If there are any readers from Ottawa or surrounding area, would you mind popping into the comments and answering a question?
Did you go to the Civic Centre in Ottawa yesterday for the Southeast Asia Earthquake and Tsunami memorial/mourning? Why or why not?
Other Canadians? Did you catch it on the CBC?
Any thoughts?
This Ottawa Sun columnist has a lot of questions about why only 600 members of the public showed up.
And I think he is correct, if a hocky game had been called in short order the arena would have been filled.
Numbers are not an indicator of ’success’ in an event such as this, I watched it, and didn’t feel ‘empty’. McRae was there, and that’s what he feels.
If a Canadian pundit stops by I have a question. Do you know who wrote Paul Martin’s speech?
Published 3 years, 10 months ago
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Earl writes for the Sun - not the Citizen.
The attendance was really disappointing but there are some reasons I think. I live two blocks from the Civic Centre where the memorial was held.
I listen to CFRA (talk radio) often on the way to and from work. I obviously read a lot on the net. Strangely, the first time I heard about the memorial was when I was getting my hair cut at 10am on Saturday - a couple blocks from the Civic Centre again - and the barber asks someone in the shop why there were some baricades being erected on the street corner. The person suggested for the memorial.
I was not surprised at the number of people that attended - disappointed but not surprised.
Fixed my mistake Don, thank you.
I often don’t pick up the ‘tone’ of Ottawa.
So, why aren’t you surprised?
I am not that dissapointed in the attendance because when you look at the outpooring of support that was made across the country. One radio station in Saskatoon raised over $400,000 in twelve hours last week. Our small church raised over $1000 in our offering on Sunday which will be matched by the Federal Government (as was the $400,000 that the radio station raised for the Red Cross). The MCC in Saskatchewan is preparing a relief team to be sent as soon as possible. I think that people are responding with money, goods, and time. I think people are honoring the dead by helping those who survived and need help.
McRae mentions one possible reason: the travesty that was Canada’s post-9/11 memorial.
I can think of a second such example: a year later, the “interfaith service” held during the Queen’s visit to Ottawa - in which a John Lennon song whose most famous line is “Imagine there’s no heaven” was sung in honour of the head of the Church of England.
Given the Liberals’ rather poor track record in planning such events, I think Ottawans can be forgiven for being a touch jaded and staying home.