On The Kowch Goes To Occupy Toronto

My Remembrance Day visit to Occupy Toronto camp site makes me question if this is the proper use of freedom our vets fought and died for

From where I sit On The Kowch, I did something totally out of character on Remembrance Day this year.

At the 11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th month I stood in silence for two minutes in the middle of St. James Park where the Occupy Toronto demonstrators had pitched their tents. It was my most surreal Remembrance Day experience ever.

As the bells of Cathedral Church of St. James tolled eleven times, three yellow vintage World War Two bombers flew over the park. On the ground around me demonstrators chanted 11-11-11. An old man with a long grey beard, wearing a multi-coloured coat and yellow crocks, sat on a chair playing a tune on his wooden recorder. Nearby young men and women locked arm in arm circled a tree and hugged it in silence, their heads pressed up against the trunk.

As this scene unfolded, I stood in silence with my thoughts about our veterans from wars long ago. I remembered seeing a military funeral cortege making the journey down the Highway of Heroes, returning the body of a young soldier home from Afghanistan in a black hearse.

My thoughts became questions. What would the men in the trenches have thought of what was going on in the park? Is this what they sacrificed their lives for? Was this worth the call of duty to one's country?

I looked around me. I looked at the hand painted messages on signs advocating peaceful change, questioning how we treat the planet, the environment, the plight of workers, the condemnation of big profit banks and businesses and all the other causes that unite the Occupy Movement around the world.

Is this a good use of the freedom of expression, the freedom of assembly and all the other freedoms the Occupy Movement claims it has to support their actions across Canada?

The yin and yang of protests result in disagreements with both sides having the freedom to believe they stand on the right side of the line that separates them.

My walk in the park left me with more questions than answers.

I didn't plan to spend my two minutes of silence at the Occupy Toronto site. I went there to check out a Mongolian tent called a yurt donated by unions to keep the demonstrators warm.

My daughter, Melissa-Dawn had stayed in a yurt with her friend Stacey over the summer while visiting Mongolia. Melissa was arriving by train during the noon hour from Montreal. The Occupy Toronto camp was a five minute walk from Union Station. I went to see if the camp was open to visitors so that I could bring Melissa to see the yurt.

It was during my site check that I ended up walking around St. James Park as the 11th hour approached.

From where I sit On The Kowch, my visit confirmed the importance of what I told CRTC commissioners in Montreal last month when asked what I would do different from other radio stations if my client was granted the licenses to operate a French language and English language news and talk radio station. I told the CRTC I would have a reporter in a tent at the Occupy Montreal site around the corner from where we were meeting. I told the CRTC it was important to be there with the demonstrators to explain just what the hell these occupations  were about.

Maybe then, as a listener, I would have more answers than questions after my walk in St. James Park on Remembrance Day Friday.

Steve was in charge of programming Canada's two largest newstalk radio stations for 14 years

You can email Steve at steve@kowchmedia.com

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