HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2004-12-09, Page 5Final Thought
During your life, everything you do and
everyone you meet rubs off in some way.
Some bit of everything you experience ,
stays with everyone you've ever known,
and nothing is lost. That's what's eternal,
'Obese little specks of experience in a great,
enormous river of life that has no end.
— Harriet Doerr
THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2004. PAGE 5.
Other Views
Where have all the icons done?
Q uiz time, folks. Your job is to suss out
what the following folks have in
common: Pamela Anderson. Alex
Trebek. Neil Young. Mary Pickford. Jim
Canty. Leslie Nielsen. Michael J. Fox: Paul
Anka. Conrad Black.
Well, yes, they are all media celebrities.
Household names from . Tallahassee to
Tuktoyaktuk, but they are something else as
well. They are all Canadians.
Or at least they used to be.
Now, they are all Americans — with the
exception of Lord Black, who flipped his
Canadian passport over his shoulder in
exchange for a British title and now,
when nicked, bleeds only deepest Tory
blue — except when he's hemorrhaging
greenbacks.
The rest of the aforementioned ex-Canucks-
chose the Stars and Stripes as their Flag of
Convenience — and they have various excuses
for their switch.
Neil Young was so disgusted with a
Canadian audience's Luke-warm reception.at a
concert that he stomped off the stage and
straight into a U.S. immigration office. He's
been living in California ever since.
Hey, Neil — ever occur to you that maybe
you were just — you know — lousy that night?
Alex Trebek came out of Sudbury, Ontario,
cut his broadcasting teeth with CBC in
Toronto, then packed his bags for Hollywood
where he became the long-time host of the TV
show. Jeopardy. He decided to dump his
Canadian citizenship and become an American
because "my wife is a Yankee and both my
kids were born in the States."
Regina-born Leslie Nielsen discovered 'way
back in the '60s that he could find much more
work in the U.S. film and TV industries than
Men in positions of power often are
unable to keep their hands off
women and one reason is their peers
are only too ready to stand by and protect
them.
This has become clear in many fields and
there have been recent examples particularly
in medicine and the courts.
Doctors have the most opportunity to abuse
because they treat women, who often' are
undressed and vulnerable because of illness
and stress, without others present.
The College of Physicians arid Surgeons of
Ontario, which regulates doctors, declared
sexual abuse of patients by doctors a "serious
problem" more than a decade ago.
But a steady, if reduced, parade of doctors is
still found by its disciplinary committees
abusing patients.
The college started imposing tougher
penalties, including taking away for life a
doctor's licence to practise medicine.
But in recent months it gave only a year's
suspension to a - doctor who had a sexual
relationship with a woman he treated for
anxiety and depression, saying she encouraged
it, although doctors are supposed to reject
advances by patients who are vulnerable and
easily impressed.
Another doctor, whom the college found had
"serious misconduct" with a female patient,
lost his licence for only three months. A third
doctor currently admitting sex improprieties
with a patient committed similar abuses
repeatedly over the past decade and once had
his licence suspended for them.
A fourth doctor now facing allegations of
assaulting patients had been suspended for
three months for similar acts in 2001 and
fifth on similar charges had admitted sex
assaults on women as long ago as 1990, so it is
he could this side of the border. Adios,
Canada.
Jim Caney is even more enthusiastic. The
plasticene-faced comic who grew up
in the town of Newmarket, Ontario,
positively gushes about his newfound land.
"To me, this country (USA) defined me.
This country allowed my dreams to come
true."
All of the above offer different
rationalizations for renouncing the land of
their birth, but at bottom, the reason is the
same right across the board.
Money. Call it more opportunity, fresh'
horizons, bigger audiences, more generous
contracts — call it what you like. It all boils
down to fatter wallets for those who go south.
Which I guess is as good a reason as any to
forsake your birthplace.
After all, most Canadians are here because
at some point in history our forebears in
Cracow or Aberdeen or Naples or
Dusseldorf decided the Old Country was
played out and the grass looked greener
in that vaulting, mammoth far-off land
called Canada. This country would not exist
were it not for brave souls who were willing to
trade in their heritage for a fresh start.
So why do I not feel admiration for the Jim
Carreys and the Pamela Andersons; the Leslie
Nielsens and the Alex Trebeks?
pertinent to ask if the college is doling out
tough enough medicine.
The Law Society of Upper Canada, which
regulates lawyers, has for the first time
disbarred a lawyer for sexual harassment, after
he groped the breasts and buttocks of'a legal
secretary and a former client and made
unwanted advances.
Lawyers face some of the same difficulties
as doctors in having clients who are
vulnerable, because they are .stressed by
family, criminal or immigration proceedings.
The lawyers' body considered adopting a
policy similar to Mat governing• doctors and
patients of banning its members from having
sex with clients.
But it backed off after some lawyers
expressed fear of a policy of "zero tolerance"
and wound up urging only they should be wary
when getting into such relationships.
A justice of the peace was treated with kid
gloves by the Justices of the peace review
council after he twice grabbed the breasts of a
woman JP while drinking.
It suspended him for 30 days and sent him to
a course on gender equity, which will do little
to deter men in power from sexually harassing
women.
No fewer than 10 female workers in three
provincial jails — surely so many can't be
wrong. — claimed before the Ontario
Partly because I know they weren't really
desperate. They would have done fine here in
Canada.
They just wanted more.
And partly it's because _ I don't know
how it's possible to cease to be what
you are. How do you stop being a Canadian?
The writer Robertson Davies said it best. "I
just am a Canadian," he told a reporter. "It's
not a thing you can escape from. It is like
having blue eyes."
Some cross-border Canadians obviously
don't agree. I have an old pal who makes a
tenuous living as a writer in Hollywood. From
time to time he phones and updates me
on celebrity sightings, backstage gossip
and his latest writing coups. Last time he
called I sensed something different in his
voice.
"You sound funny," I told him. "You got a
cold or something?"
"Actually," he said, "I'm taking a language
pronunciation course. I'm trying to lose my
•Canadian accent."
The guy's not an actor. Why would he worry
about a Canadian accent?
Besides, a Canadian accent can launch a
career. Look what it did for Jeff Douglas, the
guy who played `Joe' in the Molson beer
commercial. You know the one — the "I Am
Canadian" rant?
Yeah, well. Jeff Douglas doesn't live here
any more. He moved to Los Angeles last year.
More opportunities, he says.
Maybe he's right. The beer he was
advertising — Molson Canadian -- is now a
wholly-owned subsidiary of the American
giant Coors.
Would the last Canuck to leave please turn
out the lights?
Grievance Settlement Board that a jail
manager sexually harassed them, but he
received only a 10-day suspension.
But the most blatant example of powerful
men trying to look after their own was when
Ontario Court judge, Kerry Evans, son of a
former chief justice, appeared this fall before a
judicial council panel which was hearing
complaints by no fewer than six women
courthouse workers that he had touched them
improperly.
A Superior Court judge, two Ontario Court
judges and two justices of the peace all
testified during the hearing, they did not
believe their colleague could commit such
acts, although they had not heard all the
complainants' testimony.
Ordinary people would not have the benefit
of support by such•powerful people, but it was
' misguided anyway.
Such cases normally are decided on facts
given in evidence and not on friends' views of
a defendant's character and those who commit
sexual improprieties often give no hint of it to
friends.
The •tribunal headed by a woman judge
ignored the judges and accepted the women's
versions and Judge Evans resigned. It was one
time powerful men did not get their own way.
Bonnie
Gropp
The short of it
Drive smarter
An unusual phenomenon was occurring
while I was on the way to work one
day last week. People were actually
driving their vehicles appropriately.
This past Friday morning, roads were
slippery and drivers in front, in back and
oncoming seemed to be treating them with the
respect they deserved. It's not something you
generally see.
Winter's first appearance is a test that far too
many drivers refuse to take seriously. And I'm
not' sure why. Perhaps they think they're
uncool if they can't battle through the slush or
keep control on the ice, while maintaining
their usual break-neck speed. Perhaps they
believe themselves born under a lucky star.
1, however, tend to think they were born
without a brain in their head.
When it comes to winter driving nobody's in
control. I have seen seasoned drivers with
miles of snow-packed roads and zero visibility
behind them suddenly spinning 360s down the
road before landing in a ditch. Never done it
before, they say, shocked.
Trust me, it was only a matter of time.
I will be the first to admit that when the
roads are bare it takes tremendous restraint to
stay at a reasonable speed. I'm not that fond of
being behind the wheel and I'm always in a
hurry to get where I'm going.
However, I also admit to being a bit timid
when my tires are travelling through slush,
snow and ice. I am that annoying driver' ahead
of you, who is forging ahead at, or even,
heaven forbid below, the speed limit. I'm not
taking any chances.
Much of this caution has come because of
my job. I get the police reports and have seen
some of the accidents. 1 know how a second
can make a difference. And it scares me.
It shouldn't have to. I have realized over the
years, that what really makes me nervous isn't
me on the road, it's everybody else. Driviiig in
winter is challenging and unpredictable. It's
common sense then to change the way you
drive.
Many I have noticed, unfortunately do not.
We've all been tailed by the fellow who not
only trusts himself to keep his car on the.road,
but obviously trusts you as well. Then there's
the driver who apparently can see \through
snow and sleet because while you aren't sure
if anything's coming, he swings by you with
no concern.
I'm particularly fond of the ones cruising on
icy roads, one hand on the wheel, and a cell
phone in hand. Or the ones leaning across to
adjust their stereo system.
It shouldn't be. something they have to tell
you, but police recommend slowing down to
less than the posted speed limit when there is
snow and ice. Don't be impatient, give
yourself extra time and don't tailgate. Put your
lights on. Keep your eyes on the road and pay
attention to the other drivers around you.
Assuming that people can maintain the
same driving practices on winter roads that
they would in summer is definitely playing
with your life, and the lives of others.
Everyone has someone who cares for them,
who hopes that they wouldn't take
unnecessary risks. If you can't use your head
when considering other people, perhaps you
can change your driving for the ones who love
you.
And I'm just idealistic enough yet, to think
that if the other day was any indication, there
are some, who already have.
Men can't keep hands off