Dorothy Friesen
Dear editor:
I live in Alberton Township and received an anonymous flyer in my mailbox concerning a proposed zoning amendment.
I have not been able to find out from the township office who sent this, so I am addressing the writer and all those who read the flyer, as well as the general public, because I believe it is a matter of public concern.
In big bold letters, the flyer proclaimed twice that if we did not oppose the amendment, there would be a “non-secure native detention centre/group home in your community.”
The township supplies copies of the complete application, so I read it and found out firstly, it is not a detention centre, and it is for both “Anishinabe and non-Anishinabe youth who have been deemed in need of protection.”
So it is clear the youth are not offenders sentenced by the court. They are young people on a healing journey in need of nurturing relationships, intensive support, and close supervision.
The ratio of staff to student is more intensive than in any two-parent family raising an adolescent.
This description of the project was available to the writer of the flyer, but he or she pre-judged the issue and disregarded actual facts.
I am concerned because consciously propagating prejudicial misinformation aimed at a particular group creates a climate of division and suspicion and, if unchecked, sets the stage for more direct violence against members of that group.
I don’t think we want that anywhere in Rainy River District.
I am all for an open discussion on how to make our community safe and economically viable, and I hope that is what the public meeting on June 24 will be.
(Signed),
Dorothy Friesen
Alberton Township
