Are we the only ones who have noticed a global shift toward intolerance this year?
It started earlier this year with the Syrian refugee crisis, and a backlash from countries wanting to open their doors to people displaced due to war in their country. We saw it with ‘Brexit’, the British vote to leave the European Union, and south of our North American border with the United States, during and after the presidential election.
President-elect Donald Trump has softened his stance on building a wall between the US and Mexico to stem the flow of illegal immigrants, saying a fence would be sufficient in some areas. Even with that point of view, his isolationism is worrying.
In our own community, the call for tolerance became loudest last week when a court petition between a parent and School District 70 over Indigenous practices in an Alberni Valley elementary school came to light.
The issue hasn’t been thoroughly before the courts yet, and it has already polarized our community.
We cannot allow this legal issue to become permission to participate in racist views and actions. We have come too far as a society to allow that to happen—we cannot afford to go backwards.
Now that the emotional reactions have subsided, it is imperative that we allow the court system to run its course on this issue.
Don’t let this legal issue become about race.
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