"“The beginning of [the Sackville Refugee Coalition] was back in September, when the picture of Alyan Kurdi was published - the small boy who was found drowned on the Turkish coast.
My wife and I ended up speaking to a number of people to ask “is there anything we can do in Sackville to sponsor a family”, but no one knew where to start. So finally my wife put up an ad in the paper to call for a meeting in the chapel. Over a hundred people showed up. Out of the public meeting, we [created the] Sackville Refugee Coalition.”
“Was there a moment that transform you into who you are now?”
“[My life experiences haven’t been] singularly transformative…but several years ago I remember travelling in Israel, in the West Bank. I was sitting in a home of an Israeli who lived in west Jerusalem. We were looking out of the window and there were some boys kicking a soccer ball around an empty lot.
And there were two young soldiers, probably in their early 20s, standing on the edge of the lot. One time the ball got kicked towards the soldiers, and they kicked it back. The boys kicked it over again - I think it was less accidental, more deliberate - and the soldiers kicked it back. It went over a few more times. And there were grins on everybody’s faces.
Then an army jeep drove up. The captain or lieutenant got out. And there was a sharp exchange of words between him and the soldiers. So they went back into standing in their positions, ignoring the boys and the soccer ball.
I thought wow, for that one moment, these two sides became human. That’s what we want - to be human to each other. We don’t want these systems of army security getting in the way of preventing people from being human to each other. I think, that’s how we break down some of these barriers.
If we have one or two Syrian families in this town, there will be people who are opposed to that. But I’m hopeful at some point some of these people will get to know these Syrian families living in their backyard. Then they will realize these are people [just like them]. When we get to know people, we lose our fear.”
"Liberal Education Prepares U4 Global Citizenship" google image from a talk given in Quebec at Bishop's University in February 2016 by Mount Allison University's John C. Perkin here
Back in late 2015 during the Federal Election I made a number of comments on Perkin's group's facebook page in opposition of their work .. Perkin made an effort to silence me and others and after unsuccessfully trying to message me to request to meet privately with me he called the police to further harass me as his proxy... later on he had his university's lawyers threaten me into silence and his university administration ban me from the university campus .. this was all because he did not appreciate opposition to his work and did not understand that he was in a position to be challenged... As it happens, the little boy Kurdi's story was a false narrative and Federal MP Fin Donnelly was caught fabricating false information to the public in media interviews around the time of the election .. the tragic death of the little boy at the hands of his father a known human trafficker was a political tool used to make the Conservative party MP of Immigration look bad .. learn more at http://firefin.ca . . . Perkin is a vocal advocate for global citizenship and spoke openly at Sackville's 2015 First Gay Pride Parade about how Canadians are now 'all global citizens' and told the 200 plus attendees of the Pride event they were on 'unceded territory'.. so in my opinion he is a political figure both on and off campus and I would recommend his work, words, and efforts be scrutinized as his belief system may not be typical of most Canadians... personally I'd prefer Canadians took good care of Canadians since we have plenty of them in need at this point and they should be our priority. A student newspaper article from Perkin in the Argosy reproduced in the Tantramar in the university's region of New Brunswick shows Perkin's anger at and disgust with anyone who challenges his narrative and version of reality.. this is unfortunate to see indeed... see Tantramar Landowners Association blog.
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