............... My next point: Mayor Keith Hobbs says, Thunder Bay was built by the hard-working hands of Immigrants. We have a large Italian population, the largest Finnish population in the world outside of Finland, 22,000 urban Aboriginals (estimate) and a growing Muslim community”. Mayor Keith Hobbs is making it sound like Thunder Bay is diverse like Toronto, when that is not the case. Actions speak louder than words! The only thing that I have to say is “Go see for yourself”. The other interpretation that I am getting from this statement is that those people who built the town with their hard-working hands control the city. This town is based on seniority (who has been there the longest) even though those people should not be leaders in the community. I don’t know what views those who are considered “the rich” have in Thunder Bay, but by what I have experienced there is a huge gap between the rich and the poor. I have been in the city for 5 years and it doesn’t look like the marginalized Aboriginal community will be get better. The city of Thunder Bay will continue to not care for equal rights and opportunities. I am constantly approached by Aboriginal people when they are in need of something when I don’t even know them and I am constantly thinking that clearly the Aboriginal community is hurting and they have not been given the proper resources that Mayor Keith Hobbs states in his response to this article. He makes it sound like Thunder Bay is the greatest city in the world. He is voicing the views of Caucasian people and I don’t say that in a discriminating way. Caucasians won’t be targeted by Thunder Bay residents with racism and discrimination because there is nothing to discriminate about (besides looks). Thunder Bay residents will actually express their discriminatory views with you thinking that you would agree because that is the view that they have held since birth. Something that is hard to change and I can tell by their body language they are hesitant to know what my views are. I don’t know who exactly is feeding them this information but it is truly a disgusting act. A friend of mine told me more about the Muslim community in Thunder Bay. The stories he tells me are about how the residents of Thunder Bay are mistreating the religion of Islam by arriving at mosques saying they would like to convert to Islam. They then take this opportunity to make fun of our religion by using graffiti, disrespecting the Quran and yelling insulting things like “When is prayer time?!”. Then they laugh and drive away because its a crowded street full of Muslim people who have just come to the mosque in Thunder Bay to practice their religion. This happens constantly, as I just witnessed myself in 2013. As far as the discrimination of Aboriginals go, when an Aboriginal person is being targeted with racist remarks I feel like I am being attacked as well. One day as I walked into a Thunder Bay Mac’s convenience, I wanted to buy some candy and then someone in the store (whom I met in Thunder Bay) says something along the lines of “Don’t buy that candy, Natives put their dirty hands on it”. The more time I spent in Thunder Bay, I got to learn more about their views about Aboriginals specifically. I have some friends that are half Aboriginal and half Caucasian and are constantly ridiculed for being part Aboriginal. And unfortunately they are judged this way by both Aboriginals and Caucasians because of their History with each other. An acquaintance told me Aboriginals (although non-aboriginals refer to them as natives) hate being called a “Bogen”. I asked that person why and they said its pretty much like calling a black person and “Nigger” and is meant to be offensive when used. “One of the fastest growing city in Canada” – Keith Hobbs. Give me a break Keith. This mayor needs to open his eyes. Pat Spracklin made a good point. I read the article before IMMIgroup posted There was no intent on the part of the author or IMMIgroup to assign blame for these conditions, rather only to make note of them,. I did the same thing! I am not from Thunder Bay so my experiences in this town will stand out more than a person who was born in Thunder Bay. - See more at: immigroup/news/racism-thunder-bay#sthash.eLbmFpaA.dpuf
Posted on: Tue, 24 Jun 2014 02:21:58 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015