By Sherani Theophilus, Times Chronicle
Last week we ran a letter to the editor by mistake. As is always the case, most letters denied have some decent messaging, but there are usually distinct and specific references that allude to racism, colonialism, misogyny and the like.
I don’t think it’s our place to edit your letters, but at the same time, we are responsible for everything we publish. It is our prerogative to be selective.
This letter contained the line “Treaties were negotiated and signed to help Indigenous people transition into and adopt other sustainable lifestyles and activities, as their traditional sources of food and other essential commodities no longer were available. It’s evolution.”
I think the writer meant to say that it’s colonization. And colonization is about eradicating existing sustainable cultures. The phrasing implies a benevolent gesture, and it was nothing but. Let’s not forget that most of BC was not signed away. Just stolen.
He goes on to say that natural resource royalty dollars should be invested into infrastructure and not chiefs, councillors, and lawyers. So, let’s take the resource dollars that do not cover what was stolen and give it back to our government to fairly allocate? Keep in mind that resource management and sustainability was always the indigenous way, and only adopted lately by corporations because the damage to the earth left no choice.
Self-governance and autonomy is paramount to decolonization. We must support it fully and stop thinking we have the entitlement to decide what is best. When annihilation was attempted with smallpox, and then attempted again with residential schools, do not expect their people to play “the game” as the settlers have. Give them time and let them decide what the solutions should look like.
We may not agree with every opinion submitted but we will be more diligent and make every effort into not creating false equivalence, which gives weight to racist or colonial perspectives.
Also in last week’s issue, our managing editor wrote an opinion piece about the freedom protest car in the parade. I thought it was clear that editorials on the opinion page are held as those of the author and not written as an article. We had many positive responses from the public; however, I had two irate callers who were part of the group, who were convinced we were breaking journalistic ethics. Opinion pieces are exactly that, someone’s opinion. I had to remind them that a lot of people have an issue with the national flag being co-opted for their cause. And while they may personally not be aligned with every outlier in their group, they are identified as a cohesive group.
One caller identified as a discriminated minority. The other refused to acknowledge that we did interview protesters when the movement began. How is it even possible that people don’t believe in science? I was criticized for my scientific background. I did my best to answer them but when it didn’t go their way one said it was useless to continue and the other called me an ignorant bitch and hung up. This is as unacceptable as spitting on the Global TV reporter at the Osoyoos border protest. Caller, if you are reading this, please note it is illegal to harass a person while they are working according to WorkBC.
I suggest they create their own brand and logo and leave the flag alone. It seems unfathomable that the people I spoke with didn’t grasp the insidiousness of taking over a symbol that represents nationalism.
It’s exhausting responding to people who accuse you of lying and being told what to write by the “government”. It’s offensive to our hard-working team and to the countless journalists who bring us the news every day. The Times Chronicle receives a Heritage Canada grant which goes towards postage for our Canada Post clients. In no way does this grant pay our salaries or our basic operational costs. We are also audited to ensure that we are not publishing external content as our own. I say no to ads coming in as content every single day. We would love the revenue, but we stand by our standards with editorial content. I have also chosen not to monetize our Facebook page so people can rely on our content on their timelines.
We will continue to follow journalistic best practices, and we will continue to persevere against misinformation.
