Sustainability, what is sustainability? Simply put, isn't it
the idea of being able to provide for ourselves? Doesn't it mean ensuring that people's needs are met? Isn't is being able to
maintain our resources to the best of our abilities long-term? At least, that's
what I thought it was. Well how does it make sense that the government
sells off our Ontario Northland Train because it wasn't sustainable (Gillis, 2012) By not sustainable do they mean that it's costing them too
much to provide for the people of the north? This is how we feel. Are there not
ways to make this more sustainable than to completely shut it down? Do the
people of the north not have rights? What ever happen to equality? This was a
poor decision for both economic development and social development.
Before closing down our more economical and development form
of transportation maybe they should have asked for some ideas on how to make it
more sustainable. There are some ideas us people of the north may have had, if
we would have been given the opportunity. Re branding, re marketing the train,
could have been done, to attract people back to the train, if passengers were a
problem (Littlejohn, 2012) Isn't that what most company do to get people to buy
into their products? There could have been developments pertaining to day trips,
weekend trips and camps utilizing the train as the mode of transportation to
these "attractions" (Littlejohn, 2012) That would bring people on the train, money
into the areas, economic development in the north and so much more. Isn't that
what sustainability is about? Why didn't anyone ask the people who were the
most affected by these changes what possible scenarios could we implement and
try to save our train before closing it down? It was a bad investment to keep
the train running apparently, what about investing in people (Littlejohn,
2012)? We learned in our community economics and social development class that the people who are best to solve the people's problems, are the people it affects. Why isn't our government working with the people to create a better
north, a place were more people will want to leave, rather than tearing it
down (Northern Communities Working Group, 2012)?
This is a little piece of history now erased, swiped by the
government of today. It just adds fuel to the fire that a decision that affects
the north so greatly was made all the way at Queen's park. I guess we
didn't really need anyone from the North representing us, asking questions when
this decision was announced.
Our government talks about not wanting to put more money into
the train, about monies being lost and about the train being a subsidy. A
subsidy, who's money does the government play with? Our money. The people's
money (Northern Communities Working Group, 2012) . The government should be helping the people of the north
utilize their services to assure equal chances for everyone for growth. Taking
away jobs, mode of transportation, history, and so much more is not an
investment in people. They had the opportunity to really help the people of the
north to make the most that we could have out of this train service. Instead,
chose to shut it down.
How is this supposed to make us feel? Unwanted, less than,
inequality, helpless and hopeless. If that was the purpose, mission
accomplished. Without a say in our own development, we have suffered a major
loss not only in income and jobs but a loss to our history as people actually used some of these services to learn more about northern culture and aboriginal cultures (Blundell, 1996). I will have to tell
my kids that trains like this existed instead of being able to take them and
show them myself. It is a sad sad time for people in the north right now,
saying goodbye to such an important player in our economic development and
social development.
Angele
References
Gillis, L. (2012, 08 12). Queen's park liberals explain sell-off of ontario northland. Timmins times. Retrieved from http://www.timminstimes.com/2012/08/16/queens-park-liberals-explain-sell-off-of-ontario-northland
Littlejohn, E. (2012, 08 15). Design for democracy: Ontario northlander, treasured transit. Rabble.ca. Retrieved from http://rabble.ca/columnists/2012/08/design-democracy-ontario-northlander-treasured-transit
2012 Northern Communities Working Group. (2012). New deal for ontario northland. . Retrieved from http://www.nd4on.ca/
Blundell, V. (1996). Riding the polar bear express: And other encounters between tourists and first peoples in canada. Journal of Canadian Studies, 30(4), 28-51. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/203552627?accountid=46683
Hey, Angele
ReplyDeleteYou couldn't of hit the nail on the head more than you did in your blog. i feel as a Northern resident that we have trouble accessing so much as a result of someone else assessing whether or noth something makes sense or is sustainable. Perhaps if we decided on which things we would allow to be in place here in the north and whether or not those individuals would benefit finacially from those things. Wonder how sustainable they would find us then? I feel as though so many decisions are made for us ina country that prides itself so much on freedome of choice, speech and just ability to be free; has so many things that they make a choice for others!! I know in other aspects so many others feel the same and I hope that its gets back on track one day. We in the meantime loose a valuable resource for us northerner's and must pay the higher cost as a result "Feeling more isolation and paying higher prices to travel for other things that we can only access through travel" All because someone else made that choice for us.
Thank you for sharing this with us, great job
Angela
I couldn’t agree with you more Angele. The government seems to forget that northern communities are in fact northern communities, not to mention the fact that we pay taxes just like other citizens in Canada. Taking away one of the greater recourses we had because it was no longer cost efficient. What about the people who relied on the train? What about those who cannot afford the bus? In addition, image the price of certain items like food, which was ship up on the train to get to remote northern rural areas. In a social democratic view, this is not okay. They promote an equal chance at success, yet now with the cost of living that will surely increase because of these choices the government made thousands of miles away, people will struggle and not have an equal opportunity. It almost seems like this is their way of killing off the northern communities, and brings them south to increase their communities to gain more capital from them. The more people come down the more money they will need to invest in their new communities. Once people can no longer afford living in remote location, it would be only a matter of time before the land is prospected for its valuable resources.
ReplyDeleteChristine-Timmins