It’s not bad enough that Global Warming is going to take away our summer vacations at our favorite low-lying coastlines, flood our harbor cities, and drop large chunks of Greenland and Antarctica into the ocean.
Now it’s taking away books from children.
(Or a least it would be if the Canadian Government weren’t so resourceful.)
I kid you not.
Check out this article from yesterday’s Toronto Star about how the Canadian Government had to airlift 7,000 children’s books into some of the most remote northern villages because the usual route of transport–winter roads–are too dangerous this year because of Global Warming.
It was quite a sight, according to one witness in the teeny town of Fort Sevren in Ontario. “It was spectacular! The sun was shining, it was 10 below and suddenly the big Hercules came swooping into view, tipped its wings from above 800 feet above us and out came eight parachutes with crates of books floating to the ground,” said Bartleman from the tiny community about two hours from Hudson Bay.“We all jumped on the back of snowmobiles and pulled sleighs out onto the ice to load up the books. Some of the children ripped open the boxes and started to read the books right there in the snow.”
Someone better call Al Gore.
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March 1, 2007 at 12:03 am
feartheseeds
Hi. This is a really interesting niche you’ve built. About the book drop… it’s “Fort SeveRn” (http://fortsevern.firstnation.ca/) and I think this: “Another several thousand will be dropped today on the frozen waters of Sandy Lake, another fly-in community where poverty, low literacy levels and underfunding of federally run schools historically left bookshelves empty in both schools and homes.” is a bigger ‘book’ story than the melting ice highway. Libraries and schools in native communities (re: reserves) across Canada (including Severn) are chronically underfunded. The Canadian reserve system breeds illiteracy, and people like Ontario’s Lieutenant-Governor James Bartleman (which is a ceremonial position) are helping, but not enough to be considered a solution. The plane drop was basically a stunt, but the need for books and literacy programs in places like Severn is very real.
March 1, 2007 at 11:30 am
kmclean
Thanks for the typo catch, and thanks also for the insightful comment. I wish the literacy issue could be fixed as easily as the spelling.
I agree that literacy is one of the most critical issues facing small communities all over North America, and although I’m no expert on Canada’s reserve system, I know that the reservation system in the US has similar problems.
Forgive me if I seemed too flippant in the post. I take the issue of children’s literacy VERY seriously.
If you ran the circus, what would you do to make headway in this area. What are some concrete things that could be done for communities like Severn?
March 1, 2007 at 1:42 pm
feartheseeds
I didn’t think you were being flippant… I thought The TorStar was missing the issue.
The first thing that needs to be fixed — I’m writing a post about this today actually — actually, I guess the first thing you should know is that the Reserves in Canada are owned by the Canadian government, so no native living on a reserve actually owns their own home. So, no home means no mortage and no bank loans which means no small businesses which means no money for books and travel or pretty much anything else. So the first thing that needs to be done to get books into children’s hands would be allowing natives to own property on the reserves, or just to own the reserves outright. Everything else falls into place after that. Not all the reserves are dismal failures, just the ones with corrupt band officials or with leadership that’s in over their heads when it comes to financing schools and water systems. There was an entire band near Fort Severn that had to be evacuated last year because their water was, basically, liquid sh*t because the band officials had the water intake system built downriver of the sewage treatment plant. A big rain came, overwhelmed the treatment system and flooded the intake system with raw sewage.
Whoops… I think I just wrote my post on your site. Anyway. If I was the Ringmaster the right to borrow money would come first, then clean water, then an educated, literate and healthy population.
saltedlithium@yahoo.com
March 1, 2007 at 1:48 pm
feartheseeds
Oops. Just to clarify one little thing: when I wrote this “…,just the ones with corrupt band officials or with leadership that’s in over their heads when it comes to financing schools and water systems…” I should have included “but mostly because of a string of Canadian governments who really don’t care about the reserves. The government, since the beginning, has always seen the reserves as a native problem.”
I don’t want to lay these problems at the feet of the victims.
I think that’s it.
Yeah, that’s it. I’ve always hated editing.
March 8, 2007 at 3:31 am
Sohbet
Perfect..