Harper Kicking Man Off Family Farm Older Than Canada For New Military Base I heard about this story on As It Happens a few days ago. Pretty sad. Harper wants to relocate the headquarters of JTF2 and chose this 85yr old man's family farm as part of its annexation plan. Meyers carries the proud title of United Empire Loyalist as his ancestor, Captain John Walden Meyers, founder of Bellville, Ont. was awarded the farmland by King George III for his service during the American Revolution. Farmer loses land battle, though military grants him one last harvest - Canada, Editor's Picks - Macleans.ca http://www2.macleans.ca/wp-content/u...ers660x290.jpg Quote:
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First of all, I hate it when people pin the actions of a government on one guy. Harper is not out there making all the decisions on his own. Secondly if this farm is "older than Canada" it was taken from the natives in the first place. So one family took it from the natives, and now the government is taking it from them. The difference being, the government is being "fair" (as Meyers himself has said) and is paying for the land and helping him relocate. This is really a bad attempt at making Harper seem like a bad guy. Ask people in China how they are treated when the government wants to relocate them. |
well they are getting compensated right? wouldn't the right thing to do, be, compensate them and help them find a new location for farming? i mean, no matter what they get money. as long as the compensation is fair and they're not being shafted. compensation shouldn't just be the value of the land, but they should be compensated for the years ahead of them as well. |
I'm sure they are, and they are even letting them grow fucking corn on a military base. That is well beyond what most countries would do I think |
Of course Mr. Meyers is being compensated and receiving much better treatment than in other countries but that largely misses the point. This hit home for me in part because I too decend from American Revolution era Loyalists. This land and the family on it has a long history in North America and an importance in the forming of Canada. No amount of money or change of scenery will ever replace that. Obviously things like this matter or you wouldn't see various properies across Canada being protected as historical sites. To dismiss such history because the land was someone else's prior or aquired questionably by todays standards is foolish. I also sympathise as my family's lakefront property has been in our family since the 50's, long before a neighbouring park was ever created and the provincial government has looked into the idea of expropriating our property to increase their park. Fuck that. Nothing would ever replace all the memories and experiences there. The other point I touched on was the issue of farming in Canada. People fail to see the importance of farming, they don't see the connection between production and what they see on the shelves at the supermarket. People are getting out of the farming industry. Here we have a generational farmer who is being forced, along with his neighbours, to give up precious farmland for a military training facility. Canada is full of uninhabited land and you're telling Mr. Meyers there is no other place this faciltity can go? Harper is the one who labeled his party"The Harper Government" and has shown to be very much on top of all its goings ons so you can't really blame people for tying any government actions to his name. |
I still think it's shitty to complain about having land taken from you when you are a descendant of those who took land from people who were there originally. |
So would you be ok with, for example, the government deciding the town of Lunenburg, NS should be expropriated and razed to make a naval base simply out of convenience? A naval base in nearby Halifax already exists, just like a JTF2 base already exists, but it will be a little closer to the US border which we hypothetically need to watch. The town of Lunenburg is a protected UNESCO World Herritage Site, home of the Bluenose - the ship which is depicted on our dime, and was settled and established over 200 years ago. Thus the land was stolen from people with little understanding of property. Such assholes those colonists! Well if we should be judging the past by modern standards as you are doing, we are all decendants of vile peices of shit since the dawn of life and we have no right to complain about anything that happens to us past/present/future. Judging history by current standards is pointless. Mr. Meyers has a well documented history with that land including his own experiences and has no desire to let that end. For better or worse, his family helped make Canada what it is today. To shit on that for unnecessary "progress" only hurts the cultural identity of our relatively young nation whose people seem to do all they can to get out from behind the shadow of our neighbour to the south. |
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And they're being compensated for the farm and moving costs and the base commander sounds like he's being quite sympathetic Quote:
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I was born there, and grew up there but no one has actually heard of it :) |
The only reason I'd be fine with this.. is if they give him money to relocate, and give him 90 hectares of land somewhere else. Were not talking acres though, were talking hectares.. I doubt he's going to get 90 hectares of land.. And I doubt the government is going to pay him fair market value for the land. |
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Home of the Bluenose and a world heritage site. A world heritage site........ now that is noteworthy. I had the privilege of visiting the town, during my coast to coast road trip. It's an awesome place. So much history there. Very friendly people. Have no idea why anyone in their right mond would want to move from such a wonderful place. |
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Ok, that was a shot below the waist, but I agree with you on compensation plus extra for re-location. I just didn't like the part where it was getting dragged out. |
"compensated" I'm sure they gave him exactly what he would get if he put it on the market. Pretty ridiculous, there's lots of other land in Canada where they can train the JTF boys. |
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the canadian government should of just built the base around his property instead of forcing him to sell. That way he'll keep his land, but all he'll see is baracks and barbed wire :lawl: civilized country is civilized after all, as skinnypupp mentioned, in China if you are forced to leave and refuse in rural equivalent of ontario, you'd get threatened and the government would send contracted mobs to attack you.. either way, pretty shitty deal this. |
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Generally, the law states that the government can expropriate land for public purposes provided that the owner is compensated at fair market value. It sucks for the farmer, but it's generally how things work. Posted via RS Mobile |
I don't really buy their sob story. If it had that much significance, Canada would have recognized it earlier. Assuming they're getting compensated fairly, then sorry, but your memories are insignificant to a nation. That may sound harsh, but if I said that my elementary school can't renovate it's playground because of my memories there, they'd tell me to suck a big one. Or if I wanted to rebuild my house on my own land in a certain style because of my memories, City of Richmond would laugh at me and force me into build to certain standards. A friend of mine was forced to move because the City wanted their land to expand one of the high schools. They compensated them at more than market value, and although it sucked, they didn't lawyer up and take it to the news. |
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edit: also I enjoy the term "training facility" as they normally do their "training" everywhere in Canada/world. |
They should name the base after his family out of respect at least. |
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The colonial government taking land from first nations people was wrong, and that does not make it okay for the federal government to repeat the wrong centuries later. |
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In China. If you no move, we build around you: http://resources2.news.com.au/images...ghway-view.jpg |
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any land is nobody's property really. no one can claim they are deserving of it solely. even if you are the first to claim it, that does not give you a right over anyone else. (it belongs to the earth really, and that is another sector) so then claiming land virtually becomes a claimstaking among other being saying, "this is my land". a kind of social contract lets explore this...land is for the taking to whomever has the power to control it what prevents man A from annexing over man B's house? Society's written rules. Laws. and the eventual court order that will come to your mailbox. or a police escort if it is more urgent right and wrong is entirely subjective. all depends on which side the printing press resides on (or , how much of a % of the population can critically think independantly of media) |
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