Word salads won’t prevent the next black eye
By Ivan Morgan
From time to time, I am criticized for being cynical. Fair enough, I am a big boy and I welcome criticism. The truth is I am an eternal optimist with great faith and hope for us all. But I have been around a while and I have eyes.
Case in point. A while back the new Tory Health Minister declared gender-based violence an epidemic. It is. It always has been. It’s a great PR move to bring the issue to the forefront. She is striking a twelve-person task force to “deal with the problem.”
Here’s where people confuse my despair with cynicism. Since her announcement, experts are lining up to go in the media and say all the predictable things, repeat the tired buzzwords they always use. Like “gender-based violence.” Some victims won’t know what gender-based means.
Reports will be written, advocates will suggest giving them more money is a good solution. An ad campaign will be developed and broadcast. Lots of money will be spent on this.
We have seen this all before. My worry is the money won’t make it down to the people who need it. The victims. It usually doesn’t.
Still think I am cynical? Read the most recent Auditor General’s (AG) report on government’s response to rising homelessness. A lot of money was spent – $24 million. The AG reports 34 people got shelter – that’s $706,000 per person. These aren’t my numbers, they are hers. That’s $24 million of our money and homelessness is still rampant. (I have heard unofficially that some of those 34 folks were soon evicted from their new homes).
Government loves to throw money at social problems. There are plenty of people willing to take it. There’s a homelessness industry, an addictions industry, a poverty industry with lots of experts on the payroll. The problem is homelessness, drug addiction and poverty are getting worse.
Nothing seems to be working.
As I have mentioned before, I volunteer at a food bank for pets. One of our friends (I refuse to use the word client) showed up for cat food. In the ghastly terminology of government and other “experts,” she appears to have “complex needs.” She dearly loves her cat and she’s having a tough time because she recently lost her beloved dog. She was sporting a big shiner on her eye. Told us she had fallen off her porch. I ran out to the parking lot after her when she left. Asked her for the truth. She told me.
Are the activists making big salaries and using all the buzzwords in the media going to help this woman? Are spiffy ads made for government at vast expense by advertising agencies (sometimes the ones that do election ads) going to help this woman?
I don’t pretend for a minute I know what is going to help her, but I know what’s not helping her.
She’s just an example that came to mind. I know many women who have been beaten, punched, and even stabbed by men they associate with. Is any of this helping them?
The answer is no. They don’t need an industry funded by the taxpayer dealing with “gender and intimate partner violence.” They need help. Real help now. I know on paper there is help for them, but I don’t see it working.
I don’t see boots on the ground.
This is not cynical. This is a plea for new ideas, new approaches, new ways of helping women (as it is usually, but not always, women who are victims). What is being done now is not working. The answer cannot always be for more tax dollars.
I congratulate the minister for using her position to speak the truth about gender-based violence. My concern is I want new ideas on what can actually be done about it.
Men beating women is an ancient societal problem. It is an epidemic. It has no place in our modern world. This cannot be an ideological or political football. We all need to combat this scourge, not just pay our tax bill and ignore it. Doing that is how we got here.
Like the minister, I am interested in having this conversation. Not with so-called experts but with all manner of people. Are some offended by what I am saying? Maybe someone will be so angry by my comments they will write me or the editor to set me straight.
Here’s hoping!
Ivan Morgan can be reached at ivan.morgan@gmail.com