CREATING DIVISIONS

It was refreshing to read Ken Hynes’ July 12 opinion piece, “Canada at war with itself — we will lose.” He’s absolutely right that we — including our Indigenous Peoples — are all going to lose if the current media nonsense continues

Does anyone really believe these graveyards on church properties were unknown? We can’t atone for mistakes of the past by giving free rein to those who, at least in my opinion, want to exploit every possible revelation — even when it’s no revelation at all!

It’s time to deal with the realities of today and try to bring everyone up, rather than simply working to create bigger divisions in our social fabric.

Mr. Hynes’ comments on the role of the media in all of this hit a nerve with me in that, as a longtime CBC listener, I have over the last year or so noticed a propagandist approach to Indigenous and sexual orientation matters. On the CBC, it has come to sound as if the main interest of what used to be a diverse audience is now Indigenous and LGBTQ2+ issues.

A good case in point is CBC Maritimes Mainstreet program and the way its host, Jeff Douglas, seems obsessed with these subjects. It’s fine to work towards raising our social awareness, but it’s now gone too far.

That said, even on this program, I have to admit there are occasional positive moments and messages.

We need more of that. The best example being when Mi’kmaw linguist Bernie Francis is on the program and the general public can really gain some positive insight into his people’s culture. We need to hear more from people like Mr. Francis with his positive approach and less from people like Sipekne’katik Chief Mike Sack with his confrontational approach.

Terence Rowell, Dartmouth