- Reaction score
- 4,268
- Points
- 1,260
Shared in accordance with the "fair dealing" provisions, Section 29, of the Copyright Act - http://www.cb-cda.gc.ca/info/act-e.html#rid-33409
Drawing Battle Lines
Sun Media sent undercover employees to the street where they gauged the pulse of the nation
Thane Burnett, Toronto Sun, 31 Oct 06
Article Link
(Resulting articles from other cities below)
There is a quiet divide in our country.
It is between those who believe we should remain fighting in Afghanistan and those who hope we find a way out now.
But unlike our neighbours to the south, most Canadians don't often take a stand on corners to express and press our world views.
Last weekend's anti-war protests in Canadian cities, as well a few pro-mission gatherings weeks earlier, are rare and include only a small number of our voices.
We're usually so very quiet in our convictions and conversations, as we walk by one another on crowded streets. So I'm looking for signs to break the silence -- and get us talking.
Over the past week, in Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa and London, Sun Media journalists, including myself, have stood on our busiest boulevards, carrying sandwich boards and waving placards which spelled out battle lines on our home front.
One day, our billboards called for us to hold fast in Afghanistan. In my case, the words were "Support Our Troops" -- the acknowledged slogan to stay the course.
Then the next day, the placards changed to a call of withdrawal -- "Canada Out of Afghanistan."
STAND SILENT
Our signs gave no indication we were from the press. We were to stand silent, and let people react to an opinion.
Polls suggest about 59% of Canadians support Canadian combat troops being used in Afghanistan -- with about half the country wanting our men and women to all return home when our current military commitment ends in 2009.
Despite the numbers, any debate seems low and muffled.
When I s uggested this national project to test our convictions, I assumed almost everyone -- as Canadians often do -- would walk politely past any controversy.
I thought you wouldn't have much to say. And I was wrong.
The first emotional crossing takes place in the middle of Canada's busiest city street. On the west side of Yonge St., at Adelaide, I have just pulled out my first sandwich board -- "Support our Troops," the people read as they pass.
It takes less than a minute to get an angry first response. Walking northbound on the other side, a young man yells across the busy street: "F--k the troops."
He is reasonably well dressed. He's alone -- not fuelled by anti-establishment bravado tht can be born in a group. And in his vulgar and disquieting way, he wants to be heard.
"F--k the troops," he continues, as 43-year-old electrician, Michael McRone -- crossing east to west -- challenges him.
"Hey, they're fighting for you," the older man yells.
"They're fighting for us all."
For hours on this day, every few minutes and every few steps, I am challenged or congratulated. You could blow bubbles in the nude on Yonge St., and people would hardly react.
I've made a simple statement of support, and it stops an amazing number of people in their tracks. Cars and trucks, many carrying blue-collar workers, honk their horns.
"Good for you," says a businessman in an expensive suit as he walks by with a similarly dapper peer.
Rob Outingdyke, a 46-year-old City of Toronto worker, turns his cube van around, to ask if I know of a place where he can get a bumper sticker to show his own support.
Bruce Bourassa was walking down Yonge St., when he found, in my sign, something that stirred a sense of patriotism. As a fall wind runs past us, he brings me a coffee.
"I'm a passionate Canadian," he explains as we sip Tim Hortons java -- elixir of many truly Canadian debates.
TIMMY'S BREW
As I swallow the last dregs, a man in a car slows, rolls down his window, holds up his own Tim Hortons coffee cup, and toasts: "This is what (they're) fighting for."
Bart Senos' dad fought in Korea for more. A soldier next to the elder Senos was killed by a sniper. Bart's dad was, perhaps, collateral damage, as he never seemed the same again.
"Give those troops everything they need to get the job done," says Bart, a 49-year-old accountant.
A 41-year-old delivery man, Adolfo Barreto -- whose blood-line runs down to Nicaragua -- stops to say all of us should have to do some service in the name of Canada.
"To have to stand up for this country," he says, as 29-year-old Peter Ferdinand arrives, to debate what is liberty, truth and what good is Canada doing over there.
HOT DEBATE
I listen as debates -- over and over again -- spring from the pavement and the black on white letters of my sign.
"(Afghanistan) is none of our business," a young nurse, Kathleen Walker, rages to her friend, Akil Augustine, who does not share her view. "Is it OK to die for peace?"
As if my sign says it all, few ask me my own views. They are thirsty to be asked their own. An older woman, without stopping, taps her cane against my sign, saying as she passes: "Support our troops ... by bringing them back home."
A legal assistant tells me of the soldier brother of her fiancee, who's returned from Afghanistan, and is finding it difficult to find his way in a country which never seems to speak much about the mission that's become a war.
This day ends, when a 31-year-old Bay St. human resources executive stops my pacing. Since August, her husband has served in Afghanistan. She, and other military families, will soon be packing up Christmas packages to send over.
Whenever her own care packages are sent, she includes shoes and clothing for the Afghanistan workers who are helping our troops.
Maybe we don't talk enough among ourselves, she reasons, because we're not hearing about the good that's being done. Just the bad that is sent back on flag covered coffins.
"But I think there is support -- the troops feel it," she says.
It is the next day, and from the moment I swing a new sandwich board over my head -- one calling for Canada to get out of Afghanistan -- I feel a cold front.
Or perhaps it's the security guard, who continually stands in front of me to recall an anti-war protester who, weeks ago, was beaten up on this spot, across from the Eaton's Centre.
Shoppers, tourists, teens skipping school, drunks and young Bay St. dragons all scan my sign as they pass. Over hours, only one car honks a horn. The reception is slightly chillier than yesterday -- the message seems to be more provocative. But passersbys refuse to just ignore it.
I am repeatedly asked if I have a petition. I am patted on the back. Given the thumbs up. Supported -- just as I was when my earlier sign suggested a different opinion.
While I can't compete with a street artist across the road who's colouring a Superman image in chalk, there is still a steady number of Canadians who stop my one-man parade.
"There is no more peaceful country than Canada," 23-year-old Shafayet Chowdhury explain to me.
"Should we really be putting our sons in harm's way?"
Those who approach me today are largely younger than yesterday. A group of girls carrying shopping bags declare: "We support you." Rumpled street teens approach. As does 24-year-old Josh Goudreau who believes he grew up with a soldier who died -- but can't remember the man's last name.
And then there's the Colbourne family, from Newfoundland -- a province which has sent many soldiers to Afghanistan.
"There's a growing movement of voices opposed," says Eric Colbourne, who owns a bed and breakfast on The Rock.
"Newfoundlanders aren't keeping quiet," he assures.
And still another family soon follows -- 24-year-old Ambreen Montano, her toddler, Gabriel, and husband, Franklin.
"I don't know who we're helping over there," she wonders.
And the line to my soapbox gets longer -- a Yiddish scholar who knows how many Canadian soldiers have died, a street person who says he will sign up for the forces only to say "no" to duty in Afghanistan and two strangers who lob arguments back and forth as if I'm not even standing here.
All have something important to say in this sidewalk census. All seem to have been kept quiet for too long.
It would be a mistake to believe Canadians -- on both sides of the street -- don't have opinions on their country at war.
There is a quiet divide among us. But you would be surprised how little it takes to get us to step to the corner and be counted for our convictions.
Here's the results from other cities:
Winnipeg
Ottawa
Edmonton
London
Calgary
- edit: added links to stories from other cities -
Drawing Battle Lines
Sun Media sent undercover employees to the street where they gauged the pulse of the nation
Thane Burnett, Toronto Sun, 31 Oct 06
Article Link
(Resulting articles from other cities below)
There is a quiet divide in our country.
It is between those who believe we should remain fighting in Afghanistan and those who hope we find a way out now.
But unlike our neighbours to the south, most Canadians don't often take a stand on corners to express and press our world views.
Last weekend's anti-war protests in Canadian cities, as well a few pro-mission gatherings weeks earlier, are rare and include only a small number of our voices.
We're usually so very quiet in our convictions and conversations, as we walk by one another on crowded streets. So I'm looking for signs to break the silence -- and get us talking.
Over the past week, in Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa and London, Sun Media journalists, including myself, have stood on our busiest boulevards, carrying sandwich boards and waving placards which spelled out battle lines on our home front.
One day, our billboards called for us to hold fast in Afghanistan. In my case, the words were "Support Our Troops" -- the acknowledged slogan to stay the course.
Then the next day, the placards changed to a call of withdrawal -- "Canada Out of Afghanistan."
STAND SILENT
Our signs gave no indication we were from the press. We were to stand silent, and let people react to an opinion.
Polls suggest about 59% of Canadians support Canadian combat troops being used in Afghanistan -- with about half the country wanting our men and women to all return home when our current military commitment ends in 2009.
Despite the numbers, any debate seems low and muffled.
When I s uggested this national project to test our convictions, I assumed almost everyone -- as Canadians often do -- would walk politely past any controversy.
I thought you wouldn't have much to say. And I was wrong.
The first emotional crossing takes place in the middle of Canada's busiest city street. On the west side of Yonge St., at Adelaide, I have just pulled out my first sandwich board -- "Support our Troops," the people read as they pass.
It takes less than a minute to get an angry first response. Walking northbound on the other side, a young man yells across the busy street: "F--k the troops."
He is reasonably well dressed. He's alone -- not fuelled by anti-establishment bravado tht can be born in a group. And in his vulgar and disquieting way, he wants to be heard.
"F--k the troops," he continues, as 43-year-old electrician, Michael McRone -- crossing east to west -- challenges him.
"Hey, they're fighting for you," the older man yells.
"They're fighting for us all."
For hours on this day, every few minutes and every few steps, I am challenged or congratulated. You could blow bubbles in the nude on Yonge St., and people would hardly react.
I've made a simple statement of support, and it stops an amazing number of people in their tracks. Cars and trucks, many carrying blue-collar workers, honk their horns.
"Good for you," says a businessman in an expensive suit as he walks by with a similarly dapper peer.
Rob Outingdyke, a 46-year-old City of Toronto worker, turns his cube van around, to ask if I know of a place where he can get a bumper sticker to show his own support.
Bruce Bourassa was walking down Yonge St., when he found, in my sign, something that stirred a sense of patriotism. As a fall wind runs past us, he brings me a coffee.
"I'm a passionate Canadian," he explains as we sip Tim Hortons java -- elixir of many truly Canadian debates.
TIMMY'S BREW
As I swallow the last dregs, a man in a car slows, rolls down his window, holds up his own Tim Hortons coffee cup, and toasts: "This is what (they're) fighting for."
Bart Senos' dad fought in Korea for more. A soldier next to the elder Senos was killed by a sniper. Bart's dad was, perhaps, collateral damage, as he never seemed the same again.
"Give those troops everything they need to get the job done," says Bart, a 49-year-old accountant.
A 41-year-old delivery man, Adolfo Barreto -- whose blood-line runs down to Nicaragua -- stops to say all of us should have to do some service in the name of Canada.
"To have to stand up for this country," he says, as 29-year-old Peter Ferdinand arrives, to debate what is liberty, truth and what good is Canada doing over there.
HOT DEBATE
I listen as debates -- over and over again -- spring from the pavement and the black on white letters of my sign.
"(Afghanistan) is none of our business," a young nurse, Kathleen Walker, rages to her friend, Akil Augustine, who does not share her view. "Is it OK to die for peace?"
As if my sign says it all, few ask me my own views. They are thirsty to be asked their own. An older woman, without stopping, taps her cane against my sign, saying as she passes: "Support our troops ... by bringing them back home."
A legal assistant tells me of the soldier brother of her fiancee, who's returned from Afghanistan, and is finding it difficult to find his way in a country which never seems to speak much about the mission that's become a war.
This day ends, when a 31-year-old Bay St. human resources executive stops my pacing. Since August, her husband has served in Afghanistan. She, and other military families, will soon be packing up Christmas packages to send over.
Whenever her own care packages are sent, she includes shoes and clothing for the Afghanistan workers who are helping our troops.
Maybe we don't talk enough among ourselves, she reasons, because we're not hearing about the good that's being done. Just the bad that is sent back on flag covered coffins.
"But I think there is support -- the troops feel it," she says.
It is the next day, and from the moment I swing a new sandwich board over my head -- one calling for Canada to get out of Afghanistan -- I feel a cold front.
Or perhaps it's the security guard, who continually stands in front of me to recall an anti-war protester who, weeks ago, was beaten up on this spot, across from the Eaton's Centre.
Shoppers, tourists, teens skipping school, drunks and young Bay St. dragons all scan my sign as they pass. Over hours, only one car honks a horn. The reception is slightly chillier than yesterday -- the message seems to be more provocative. But passersbys refuse to just ignore it.
I am repeatedly asked if I have a petition. I am patted on the back. Given the thumbs up. Supported -- just as I was when my earlier sign suggested a different opinion.
While I can't compete with a street artist across the road who's colouring a Superman image in chalk, there is still a steady number of Canadians who stop my one-man parade.
"There is no more peaceful country than Canada," 23-year-old Shafayet Chowdhury explain to me.
"Should we really be putting our sons in harm's way?"
Those who approach me today are largely younger than yesterday. A group of girls carrying shopping bags declare: "We support you." Rumpled street teens approach. As does 24-year-old Josh Goudreau who believes he grew up with a soldier who died -- but can't remember the man's last name.
And then there's the Colbourne family, from Newfoundland -- a province which has sent many soldiers to Afghanistan.
"There's a growing movement of voices opposed," says Eric Colbourne, who owns a bed and breakfast on The Rock.
"Newfoundlanders aren't keeping quiet," he assures.
And still another family soon follows -- 24-year-old Ambreen Montano, her toddler, Gabriel, and husband, Franklin.
"I don't know who we're helping over there," she wonders.
And the line to my soapbox gets longer -- a Yiddish scholar who knows how many Canadian soldiers have died, a street person who says he will sign up for the forces only to say "no" to duty in Afghanistan and two strangers who lob arguments back and forth as if I'm not even standing here.
All have something important to say in this sidewalk census. All seem to have been kept quiet for too long.
It would be a mistake to believe Canadians -- on both sides of the street -- don't have opinions on their country at war.
There is a quiet divide among us. But you would be surprised how little it takes to get us to step to the corner and be counted for our convictions.
Here's the results from other cities:
Winnipeg
Ottawa
Edmonton
London
Calgary
- edit: added links to stories from other cities -
