Emails and memos are making their way around most offices these days. Christmas Santa, Christmas Angel or Christmas hamper programs are all the rage and that’s good. If we have learned anything over the years, it is that there is always someone with a larger struggle than our own.
The great part about recognizing this annual call for help early in the season is that readers can make an effective personal choice this year. We hope most will think local since much of the mainstream press seems so focused on overseas matters that little time is spent on Canadian issues.
A number of years ago the subject of charity came up at a local public school. The particular program the kids were asked to support escapes us, but it was definitely a foreign affair. In one of those moments that kids teach adults something, our one daughter queried why so much focus is placed out of country when we have people here that need help too.
Our new prime minister, is now intent on accepting 10,000 migrants by December and 15,000 more by the end of February and seems prepared to part the seas to honour that promise. With lightning speed, barracks and facilities are being emptied to make room to house displaced persons. We get it, but we are left to wonder why such Herculean efforts to comfort the afflicted never quite seem to translate into local Canadian issues.
For far too long, various levels of government have dropped the ball on housing solutions for current Canadians. Seniors housing, rent-geared-to-income opportunities and other examples that would give a hand up to folks that work hard and don’t get paid well remain elusive. Further to that point, we have a native population as well that lives in squalor, with poor drinking water. It’s hard to imagine how Canadians can be content with such a legacy.
With all due regard to humanity and hopes for global peace, let’s be sure not to forget our neighbours and friends locally this holiday season. Pick a charity and make a difference.
