Oh, Canada,
what have you become?
Swastikas and confederate flags
fly on your thoroughfares,
horns and harassments
assault your residents,
demands of a 13 year old
echo in your alleyways.
This is not the Canada I recognize:
your cities held hostage
to the deafening roar of intolerance.
Where is respect for rule of law?
Where is reasoned argument?
Where is respect for those
who gave to their country?
Have these been replaced
by misinformation, conspiracy theory,
and politics of disruption?
Oh lovely land,
you welcomed me in my youth,
gave shelter and safety
from the winds of war,
and now,
mobs rule your streets,
occupy your avenues,
barricade your bridges and your borders,
while symbols of hate insinuate themselves
in front of your monuments.
Where is the country
that kept the elephant at bay?
Where is the cultural mosaic
that stood for values of its own?
Oh Canada,
your citizens are bereft.
They wander without police enforcing laws,
while snow blows through the halls of justice.
Your beacon has dimmed,
while other countries imitate your missteps.
Who stands now
against this drive to dismantle democracy?
Who stands now
against hatred in all its forms?
Oh Canada,
what have you become?
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Canada Under Seige
I have found this to be just horrifying.
What is wrong with these protestors …what is happening to my country that I am so proud to be a citizen of.
Larry, you have taken all I am thinking and feeling and put it in to words so perfectly. Your amazing gift!
Praying that the country of kindness and tolerance that I have always been proud to call my home, Canada will be restored.
Thank you
You ask “Who stands”
I Do.
Your words echo the hurt of our hearts. I have hope that we ‘the silent majority’ will make our voices heard to drown out the hate and fear mongering of the very vocal few.
“this drive to dismantle democracy”
“Oh Canada what have you become ”
There are so many lines I could choose as reflecting what is in my heart. You have a gift Larry and I appreciate Ron and Sandra sharing this sad, but at the same time hopeful poem.
I look forward to learning more about your upcoming endeavours to enlighten this world and I think we need to start with Mayor and Council.
Thanks, Larry, for articulating how many of us feel so well! Tolerance should not be confused with passivity and I have hope that the country would not be caught off guard against when something like this happens in the future.
Laryy, you have captured the ugliness of violent elements within the core of our society that would disrupt our present and threaten our future. This is merely the warning shot off our bow of what could be, if we, the majority, don’t call out the wrongs with which we are faced and be proactive in efforts to restore a Canada of which we can be proud together.