ROTHENBURGER – The power of protest – can Enough is Enough fix anything?

THE PROBLEM WITH PROTESTS is they often don’t know what they’re about and are unsure of where they’re going.

Take the “Enough is Enough” rally at the Overlanders plaza in front of City Hall on Thursday. It was a nice day, nice enough for about 75 people to take a break from work or from retired life during a lunch hour to come see what was happening. Its stated purpose was to draw attention to public dissatisfaction over public safety issues.

While there was a lot of discussion about that, the issues of addictions, homelessness and mental health also came up. They’re related, of course, but the focus of the thing was muddied by the fact Glenn Hilke of The Loop stepped up to lead the rally.

Hilke, as a service provider for the homeless, was challenged at one point as being out of context with the general direction of the protest. Maybe that wasn’t fair or relevant, because Hilke made a point of encouraging others to speak, but it highlighted the confusion over the reason for the gathering. (Was it about advocating for the homeless, or about cracking down on crime and giving the streets back to “the rest of us”?)

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Mel Rothenburger is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired newspaper editor.  He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.