I often think about my unseen connection with the rest of the world as unfair, because I think there’s an enormity that we don’t see as consumers of products in the first world. For instance, we don’t think about where and how products are made and whether that’s really a just situation for everyone involved. But sometimes I forget about the way in which this entire system plays out in my own home, and I think about the effect those circumstances have on people like me, people who are not rich and powerful.
What started me thinking about this was an article on that Shaw news page I’m forced to view every single time I close my email. Truthfully, I didn’t read it, but the head-line left me severely puzzled. I remember it said something like “People from All Over Canada Flock to Alberta,” and then I saw a photo of a Denny’s restaurant saying they were hiring. I made a face as I wondered why it was that people would be moving from all over the country to work at a late-night restaurant. Then I realized that the article probably wanted to say that there’s an abundance of jobs and resources that induces everyone to want to settle here. The photo in particular seemed to imply that anyone can make it in this province, so long as they have the right attitude and an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work. (Of course, that might not be likely).
After that, I remembered something I wrote back a long time ago on Wikipedia about Calgary. I wanted the article to have a more realistic description of the city as opposed to reading like an advertisement for travel. I made my suggestions to the editors on the talk page, but not surprisingly, they were dismissed as irrelevant personal opinions. I have to admit that I didn’t use any scholarly books or articles, but I was writing it from the perspective that there’s a lot to be said about everyday experience. I think you can read all the statistics and promotions you want, but there’s a frightening element of truth that overcomes you when you check how much you have in your wallet and the prices for the things you need when you go to the grocery store. The same can be said about just about any consumerism and your own situation, from rent, to the cost of gas, to the quality of your employment and level of salary. So, being unable to infiltrate the heavily guarded Wikipedia entry, I thought I’d re-post what I said as a blog here. In essence, my intention is not to belittle or trivialize Alberta, but to talk about the impediments I see from my own experience. I’m unsure what effect that would really have in terms of a change to society, but at least I can say that I didn’t just sit around with my arms crossed as everything happened before me.
The first thing I talked about was “crime.” What I wanted to say is that I think the city has gone overboard with the amount of surveillance in every corner of Calgary. I said: “There has also been increased camera surveillance throughout the city, making some worry that police is going too far in keeping the city safe. It's worth noting that increased camera surveillance has not decreased crime in any way and makes people feel they are being treated with suspicion.” (I also talked about community policing groups which have become popular throughout Calgary, but which have become bothersome and problematic to ordinary people like me). What I meant by all that is that I don’t understand why everything we do has to be monitored in public, and the best way I can depict this idea is from my own experience growing up in a so-called “third world country,” Guatemala.
For some time, I lived with my family in a small part of the city in a kind of country-side, and one of the things I remember most is that everyday life was mostly unmonitored. There were no cameras, and the only time police were involved in our lives, it was usually for the worse. However, contrary to popular assumptions, our lives were not filled with crime and anarchy. Human decency, morals, customs, a respect for privacy and property did not go out the window. There were conflicts, like any place, but in general, people respected one another and what was theirs, even despite poverty which everyone seems to believe creates conflict. It’s a good example of the fact that if police presence were not ubiquitous, order would nevertheless remain, because human beings are not wild animals that need to be tamed with cameras and suspicion. In fact, here in Calgary, I remember a time when surveillance was not at all pervasive. We used to leave the doors open without worrying that people would break into our home. I would walk to my house after mid-night as a teenager without worrying that I would be reported for suspiciousness by neighborhood patrol groups.
My greatest point about all this is that “…crime does not occur in ways typically imagined..,” so there is no need to be so paranoid about guarding communities. What I mean by that is that, from my experience, crime occurs usually through relationships, not by someone randomly stopping you on the street-corner and assaulting you or robbing your purse. For example, they say that in the majority of the cases involving murder, assault or violent incidents, the victim already had a relationship with the “offender.” And truthfully, I think these kinds of acts are predictable simply by looking at situations and circumstances. People getting drunk in bars, for instance, is likely to lead to all kinds of problems, but they’re created by commonly accepted circumstances and organizations—the bars, night-clubs and alcohol themselves. If this is true, I don’t need to be really concerned that I’m going to be hurt when I take a walk at Nose Hill Park late at night by some evil stranger. What I really need to be concerned about is broken relationships in my everyday life and experience. No amount of surveillance or patrol groups is going to alter that.
Moreover, I wanted to say that it’s dangerous to give ordinary citizens policing powers. To police officially, you have to undergo training, the idea being that officers will learn how to respond to situations in a way that is (hopefully) more peaceful. But if you suddenly give policing powers to people who have had no training aside from a few meetings for block-watch, you’re going to have problems with policing. For instance, if an officer behaves abusively towards me, de jure, there is a process that I have recourse to to remedy the situation. If he yells at me and slams his knuckles on the table while responding to a call, I’m supposed to be able to report this to his superiors so that law enforcement is improved and to prevent re-occurance. But this process does not exist for people policing as a community through block-watch or any other organization. In fact, the person would most likely remain anonymous as they have no official identification and are not required to show you anything. I hate to sound overly trite and utopian, but perhaps the answer to crime is a greater trust and integrity within already existing official policing organizations, and especially a greater awareness among everyday people so that they don’t end up intoxicated and in an altercation at a night-club.
Lastly, I think the greatest impediment to stopping crime is where there is no accountability from law enforcement. Unless there is integrity within Alberta’s policing services, where complaints are thoroughly reconciled and examined, the institution itself can commit the worst of crimes--there is no other institution that holds people accountable. As I said originally, a lack of this “…makes Calgary feel less welcoming than typically imagined.” This might be only my experience, but I think this is a serious issue that needs addressing.
The last issues are mainly economic, and in fairness, I think much of them are a result of capitalism, rather than the intentions of politicians or people in power. However, that said, I think conservatives are making things worse for Albertans through their supposedly brilliant “Economic Action Plan.” As I said in my original post, the fact is that this grandiose plan has done little to address issues of poverty, unemployment, housing and education in Calgary:
“As examples, disability payments have been raised to a maximum of 1500 dollars per month, which means very little in a city with such a high cost of living. Public housing remains poor-quality and often exorbitant in price. Calgary Housing Company, for instance, refuses to make substantial repairs to houses built poorly decades ago but insists on demanding sometimes 1000 dollars in rent per month. Social programs for re-training and employment, moreover, stream people into minimum-wage (or low-wage) jobs, while funding consists of less than one thousand dollars for re-education, or in cases of bursaries and scholarships, nothing substantial to pay for high tuition rates, books, supplies and a high standard of living. Other social programs such as legal aid are also inefficient as serious torts or actions against authority are not accepted by most contributing lawyers. Lastly, student debt for post-secondary education is in the tens of thousands, leaving graduates struggling to re-pay their loans feeling exploited and though the quality of education received was not worth it.”
Those are substantial issues, and I don’t think that working in Denny’s is going to solve any of them. I’ve visited the websites, and I’ve seen all the commercials, but from my perspective as someone in my position, the conservative action plan is not changing anything considerably.
My last point was that “Yet with so many struggling, Calgary spends hundreds of thousands of dollars holding what some believe are spectacles, such as The Calgary Stampede, which promote heavy drinking, gambling, and cruelty to animals... This leaves many wondering about Calgarian social culture and the competence of city and provincial governments (although admittedly The stampede makes millions in only days, none of which are re-distributed to solve any contemporary issues).”
To put it mildly, this is a highly contentious issue. I think many earnestly believe that the Calgary Stampede is a non-profit event that helps provide enormous funds for non-profit organizations. And in doing so, I think many honestly believe it relieves many of the economic problems I depicted. But I have a different perspective. I think that though non-profit organizations do their best in their capacity, they do not alleviate poverty completely by making amendments to the social structure of society. For instance, the United Way might help you so that you don’t sleep on the street, but it will not itself amend the lack of quality public housing as provided by Calhome Properties. That’s to say that they will not be building modern, clean, buildings or repairing older units to that state so that no person in Alberta is without a good home. They also will not be lifting the assured income for people who have medical reasons (what Alberta calls the “Severely Handicapped”), and they will not be making post-secondary education free, or wiping out student loan exploitation. Their capacity is limited. Their role is as part of the welfare state.
Second, it’s naïve to think that the funds provided to these organizations is so substantial that it will lead to colossal changes in Alberta. From my experience, non-profits are *always* lacking in money, whether to pay their own employees well, or to provide substantial relief of social problems for everyone. The idea that the Stampede is Alberta’s salvation therefore, is, I think, simply distorted.
Third, the truth is that what corporations give away to charities and non-profit organizations from the Stampede is usually equal to how much they can give in order to reduce their taxes. Corporations may be psychopaths, but they’re not stupid, and they’re not just going to give away money. From my perspective, the badge of moral righteousness they wear every summer in Calgary for newspapers and television stations is actually a kind of self-interest.
Fourth, it’s also naïve to think that no one gets rich off the Stamped in Calgary. People make millions off parking, restaurants, hotels, soft-drinks, food, animal care, you name it. Therefore, the idea that the Calgary Stampede shows the human altruism of its citizens is misguided. People are in it for the money.
Fifth, even if the Calgary Stampede was the answer to a troubled existence, the ends does not justify the means. An enormous quantity of profits are made through promoting things which are frankly wrong and unhealthy—gambling and heavy drinking. Furthermore, using an animal’s natural propensity to run or flee at a great risk that they will be hurt all for the sake of entertainment is a gratuitous use of that animal. When that animal is hurt, this is a harm that could easily have been prevented. Surely, if the well-being of people and animals alike matters at all, it matters that the great funds generated through these activities are immoral.
Of course, there must be other reasons why people are flocking to Alberta. Surely, some of them are its cleanliness, its truly magnificent parks and open areas, and the fact that it’s relatively modern. But as a person in my capacity, having lived here since I was six years old, I think Alberta has changed and has a long ways to go. However, the changes required are not going to be bought with more policing, new malls, SUVs, and jobs for 15 dollars an hour. As trite as it may sound, the changes required are going to involve thinking about what a just society here in Alberta would look like, free from all the superficial propaganda spewed by governments and non-profits. I think at least some of the things I mentioned would be a part of that.
