FEATURED COMMENT – We can offer support but still ask for the truth

Men of conscience can both object to the actions of the white nationalist group while also strongly supporting free speech and expression. Free speech must inherently also mean that we allow for speech that may run contrary to our own morals and ethics, and sometimes spits right in the face of what we think is right.

We have had these battles before and it still kind of shocks me when we have reactionary calls like “take off the mask” (we allow covid face masks and law enforcement to cover their faces without much objection, yes it was cowardly but it was not illegal), “check the ID of everyone coming into town” (like a free country could ever set up ID checkpoints on our highways and roads?), “you’re not welcome here, get out” (like the RCMP or elected officials can forbid a private citizen from the city), and calls to criminalize denialism (go to jail for questioning the claims made by the KIB when as of today there is still zero confirmed evidence that there are over 200 child graves on the reserve). Science has served us well in the past. We ask a question and seek proof. What is criminal about that? Two things can be true at once – you support our indigenous friends but also expect proof of claims at the same time. Our systems don’t function based on unsubstantiated claims (courts, medicine, health and safety etc).

We saw this with Larry Flint in the states. Before that it was rock n roll. Before that it was witches and the crusades. There’s always someone out there who thinks they have the moral authority to make decisions for you.

There are bad people out there ready to justify clamping down on rights and freedoms in the name of “protecting” you. That is the real boogeyman here. We cannot let a bunch of sensationalist racists break all the things our forefathers fought and died for. Freedom is the greatest gift. Some are oblivious to it and fundamentally don’t understand how it works. How it has to work.

The thing we must do when confronted with challenging situations is speak with each other, forcefully condemn those things we find objectionable, and commit to upholding the values that forged this country, a country that allows indigenous assembly and protest, remembrance, and criticism of the very country we live in. We are lucky to have these freedoms. Many do not, yet some Canadians are quick to throw them out the window in the pursuit of some kind of false security.

NAYLOR