Dear editor:
Last week, I came across something I would have never thought would actually persist in our blooming town.
Small, forest green signs with minimalist type, some donning images of brave soldiers from World Wars returning home.
Dominion Society is a white ethnocentric, supremacist group who are taking advantage of the rise in Canadian patriotism to craft a message of exclusion, hate, and pose a lasting danger to many communities in Ontario.
Just this past year, they attempted to hold rallies in St. Catharines and Hamilton, leading to people feeling unsafe, angry and appalled by local officials’ lack of action.
I took a brief moment to check the organization’s website, which features a quote from Sir John A. MacDonald. This same man, while our first prime minister, was also a main architect of the residential school system, which persisted for more than 150 years.
Their homepage waxes poetically about our imperial, gold-gilded and blood-soaked past. How the promise of this land is solely for those who follow in their steps.
Crafting such a double-edged sword disguising hate as patriotism is unfortunately fairly simple. Especially as we face economic hostility from our southern neighbors, it would be easy to fall back on “us versus them” to feel like we are protecting what is ours.
Relying on violent settler-colonialist rhetoric is not the way that we build stronger, kinder and self-sufficient communities where everyone feels welcome. Where everyone feels they can be their most authentic self and put down roots.
We must understand our history as a country for what it is, and then exceed in the effort to do and learn for the better.
The presence this group is trying to set up in our town is a palpable danger to young families, our farmworkers and newcomers.
If we are to see this town develop more, we must not fall for division. We must look out for one another.
The power of a diverse and compassionate community can achieve anything, whether big or small. We must not allow hate the satisfaction or comfort knowing they are making some kind of impact; we’ve seen how that story pans out over generations.
I implore the town council of Niagara-on-the-Lake take action to ensure this group does not further take up space or influence of any kind.
I implore the council members facing election to take this issue head on, and if they don’t, then we see exactly where you lie.
A vision of a growing north Niagara does not include settler-colonial violence. It does not include racism, xenophobia and exclusion. It does not include cheap forest-green polos, polarized sunglasses and khaki pants.
We will always be stronger together than we will ever be apart.
Emily Ratkovsky
Virgil
