This letter originally ran on BarrieToday.com. BradfordToday welcomes letters to the editor. They can be sent to [email protected]. Please include your daytime phone number and address for verification of authorship, not publication.
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It has been an extremely sad and regrettable week for residents of Barrie, Innisfil and surrounding area.
Over the past seven days, we have seen acts of racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic and Islamophobic vandalism. We have witnessed the defacement of Nantyr Shores Secondary School, a mosque in Owen Sound and the newly established rainbow crosswalk in Barrie.
These acts are completely unacceptable and must be denounced widely and loudly.
Having been contacted about these issues by residents, I have heard the pain that these incidents can cause, and I have also heard that these acts are completely unwelcome. I share these residents' concerns and their desire to ensure that our communities remain safe and welcoming places for all members.
It behooves us all, especially those of us in leadership positions, to stand up against hate and discrimination in all their mutating shapes, forms and manifestations. The strength of our country, as recognized around the world, is our acceptance, tolerance and celebration of our differences.
These values help our economy grow, create a vibrant society and a rich culture. As much of the world is struggling with growing intolerance and ruptures in social cohesion, Canada must remain vigilant to these dangerous trends.
In particular, we must learn to recognize and counter, wherever possible, an emboldened white supremacist and white nationalist movement at home, and across the globe. This is exactly why our cherished veterans stormed the beaches of Normandy at the end of the Second World War, to fight against the violence and destruction symbolized by the swastika.
This why we celebrate leaders like Viola Desmond, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and other champions of civil rights in our fight for expanded human rights.
Let’s not allow the acts of the narrow-minded and intolerant to go without response.
Where there is ignorance, we need further education; where there is hate, let us respond with love.
Let’s stand in firm opposition to racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia and Islamophobia, together.
Pekka Reinio
Barrie
Editor's note: Pekka Reinio is the federal NDP candidate for Barrie-Innisfil
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