Saturday 26 November 2011

Attawapiskat: National Shame



The Red Cross is a great organization. Wherever disaster hits -- whether natural or government man-made -- it's on the case.

Oh. Look where it's going now. Attawapiskat, Ontario.
The Canadian Red Cross is mobilizing to help meet immediate needs in the community of Attawapiskat. The Red Cross continues to work closely with public authorities and the community to identify and address urgent, short-term needs. At the request of the community the Red Cross will also take on a donation management role to support these needs as identified.

"We have been working closely with public officials and Chief Theresa Spence to assess needs, determine the best course of action and how the Red Cross may be able to provide support," says John Saunders, provincial director of disaster management for the Canadian Red Cross in Ontario.

According to Saunders, some of the needs currently identified include generators, heaters, insulated sleeping mats, blankets and winter clothing.

"Chief Spence has asked that the Red Cross provide support with donation management as the community has been inundated with offers of assistance," says Saunders. "We are continuing to work closely with Chief Spence to identify what is needed immediately and make arrangements to get supplies into the community as soon as possible."

Financial donations may be made online at www.redcross.ca, by calling 1-800-418-1111 or through your local Canadian Red Cross office. Cheques should be made payable to the Canadian Red Cross, earmarked "Attawapiskat" and can also be mailed to the Canadian Red Cross, Ontario Zone, 5700 Cancross Court, Mississauga, ON, L5R 3E9.

So what is the Contempt Party of Canada–led government doing? Studyin' on it for a while yet.

Gee, wouldn't it be great if there were funds sloshing around to at least help with the dire sanitation problem? Like some money for toilets?
A January draft report says some of the G8 infrastructure projects included $274,000 on public toilets and $100,000 on a gazebo.

My humble suggestion to the people of Attawapiskat: Invite the Muskoka mayors to visit and advise them on how they got such nice shitters on the public dime. Er, 2.74 million dimes.

And I have a humble question: if Canadians personally donate to the Red Cross fund for Attawapiskat, will the Contempt Party government match our generosity, as it did for Haiti and other humanitarian catastrophes?

Image source, from 2008!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sorry kids,but there's a nice new bed in a prison waiting for you, if you like.

Beijing York said...

This is so depressing. How can the Harper government not feel shame when the freaking Red Cross needs to do damage control. Haiti North and chances are really good that Harper won't match the contributions because he's a racist prick.

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