Mar 05

February 27, 2013 – Week #12

Kelly and Healther

A beautiful sunny day! Today is the 3-month mark of my weekly protest against the warships.

A young military guy drove by in his car, slowed down and said out his window, “You weren’t here last week”.

“Yes, I was,” I replied, “Please read my blog.” I found it interesting that some people are now expecting me to be here at noon every Wednesday.

A CBC news truck and then the CTV news truck drove by but didn’t stop – neither media outlet has covered my protest nor has raised any opposition in their coverage of the (war)shipbuilding contract. Not once since our Bush protest in 2004 has the CBC covered any peace story that I have sent them. Too often, the local CBC has been an uncritical echo chamber for the federal government instead of a public broadcaster.

A few minutes later, Kelly and Heather showed up to stand for peace with me. They were so positive and energetic and would wave at cars and trucks going by while holding up signs. Kelly is an environmental consultant with water expertise. She is looking for a full-time green job that puts her knowledge and skills to use for local communities and the protection of the natural environment. Heather is a strong feminist grandmother who is passionate about federal investment in renewable energy, mental health and poverty reduction. We agreed that the federal government should be investing in those things and not warships.

At 1:00 p.m., I said “OK, protest is over, let’s head over to Julien’s Café now.”

“No,” Kelly replied, “Let’s wait a couple more minutes. I see more trucks coming. Let’s get them to honk so they can hear it in the shipyard!” Sure enough she got the trucks to honk loudly!

We got 23 honks and 17 waves – a record of support! Only 1 finger and 3 angry looks.