From Gordon Sinclair Jr.'s column in the Winnipeg Free Press:
The pencil-printed letter, in the unmistakable hand of a child, was contained on a single piece of lined, three-ringed binder paper.And addressed to the Free Press.
"Dear Sir
"My name is Calli Vanderaa.
"I'm 9 years old and I live with my daddy.
"One day we found a little puppy in the BFI bin in our lane. Somebody had put 3 puppies in there and set them on fire.
"Two of the puppies died but daddy and I saved one that was sitting in the corner crying. We took her home and named her Jessie. She is happy and growing bigger every day..."
The return address was a house in a section of the North End that is, arguably, the most dangerous neighbourhood in the city.
A single father who has to be away six days a week to make enough to live in a place where you keep a baseball bat by the door. A body in the back yard. And a little girl who has to take judo so she can go to school and rescued a puppy from a dumpster where others were set on fire.
Is this the Canada any of us want to live in? Could our asswipe politicians get their heads out of their asses and go back to running the damn country? Is that really too much to ask? Sadly. I'm afraid the answer to the last question is "Yes".
It isn't just Calli that deserves a better chance. With her father and grandmother doing everything they can for her, she is one of the lucky children in one of the most poverty stricken neighbourhoods in the country. Many others are in far worse situations. Governments must step up. Growing up in this kind of neighbourhood greatly limits children's chances for the kind of life most of us take for granted. It also increases the likelihood they will go on to use hundred of thousands of dollars in government services over the course of their lives. There is no need for stories like this - or worse - in a country like Canada.
The only good part about this story is that, knowing Gordon Sinclair and the people of Winnipeg, this little girl is likely to have a lot more than a poster of Avril Lavigne under her tree this Christmas. With any luck, one of the things will be a job offer for her dad that will allow her to get what she really wants for Christmas.
I remember Gordon Sinclair Sr very well, and it sounds as though the son is doing him proud. That used to be such a part of culture in this country, an awareness of the real lives people are living, which much of the time, given the realities, leads to anger.
Well, it ain't a Christmas card from blue sweater-vest boy, anyway. I hear that he's thinking of suspending Christmas too -- although he'll likely remind us that a depression means great bargains for investors.