The images emanating from the U.S. are something most of us never thought we would see. Masked government gunmen in the streets, tearing people out of their vehicles, demanding to see their papers, using battering rams to enter homes, and murdering people protesting their fascist ways. Such scenes must challenge even the most experienced denialist.
As a nation, we do not fall into that latter category, and yet there is a conspicuous absence of condemnation, even 'diplomatic' censure, from our government. While I realize it is always a fraught experience to deal with a fascist madman, surely it is time for our political representatives to show some spine.
That is indeed the opinion of Manitoba's premiere, Wab Kinew, one he expressed during the first ministers meeting last week.
Kinew says when he talks to his fellow Manitobans, they tell him how disturbed they are to watch the scenes from Trump’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, which has resulted in two deaths and rolling, often violent confrontations between citizens and agents for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE.)
“I felt compelled at the table, just given how much I’ve heard about this from Manitobans,” Kinew told reporters after the meeting ended.
Kinew said he has called Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and asked what he can do to help. Walz and other people in the midst of the turmoil have told Kinew they want people — yes, Canadians — to speak out against what they’re witnessing.
The premier is on side with that request and is hoping other political leaders are too.
Unfortunately, silence seems to be the strategy of most of the political class.
... neither Mark Carney nor the other premiers made any statements about Minnesota. Kinew, who understands that they have to present a careful, united front in the face of Trump, especially with regard to trade, nonetheless hinted at some regret for the silence.
Kinew realizes what is at stake, especially with the CUSMA review pending, but he seems to have a moral clarity others are lacking.
... we also have to call a spade a spade. We also have to look clearly into some things that are happening right next to us that are very unjust, and be able to say that we are going to continue being a voice of moral clarity that’s important for us as Canadians, so that we can hold our head high no matter what happens in our trade relationships with other countries.”
Heather McPherson, currently running for the leadership of the federal NDP, is also very concerned.
She wrote a letter to Carney this week, calling for sanctions on any Canadian connections to ICE, whether that is business or government, and the closure of ICE offices in this country. The ICE website lists five of them here: in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver.
“What Canadians are seeing south of the border, in Minnesota and beyond, is terrifying. The Trump administration’s abuses have no limits,” McPherson wrote in her letter.
Now the pragmatist will say, "Keep your head down and carry on." Indeed, Trump has instilled deep fear in much of the world owing to his unhinged and brutal assault on what we once considered collective values. But perhaps the timid should keep in mind one basic fact: our traditional behaviour of creeping quietly around the elephant is no longer a viable strategy. With the mad king, one thing or another will always arouse his baleful, idish impulses. Confronting those impulses in a united way, as Europe did in his mad quest for Greenland, may be the only way to ultimately survive him.