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The Citizen, 2017-07-06, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JULY 6, 2017. Editorials Opinions Publisher: Keith Roulston • Associate Publisher: Deb Sholdice Editor: Shawn Loughlin • Reporter: Denny Scott Advertising Sales: Brenda Nyveld • Heather Fraser The Citizen is published 50 times a year in Brussels, Ontario by North Huron Publishing Company Inc Subscriptions are payable in advance at a rate of $36.00/year ($34.29 + $1.71 G.S.T.) in Canada; $160.00/year in U.S.A. and $205/year in other foreign countries. Advertising is accepted on the condition that in the event of a typographical error, only that portion of the advertisement will be credited. Advertising Deadlines: Mon. 2 p.m. - Brussels; Mon. 4 p.m. - Blyth. PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 40050141 Canada RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO CIRCULATION DEPT. PO BOX 152 BRUSSELS ON NOG 1H0 email: info@northhuron.on.ca We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada. • The Citizen P.O. Box 429, P.O. Box 152, BLYTH, Ont. BRUSSELS, Ont. NOM 1 HO NOG 1 HO Ph. 519-523-4792 Phone Fax 519-523-9140 519-887-9114 E-mail info@northhuron.on.ca Website www.northhuron.on.ca AOCna tom. Member CCNA Member of the Ontario Press Council CMCA AUDITED We are not responsible for unsolicited newsscripts or photographs. Contents of The Citizen are m Copyright It's about money, not process! The good news is that Mitzie Hunter, Ontario's Minister of Education, last week announced a temporary halt to the closure of schools in rural and Northern Ontario communities. The bad news is that this move is temporary, and Hunter's announcement is about reforming the process of closing schools, not eliminating the need for closures in the first place. Hunter's announcement does promise a new $20 -million Rural and Northern Education Fund to supposedly help rural schools remain viable, but what's needed is a complete revision of the funding model for rural schools. While that $20 million sounds impressive, it's not that much more than it cost taxpayers to build the new Maitland River Elementary School in Wingham, a new school that was made necessary by the closure of five other community-based schools. Though Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Patrick Brown was quick to blast the Liberal government for finally halting rural school closures only a year before the next provincial election, we should remember that we started down this road under Premier Mike Harris's Tory government. Harris tied funding to a benchmarking process which put all schools under the microscope as to how many square feet there was for each student. This hardly excuses Liberals who have had 14 years to straighten out the mess and instead made it worse. We don't need a temporary halt to school closures which may evaporate after the next election no matter which party forms the government. We need a whole new philosophy that recognizes that schools aren't an education factory but are an integral part of communities. We need to throw out this idea that it makes more sense to spend millions on new schools and additional busing when hundreds of thousands could keep schools operating in small communities where the kids can walk to school. Such a thoughtful reform would still be too late for hundreds of communities like our own which have lost their schools, but at least it would halt the madness before it spreads further. — KR Taking the bad with the good One of the things that keeps Canadians from getting too full of themselves is that even if we're feeling good, someone is sure to point out all our faults. Such was the case as Canadians tried to celebrate the 150th year of the formation of our current form of government. Some Indigenous leaders complained the whole idea of the celebration was an insult to their people's thousands of years of living on this land — land they feel was stolen from them. As well, the horrors of the residential schools were brought front and centre again. While all this negativity may have frustrated some Canadians who just wanted a day to celebrate what's good about Canada before getting back to solving the things that are still wrong, the voicing of discontent is part of the process of making this a better country. In 1967 as we celebrated our centennial, many Quebecers didn't think there was anything to celebrate. They simply wanted out of Canada. But 50 years later, thanks to efforts to meet Quebeckers' needs, Canada is still together and, although there are still people who want an independent Quebec, for the moment, at least, the pressure for independence has relaxed. The road to reconciliation with Canada's Indigenous people will be even longer and harder because the problems are more complex and long lasting. Progress will never be fast enough because there's healing involved, not simply changing a few laws. The road to solving these problems must begin with the willingness of governments (and Canadians) to listen and learn. If a little disruption of our 150th birthday party begins the process, then maybe it will make the 200th anniversary better. — KR Reality can't be ignored And still they come — thousands of people risking death in leaky boats crossing the Mediterranean in the hope of finding a better life. More than 12,000 migrants landed in Italy this past weekend alone. Their stories might not be as dramatic as the Syrian refugees fleeing war in their homeland. Their journey is tainted by the fact they have paid scumbag people -smugglers to help get them out of Africa and into Europe. They definitely are not legal immigrants. Yet we can't ignore the reality of their desperation. So far this year 2,000 people have drowned trying to make the crossing to Europe. Certainly some of the truth of the risk they are taking must have filtered back to the potential migrants. And still they're willing to take a chance. Their desperation echoes the stories of Irish immigrants fleeing the potato famine or Scots escaping the highland clearances, enduring weeks of misery in the holds of boats on their way to Canada. What's "lawful" hardly counts when there is a flood of desperate people trying to find a better life. — KR P* :211 ill( gar!'_ ►'CANADA150 r i r Looking Back Through the Years July 5, 1944 The weekly service at St. John's Anglican Church in Brussels was in keeping with celebrating the 77th anniversary of Confederation. The rector, Rev. M. F. Oldham was in charge of the service and used special lessons, hymns and prayers to help mark the occasion. In honour of the county, Miss Geraldine Stretton carried a Canadian flag at the head of the church's choir for the service, which was reported to have been well - attended. July 6, 1967 Over 8,000 people made their way to Brussels for Come Home Week in the village, which also aimed to celebrate Canada's centennial. Former residents returned to the community from areas as far afield as Vancouver, Halifax and all over the U.S. The event's ball tournament was one of the weekend's first events. The team from Brussels was beating up on a team from Brucefield by a score of 8-3 in the third inning of the tournament's first game when it was called off due to rain. As part of the weekend's Sunday program, over 900 people attended an outdoor church service at the village's Victoria Park. A number of local ministers took part in the service. Despite rising costs and a number of grants associated with Come Home Week and Canada's centennial celebration, the Brussels mill rate was reported to be staying the same for the coming year according to The Brussels Post. In fact, residents who paid their taxes before July 28 would be the recipient of a two per cent discount. July 15, 1981 With a mail strike on, the Blyth Summer Festival was doing its best to ensure that those wanting to purchase tickets for the shows were able to do so, despite the disruption. The Festival box office had added additional phone lines to handle the traffic and allow people to charge their tickets over the phone. The season's opening show was Anne Chislett's Quiet in the Land, followed by Love or Money, The Tomorrow Box, Fire and Ice and He Won't Come in from the Barn. Over 70 young people from the community were busy outside having fun as part of the Blyth Christian Reforced Church's annual Vacation Bible School. As a gentle start to the week, the dozens of young people were brought to the Lions Park playground to help prepare them for the fun week ahead. Charges were set for the new sewage hook-ups set to be constructed in Blyth. The rate was determined by the frontage measurement of lots, alongside a charge of 30 cents per foot. On the average lot with 60 feet of frontage, The Blyth Standard reported, the connection rate would be $18 plus the connection fee of $15 per connection. July 9, 1997 At their July 3 meeting in Goderich, Huron County councillors found out that there would only be one provincial highway serving the northern half of the county at the beginning of 1998. The Province of Ontario announced that it would be downloading Highway 4 north of Clinton and Highway 86 from Amberley to the Perth County border to Huron County. The province would also be downloading Highway 81 east of Grand Bend onto the county as well. Turnberry Reeve Brian McBurney was concerned about the change and asked if provincial representatives had given any justification for the move and Huron County engineer Sandra Lawson said that none had been given. McBurney was concerned with the impact the change would have on Turnberry residents and what it would mean for tourism throughout Huron County, including the Blyth Festival, whose home, Memorial Hall, sat right on Highway 4. County representatives said that maintaining the roads would mean higher taxes for residents. The downloading of the highways meant that the county had an additional 94.4 kilometres of heavily -travelled road to maintain as a result of the change from the upper -tier government. Firefighters from Blyth and Brussels were unable to save a burning shed in Morris Township in the early -morning hours of July 4. Brussels Fire Chief Murray McArter said that the building was fully engulfed in flames by the time the fire department arrived on the scene. The cause of the blaze was unknown as of press time, McArter said, and he anticipated that the amount of damage caused by the fire would have been high, due to the large amount of farm machinery in the shed at the time. Three local youths were set to have some serious stage time in the Blyth Festival production of Quiet in the Land. Scott Bouman, Lindsay Gibson and John Battye were all cast in the show that was set to hit the Memorial Hall stage later that summer.