174 Forward Avenue

Ottawa ON K1Y 1L2

Saturday, November 29, 2014
Letters to the Editor
The Globe and Mail
444 Front St. W.
Toronto ON M5V 2S9

To the editor,
Re the Saturday, November 29, 2014 Grey Cup weekend edition of The Globe and Mail:
The main reports in this edition concern: (1) the violent Black unrest in Ferguson, Missouri,
USA due to the police fatal shooting of unarmed Black teenager Michael Brown; (2) the
extremely difficult lives of the people of war torn Ukraine; (3) the long overdue proper
compensation of Canadian Thalidomide victims.
Receiving no mention whatsoever were: (1) the Burnaby Mountain, BC, Native-centric protests
against the bitumen pipeline building executed by Kinder Morgan; (2) the unmitigated illnesses
caused by Albertas Oilsands horrific pollution of the Athabasca River, and contracted by Fort
Chipewyans mainly Native population, as detailed in the documentary, Downstream; (3) the
1970 horrific pollution by mercury poisoning of the Grassy Narrows and Whitedog First Nations
Native communities of Northwestern Ontario, and the Thalidomide-like birth defects there as a
result.
If the editorial staff of The Globe and Mail had any balls, there would have at least been articles
on: (1) PM Harpers solution to homelessness, involving building more prisons at the same time
as Natives comprise 25 per cent of Canadas prison population while Natives comprise only 4
per cent of Canadas general population; (2) continued assimilation of Natives into white-bred
Canadian culture, so well documented in Tomson Highways play, Ernestine Schuswap Gets Her
Trout, that I couldnt stop myself from openly crying while watching it; (3) the continued refusal
by Prime Minister Harper (Ca brille par son absence!) to launch an investigation into the more
than 1,000 missing and murdered Native women and children across Canada over the past 30
years.
I suppose all thats left for me now is for me to look forward to the Sunday instalment of the Sun
Newspaper group here in Canadas capital, Ottawa. If past efforts are any indication, Im
probably in for its usual, small-minded, holiday ideological whipping, which is characterized by
a niggardly, rude and completely bereft treatment of human rights and equality issues. To
prepare myself for this, Im: (1) putting Billy Joels not at all bluesy little tune, Uptown Girl, on
my sound system; (2) downing a glass of Bombay Blue Sapphire gin so as to once again become
the perfect Canadian gentleman; (3) climbing into my powder-blue PT Cruiser and driving
madly off in all directions to Christmas shop.
Globe and Mail, what I tell you three times is true: that unsurprisingly in the exact same manner
as the Harper government, you blew it!
Yours truly,
Rolf Auer