down these stories.  That is a result of a 2009 Supreme Court of Canada decision which created “a new defence for libel” that helped and guided the Star in their investigative reporting.

The decision meant that journalists were permitted to tackle contentious issues where hard evidence was not available if reporters could prove that they:

• ·         acted professionally
• ·         did their best to verify info
• ·         attempted to get both sides of the story.

Ten years later this doesn’t ring true. There are fewer journalists working today.  And their jobs are more challenging.

CBC Host Mark Kelly summed it up in a recent episode of the Fifth Estate. “Let’s look at the headwinds we now have - political shouts against us getting louder, financial constraints, and we’re dealing with AI which makes it harder to tell the difference between truth and fiction.”

CBC Fifth Estate Producer Neil Doherty sounds an alarm.  “We are living in dangerous times when an Algorithm can decide so much about people and their beliefs and then feed them info to foster bias.”

So, did I get it right ten years ago?  The Big Shift seems somewhat validated. The gravy train metaphor has been replaced. Today, we have swamp drainers and three-word sloganeers.  And Doug Ford has been Premier of Ontario for nearly six years and seems headed for another four.

Foodbanks

 

On a Tuesday in September this year I found myself driving across Norfolk County past fields of squash, pumpkins and zucchini to a local foodbank where, as a volunteer driver, I had taken a neighbour.  After lining up for one and a half hours, my neighbour emerged with a much-needed bag of food.  

Many in our community have no other option but to access foodbanks and community food programs. 

  

**One in six households in Haldimand and Norfolk Counties are food insecure. - they do not have enough money to buy food.

**The monthly cost to follow a healthy eating pattern for a family of four in Haldimand and Norfolk Counties was $1,122.43 calculated at May of 2023 using a tool called the Ontario Nutritious Food Basket

**Following a healthy eating pattern for that family of four with a full-time minimum wage earner takes up 27% of their income. 

Canada’s first foodbank was established in Edmonton’s Prince of Wales Armouries in 1981.  Its creation was intended to be an interim measure to address unmet community needs. Today there are 700 Foodbanks in Canada. In Haldimand and Norfolk there are thirteen foodbanks and food programs.

According to the The Ontario Living Wage Network, “Despite the annual October 1st increase to the provincial minimum wage to $17.20, there is still no place in Ontario where you could work full-time and cover all your expenses.”  

The Network calculates what is they call a “living wage.”  Each November they update the figure. Community-specific data is used to determine the expenses for a family with two working adults and two children. In Haldimand Norfolk that figure is $20.90 per hour.  

“Household food insecurity is a problem rooted in inadequate incomes. Research has shown that policy changes that support stable incomes that meet the cost of living can make a difference,” according to the local Health Unit. 

We drove home from the foodbank on that sunny September Tuesday through the countryside known as Ontario’s Garden. I pulled the car over in front of my neighbour’s home.  Across the street was a food market.  It wasn’t busy.

Everyone in our community should have access to safe, affordable and nutritious food that is right for them and their family.  

If you are able, consider supporting a local foodbank this holiday season.  The Mission Foodbank sserves Clear Creek, Houghton, Langton, Port Rowan, St. Williams and Walsingham.  It is located at 67 Queen Street in St. Williams ON N0E 1P0 · 

You can drop donations off there on the mornings of the first and third Tuesdays of the month 
or make a cash donation to PO Box 265 Port Rowan N0E1M0 or by calling Joan Skuce 
at 519-586-3003. 

Boring

Long ago and not so far away a community was faced with a challenge. 

A developer sought approvals to locate a McDonald's restaurant in Burlington’s Parkwood Plaza, a small strip mall adjacent to a new subdivision in the sleepy suburban town.

It was a long-drawn-out battle but over time the developer was winning. The neighbours objected and got organized.  The municipality, having taken conflicting positions on the applications, was incapable of resolving the matter; the whole issue dragged on for seven years.  

Years later a writer, let’s call him Bob, found that the story had been forgotten as stories often are.  Memories were fading. No one had written it down.

So, he wrote it down.  It took a while.  One hundred and fifty-three (153) newspaper clippings to read and, interviews with those who were there and who remembered.  In the end Bob pounded out 12,000 words.  Great stuff.  Well, maybe not.

Bob, the greenhorn writer, read a draft of his story to a writers’ group that he was part of it.  Boring, they said.  But they said it politely. Bob had to admit that some people might find the story a little dull.  On the other hand, many people told Bob that boring is in the eye of the beholder.   He carried on.

Yes, Law and Order it was not but within the story were Ontario Divisional Court appearances, illegal lotteries, ombudsman interventions, mandamus orders* and jurisprudential gymnastics that would keep anyone reading this story wide awake well past the six o’clock evening news.

Can it be boring when the story has conflict? 

A local residents’ group was organized to fight a big corporation.  Think Erin Brockovich up against the Pacific Gas and Electric Company.

Local politicians argued with each other over planning matters, funding and had differing views of whether they had received advice from a lawyer.  Then come decision time, according to one Council member, their “blood turned to water.” 

Important people from out of town, like Toronto. made it into the story. Like the Premier.  The neighbourhood group gained a meeting with Bill Davis.  Brampton Bill was fresh from killing the Spadina Expressway.  Surely, blocking the hamburger chain was an equally just cause. Then east Burlington could remain a cheeseburger free paradise. Later on, Adrienne Clarkson, then with the CBC’s Fifth Estate, came to town to interview key players.

The story had the public engaged on both sides of this issue.  A local educator speaking for the “silent majority” took out a newspaper ad calling for all BIG MAC Lovers to speak up. Eighty-five Lovers responded and signed a petition declaring that they “suffer from Mac Attacks” and demanded the restaurant proceed as planned.  Until the Golden Arches added distinctive elegance to the east end there would be no cure for such acute attacks.  That is what we were told.

There were heroes and there were villains. There was the Ward Councillor fighting the good fight for his constituents. He was accused by the owner of the plaza of having “a trick he has of maneuvering everybody.” Then there was a McDonald's spokesperson who lamented the fact that that his company’s reputation had not been enhanced by the publicity but could take solace in the final OMB statement that the hamburger chain is a “good corporate citizen, placed in the role of villain since their marketing success makes them the target of every criticism and objection, real or imagined.”

In fact, in the middle of it all the local rag referred to the matter’s “long and sordid history” lamenting the fact it had become THE THING in Burlington, forcing other, more important matters aside.”And speaking of history it was being made throughout the drama. McDonald's new slogan back then boasted they were “changing the eating habits of Canadians.”   How had they done this?  By introducing a breakfast menu of course.  Bob suspected that few Canadians were able to remember what breakfast was like before this epicurean breakthrough.

Lessons were learned. 

Regarding municipal planning one had to ask if city bylaws mean anything or as one of the community group’s leaders said: “The community is really in jeopardy when by-laws can be overturned like pancakes.”

What exactly is a family restaurant? A resident who had initially supported the restaurant had assumed he was supporting a quiet family eatery in his neighbourhood, not a high-volume fast-food restaurant, had second thoughts. “It never occurred to me that McDonald’s is considered a restaurant. If I said to my wife, I was taking her to a restaurant and I took her to McDonald’s she would be disappointed.”  

And perhaps the biggest lesson learned: The development industry is a powerful force in municipal politics. Someone once said that local politics is, in fact, mainly about real estate.

r.w. timberline

------------------

*A mandamus order is a writ that commands an individual, organization (such as a with legislative responsibilities to perform a certain action within their legislated powers, in adherence with the statute.

Representation at City Hall

“In Canada there is no Portuguese Act, no Italian, French, Ukrainian, Jewish or German Act.”  But there is, indeed, an Indian Act.”

That was part of the message delivered by NaWalka Geeshy Meegwun (aka Lyndon George) to the General Issues Committee of Hamilton City Council on June 19th.

One of the many negative outcomes resulting from that Act, passed in 1876, was the creation of Indian Residential Schools.  The Truth and Reconciliation Commission addressed the impacts of these schools with 94 Calls to Action. Establishing Indigenous representation on local municipal councils is the next logical step in addressing Reconciliation, George, representing Hamilton’s Circle of Beads group, stated.  Circle of Beads, an Indigenous consultation circle made up of 37 members now officially speaks for Hamilton’s Indigenous Community.

In the meeting, Circle of Beads’ speakers reminded the 16-member Council that many of them had committed to investigating the idea when campaigning in the 2022 municipal elections.

“It is time to walk your talk,” said George. 

At least one Councillor missed the point.  What if other special interest groups came asking for the same thing, he queried?

But Circle of Beads is not a special interest group.  They are speaking for First Nations people who have status as a sovereign nation confirmed in Section 35 of the Canadian Constitution, Section 25 of the Canadian Charter of Human Rights, and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). Wasn’t this clear? 

Halifax

Hamilton isn’t the only municipality to be exploring Indigenous representation on Councils. 

Last fall Halifax took initial steps toward designating a Mi'kmaw seat on its municipal council. The members of Halifax's executive standing committee recommended that regional council ask the province for the power to consider the reform. 

According to CBC Radio, Councillor Waye Mason of Halifax South Downtown, a common theme emerged from Mi'kmaw groups during consultation on Halifax's new culture and heritage priorities plan.

"What we heard, over and over again, was 'we think there should be a Mi'kmaw seat in Halifax,'" Mason said during the meeting. (Mason is a declared candidate for mayor in this year’s election.)

In fact, in 1992, Nova Scotia amended legislation to provide a designated seat in their legislature for Mi'kmaw representation.  That seat has never been filled. Instead, Mi’kmaw leaders hold regular meetings with the government.  The most recent one in June was the tenth such meeting. This arrangement appears to be satisfactory, for the time being at least.

“It is important that as leaders in this province, we do our part to uphold the nation-to-nation relationship established centuries ago by our ancestors. It is vital to discuss important items to help us better understand the vision of where we want to go in the future and how we can do so together as treaty partners,“ Chief Sidney Peters, Co-Chair of the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw Chiefs, stated in a press release following this year’s gathering. 

At Hamilton’s General Issues Committee, Audrey Davis, Executive Director of the Hamilton Regional Indian Centre, told committee that 85% of Indigenous people in Canada now live off reserve in towns, cities and rural areas. 

In Hamilton, census data indicates there are approximately 14,000 Indigenous residents although the number is probably higher.  Mi'kmaw residents of Halifax number about 6,000.   These population figures are small in comparison to other cities. Winnipeg counts 102,080 First Nation, Inuit and Metis (12.4% of its total population). Saskatoon at 34,890 (15%) Indigenous residents and Regina at 24,525 (13%) Indigenous residents are just two examples of denser Indigenous populaces.  

The City of Hamilton has made considerable progress in relations between City Hall and Indigenous residents. An Urban Indigenous Strategy and an Implementation Plan have been developed.  Signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Friendship Centre and the City has been delayed by excessive bureaucracy.   But Audrey Davis is optimistic as “the city has committed itself to build a relationship.” 

What’s next?

A seat at council does not put the Indigenous voice first.  It includes and provides “opportunities for change that will improve outcomes of the indigenous people who call Hamilton home,” stated Ms. Davis.

A Motion for the city to ask the province to have changes made to the Municipal Act to permit a member of the Indigenous community to be a voting member of City Council gained support.

Hamilton’s urban Indigenous community may not get provincial support for an Indigenous specific seat in the foreseeable future. In the interim, a temporary non-voting seat at the Council table would be “a step forward, but a small step,” stated Audrey Davis. Whether such a position will be elected or appointed is open to discussion.

At the meeting, Lyndon George spoke to “the-send-them-back-to-their-reserves” racism promoted by nameless Keyboard Warriors. You can expect that they will continue to oppose Indigenous representation. 

In spite of such opposition, it is clear that Indigenous knowledge and expertise on issues of land, water and air should be welcomed at local tables across the country.

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This story was written in June 2024. In early July, Hamilton councillors voted not to explore the addition of a new seat designated for a representative of the urban Indigenous population. See Hamilton councillors vote down Indigenous seat proposal | CBC News

Rum-Running and the Decanter*

Many years ago, my great-aunt passed on a decanter to me.  It was a small, rather unremarkable vessel.  She made a somewhat odd comment to me that suggested the decanter had been purposefully hidden away for years.  

This recollection struck me while listening recently to Ian Bell’s presentation Prohibition & Rum Running on Lake Erie in Port Rowan.

“Talking to people in Port Rowan about rum -running is a little like going to Ayrshire Scotland and telling the folks there about Robbie Burns,” said Bell.

Bell a folksinger, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, storyteller, historian and visual artist originally put together his presentation when he was curator of the Port Dover Harbour Museum.

“It is not hard history, but more folklore,” the Waterford resident told an engaged crowd of about 100 gathered at Neal Memorial Church.

A brief outline of the story Bell told would begin in the 1870’s. That is when the Port Dover & Lake Huron Railway Company arrived in Dover replacing schooners and expanding the fishery. Now fish caught by Dover fishermen could be shipped to big cities across North America.

But there was an economic downturn around 1920 and about the same time American fisherman had pretty much fished out the Lake.  These events paralleled the passage of the Volstead Act in the United States which enforced prohibition of alcoholic drinks. 

An opportunity presented itself for Canadian fishermen in what came to be called the “midnight herring” business.  That was because Canadian law said that you could make alcohol but you couldn’t sell it in Canada.  It could be exported though.  Much of what was exported through Norfolk was destined for Cuba.  That’s a long way from Lake Erie but somehow the boats made it home from the other side the next day. 

Of course, there was hardly any rum involved in those nighttime shipments across the lake to nearby Erie Pennsylvania.  The cargo was primarily whisky and some beer. 

According to Bell a case that cost $32.00 here would sell in the States for about $100.00

By the time Bell began to document the story of rum-running those who had been directly involved had passed away.  Bell depended on “small boys” named Harry (Harry Barrett, Harry Waddle and Harry Gamble) to put the tale together.

Those “small boys” had been young kids of around 10 years of age when the events took place. They reminisced about patching up bullet holes in the tugs and watching big fires on the pier when boxes carrying whisky were burned as boats departed for Erie.  They could evoke memories of fast bullet-proofed boats with powerful airplane engines zipping across the waves under cover of darkness. 

Of course, no story of prohibition times would be complete without our local tale regarding the wreck of the wooden schooner City of Dresden off Long Point in November 1922.

Like the authorities Bell always wondered why none of the Old Crow Bourbon Whiskey turned up. Some time ago he went looking and found an Old Crow Bottle (circa 1928) online.  No, it wasn’t from the Port Rowan wreck and salvage but that beverage was pretty close to the real thing.

That bourbon cost Ian Bell $100 in American dollars. Some time later he twisted the cap on that bottle, popped the cork, slowly took a sip and cast his mind back to those American bound fast boats with airplane engines speeding across Long Point Bay a century ago. 

As Bell points out relatively few locals were involved in the rum running business.  They got into the business out of economic necessity and because Prohibition created an opportunity.

The story was a different one at other spots on the Great Lakes. In Erie PA., for example, rum running, initially a small-time operation, was suddenly producing revenues of $800,000 – $900,000 a night according to historian Dr. David Frew.**  Crime families in Buffalo, Cleveland and Detroit took notice and moved in on the action. 

In fact, historians claim that Prohibition created organized crime.  Sure, there was crime previously in the big cities but enormous potential profits forced people like Al Capone to become more organized.  

Rum-running was dangerous.  Across North America more than 20 U.S. Coast Guard personnel died in pursuit of rum runners.  Exactly how many rum-runners perished is unknown. 

Prohibition came about due to intense lobbying by Temperance groups that started as far back as the 1830’s.

That brings me back to my great-aunt’s decanter.  Her father (George H. Lees) was heavily involved in the temperance movement. Lees, a one-time president of the Hamilton Prohibition Union, involved himself in local politics where he reportedly “prowled the streets” visiting many Hamilton saloons, cigar stores and pool halls.  His visits meant these businesses were often shut down.  (Yes, it wasn’t just River City that had trouble with pool halls.). The decanter was probably not a featured adornment in whatever Lees’ family household it resided in.  

Later in 1927 Lees founded the radio station CHML likely because the existing station CKOC had pulled a sermon off the air dealing with prohibition.  My great grandfather kept a radio on his desk. One day, according to the Dictionary of Hamilton Biography, he was outraged to hear the song Roll out the Barrel being played on the station.  

“Lees immediately pushed himself away from his work angrily stomped down to CHML headquarters, demanded to be presented the record then proceeded to split it into pieces over his knee.” 

Remarkably the family decanter has survived over the years.

The advocacy work of the temperance movement was undoubtedly well intentioned but at the end of the day created new problems before prohibition was lifted in 1933.

The Women’s Christian Temperance movement is still active in Canada, but seems to have moderated its views.

But check social media and you’ll find many individuals and numerous groups interested in regulating the behaviour of others.

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*A shorter version of this story originally appeared in the Port Rowan Good News.

**David Frew's book Midnight Herring : Prohibition and Rum Running on Lake Erie is a narrated history that will take you back 100 years and put you on board a fast boat dashing speeding across the lake from Dover to Erie.

What is Doug Getting Done?

This story originally appeared in March 2024 at “What is Doug Getting Done?” by Bob Wood | Seniors for Climate Action Now As of today Bill 162 is being considered by the Standing Committee on Heritage, Infrastructure and Cultural Policy.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I must have been the only one who never heard it. 

I’m talking about The Get it Done song that was a feature of Doug Ford election rallies back in 2022.   

“It's poppy. It's got a good vibe to it. It sounds very positive," Chris Beck told CBC reporter Lucas Powers on a sidewalk in downtown Toronto. "It's very catchy." 

Here’s a bit:

“Nobody said it was an easy road / And we won't stop, we don't ever fold."

So, I shouldn’t be surprised that the Get it Done song is now followed up 
with the Get it Done Act.

Get it Done is an Omnibus Bill. An omnibus bill is a single document that covers a number of diverse or unrelated topics. Such bills are intended to pass in a single vote by a legislature, avoiding scrutiny. The Ford government likes to use such bills. We have written about the problem with omnibus bills before (see SCAN-Climate-Crime-19-2022-12Update.pdf (seniorsforclimateactionnow.org).

Bill 162 was introduced on February 20, 2024

It amends the -Environmental Assessment Act 

-Highway Traffic Act 
-Official Plan Adjustment Act 2023  
-Photo Card Act 2008
-Public Transportation and Highway Improvement Act 

It enacts the Protection Against Carbon Taxes Act. 

The government says it is creating the conditions to rebuild Ontario’s economy and. 
is helping to get shovels in the ground sooner on new roads, highways and public transit. This will reduce gridlock; help ensure housing for a growing population and move the province’s economy forward.  We’ve heard all this before.

As is often the case the devil is in the details in such legislation so one needs to look at how it will change various regulations. Let’s look at what critics and experts have to say. 

On Streamlining Environmental Regulations

According to the municipal and land use planning group of Aird and Berlis, Ontario is changing the current environmental assessment process (EA) for municipal infrastructure projects. To do this Ford government is proposing to revoke certain regulations to create a streamlined EA regulation that focuses on certain higher-risk water, shoreline and sewage projects.

Only projects listed in the regulation would have Environmental Assessment Act requirements. It is proposed that some projects deemed to be low risk, which are currently subject to the Municipal Class Environmental Assessment, would no longer be subject to it. 

This would include: 
• all projects currently subject to Schedule B of the MCEA, 
• all municipal roads or new parking lots, 
• all private sector infrastructure projects for residents of a municipality, regardless of  size, including a new sewage treatment plant of any size. 

On Expropriations

The Narwhal is a Canadian investigative online magazine that focuses on environmental issues. It writes that the Ontario’s government is vulnerable to court challenges if it wants to expropriate land.

To block such challenges that could come up related to Greenbelt and Highway 413, the Get It Done Act would amend the Environmental Assessment Act to explicitly allow both provincial and municipal governments to expropriate land before environmental approvals. 

Environmental Defence (ED), a leading Canadian environmental advocacy organization, believes the bill is designed to prevent landowners who aren’t in on the Highway 413 scheme from legally challenging the seizure of their land. 

“This appears to be designed to help the Ontario government move quickly to destroy habitats, waterways and Indigenous sites that fall within federal jurisdiction.”

The Federal government needs to introduce an updated federal Impact Assessment Act soon before the province takes advantage of the gap in protection. 

On a Referendum
  
Much of the Bill deals with a potential vote on any future carbon pricing plan.
The Narwhal says the bill empowers the province’s chief electoral officer to hold a vote on any future carbon pricing plan, which would only be put in place if more than 50 per cent of Ontarians vote in favour of it. 

“It's performative politics at its worst, distracting from the Ford government's failure in addressing the housing crisis and the fact that they've made access to health care worse," says Mike Schreiner, leader of the Ontario Green Party.

Municipal Official Plans 

Many municipal official plans are changed by the legislation. For better or worse? It is hard to say how the changes will impact farmland or green space.

The Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) has been asking for more collaboration by the province with local governments. Right now, AMO “is pleased that the government is making these changes in consultation with municipalities.” 

On the other hand, Environmental Defence (ED) claims that so-called “special building zones appear calculated to let the provincial government take over local decision-making power in order to accelerate hand-picked projects.”  ED argues that this government favours spawl subdivisions rather than building more labour and cost-efficient housing in existing neighbourhoods.
 
On Tolls 

The legislation proposes to block the possibility of new tolls on new and existing provincial highways. In 2022, the Ford government dropped tolls on Highways 412 and 418 which, according to CBC, meant foregoing about $38.2 million in annual revenue. 

There is a good argument to be made that tolls on the relatively empty Highway 407 could be reduced for trucks making Highway #413 unnecessary.  There is no good argument to be made for building the Highway 413. 

What Now?

Upon receiving royal assent, the changes proposed by Bill 162 will be deemed to have come info force on December 6, 2023.

The province is currently seeking feedback on the proposed amendments for various dates in March. Comments may be submitted through the Environmental Registry of Ontario.

In spite of these short timelines I believe opposition will begin to coalesce to the impacts Bill 162 will have as it did last year around the Greenbelt.

Let’s start by rewriting the Get it Done Song.

How about a new tune?  We could call it Do it Right Doug!  

Nobody ever said we need more roads/ Let’s fight that idea and stop it cold.

Sources:

CBC NewsCBC - What's in a song? For Doug Ford's campaign, a whole lot | CBC News

Aird and Berlis - Ontario Introduces Bill 162: The Get It Done Act, 2024 (airdberlis.com)

The Narwhal - Ontario’s Get It Done Act: faster road building, fewer environmental guardrails | The Narwhal

Environmental Defence - Statement: The Ontario Government’s So-Called “Get It Done” 

Bill Would Revive the Sprawl and Land Speculation Scandal - Environmental Defence

AMO - Get It Done Act, Keeping Energy Costs Down Act, CMHC Housing Data, Seniors Active Living Centres Regulations | AMO

The Budget

On a long ago budget day, a procedural quirk

put a simple regional ward councillor

in a position to freeze the police budget.

Ward councillors don’t obstruct police budgets

because, as we all learned as kids,

the police(man) is our friend

does important and dangerous work

protects and keep us safe and

for all of this deserves to be well paid.

These are things that ward councillors,

even simple ones, should understand.

But since the common sense drumbeat

set the revolution in motion

we have come to know that the best government is

to have practically no government at all

and respect for hard earned taxpayer’s dollars

is the order of the day.

Others are compelled to run their ship tightly

while the law and order liner sails unimpeded

through the calm waters of political indifference.

On that budget day, the simple ward councillor

Having, for a time, ascended

to the lofty heights of budget committee member

advanced what was (by his own humble admission)

a particularly persuasive presentation

convincing the one colleague who needed convincing

that police spending should be apprehended and

it was a great day for local democracy

or at least it seemed that way.

But the votes aren’t counted

until the politicians raise their hands

and when they did

the police got their money, as they always do.

No media or public witnessed the sad event though

police brass made time in otherwise busy days

to behold the councillor’s misbegotten manoeuvre.

Following his 15 minutes of small town fame

our councillor drove his car like an undertaker.

Even now, my lane changes are by-the-book perfect

and inviolable police budgets escalate still.

This piece was originally published in the Dream, the Glory and 

the Strife edited by Raymond Fenech, Hidden Brook Press, 2018.

Facts, Democracy and Alternatives

Years ago, I attended a training session that included a workshop on negative political campaigning.

The workshop was a “how-to” and there was a resource person, I think.  

It was a long time ago. I really only remember two things about the session. One detail I recall was that only a few of us questioned the ethics of such campaigns.   And looking back I sure was naïve.  I mean it was a “how-to” workshop, wasn’t it?   

The other thing I remember is that it was emphasized that if you were doing such advertising in our democracies you had to have your facts right.   That was because if you didn’t you would lose credibility.  And that meant losing votes.

Well things have changed. Today it seems that political campaigns and politics in general are all about saying negative things about your opponent.   And it doesn’t matter if those utterances are factual or bogus.

I thought about that long ago training session while reading Martin Baron’s excellent book Collision of Power Trump, Bezos and the Washington Post.  Baron was the top editor at the Post from 2013-2021.

The book shows the difficult decisions those in newsrooms have to make.  What to publish?  What to leave out?  What to include?

The work became more difficult beginning June 16, 2015 when a blustering, big-headed reality show host rode down a golden escalator in New York’s Trump Tower and announced that he was running for president.  From then on Donald Trump was relentless in attacks on any media that had the audacity to publish anything negative about him.

The issue of calling out a public figure by saying s/he is telling a lie was a controversial one for Baron and his colleagues.  It seems that getting a handle on the concept of truth is about as difficult as getting a hold of a Lake Erie Eel. 

Early in his presidency Trump advisor Kelly Ann Conway introduced the idea of “alternative facts” to a bewildered public. But Ms. Conway went one better when she claimed that “if you don't know what's true, you can say whatever you want and it's not a lie."

Baron believes that the role of papers like the Washington Post is to hold people who are in power accountable.  That’s becoming harder as resources for traditional reporting dwindle.  

Maybe it doesn’t matter?  Is anyone really paying attention?  Baron quotes New York Times columnist Carlos Lozada from his 2020 book, What Were we Thinking.

“First, we are asked to believe specific lies.  Then bend the truth to our preferred politics. Next, to accept only what the president certifies to be true, no matter the subject or how often his positions shifts. After that, to hold that there is really no knowable, agreed-upon truth. Finally, to conclude that even if there is truth, it is inconsequential.  Lies don’t matter, only the man uttering them does." 

There is no room for traditional Upper Canadian smugness, however.  “Alternative facts” practitioners are alive and well in Ontario.  Take Doug Ford, for example.  Here’s what he said recently about the health-care system: 

“I want to be clear — Ontarians continue to have access to the care they need, when they need it.”

Check that “fact” out with the residents of Clinton or Minden or Fort Erie.  Last month the Ontario Health Coalition reported 868 temporary or permanent emergency department closures; and 316 urgent care centre closures in 2023. That is, in fact, a fact.

Our democracy seems to be coming apart. We need to find a way to agree on facts and come together to address what matters in our communities.

Different Alternatives

Baron writes about national media but there is a role for our local media which unfortunately is diminished and in danger of disappearing.   Two hundred years ago William Lyon Mackenzie, revolutionary, first mayor of Toronto began publishing a paper called the Colonial Advocate.  To be sure Mackenzie had his own views front and centre but the paper would also provide verbatim reports on meetings, proceedings of the legislature etc... so people could form opinions of their own.  

John McKnight has other ideas for local media. McKnight, is a community organizer and co-founder of the Asset Based Community Development Institute.  He has championed the idea that communities are places of strength; that solutions to some of our issues can be found by seeing the assets of our communities and neighbourhoods rather than the deficiencies. 

John McKnight

McKnight believes that our local newspapers should be “servants of citizenship.”  Big papers can’t do it as they “act on the hidden assumption that the large institutions of government, corporations and agencies provide the important news.”   The big papers hold up “a kind of mirror that promotes a disabling culture where citizens pull back from public life and grow cynical about their society,” he writes. *

Local media, on the other hand has the potential to engage citizens around real issues that matter in a way that can bring people together. Check out your local paper and you’ll notice the focus on citizen initiatives and community.

We need to find ways to support it.  Our Democracy requires it.

*Servants of Citizenship: Understanding the Basic Function of Newspapers in a Democracy (Learning Twenty-three) | John L McKnight (johnmcknight.org)