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Editor's column: ‘You people’ sours Don Cherry

I know enough ink has been spilled on the now-infamous “you people” comment by hockey icon Don Cherry — but I can’t resist.
Don Cherry
Don Cherry, making his poppy comments on the weekend. Screenshot

I know enough ink has been spilled on the now-infamous   “you people” comment by hockey icon Don Cherry — but I can’t resist.

As you probably know, the grand bombastic Hockey Night in Canada commentator took a moment during his “Coach’s Corner” segment to berate people for not wearing poppies in honour of Remembrance Day.

Actually, if he did that, all would have been fine. We’re used to being berated for not wearing a poppy. It’s a bit like being berated for not voting.

The catch, here, is he didn’t say “people” he said “you people” and noted the greatest offenders were those living in areas where there is a notably high immigrant population ­— downtown Toronto and Mississauga, a suburb of Toronto where Cherry lives.

And if Cherry wasn’t already clear about his target, he added “you love our milk and honey...”

I want to pick up on the Mississauga part, because that municipality is not unlike Richmond. Despite being more than three times the size, like Richmond, it’s an affluent suburb with a high immigrant population that has seen incredible growth in the past 10 years; in both municipalities, English is the second language for the majority of residents.

Now, when it comes to poppies, Cherry is right in that it appears fewer people today wear them than they did 20, 30 years ago. Whether certain ethnic groups are more or less inclined to wear them than other ethnic groups — I doubt anyone has the stats to prove it. However, what we do have, in this paper, is a moving Remembrance Day photo page (p. 26 with more photos online.)

Take a look at the faces of those young cadets — not just wearing poppies but lined up on parade in full uniform.

You’re telling me “immigrants” and their kids don’t participate in and pay their respect to Canada’s military?

The irony here is Cherry’s comments, implying immigrants come here to leach off “our” milk and honey, is just the kind of Nazi propaganda about the Jews the allied forces were fighting. (Not to mention the fact, much of “our” milk and honey is thanks to the economic engine that is new immigrants.)

Cherry is certainly not a Nazi; I wouldn’t even call him a racist, but he has (or did have) a big platform and with that comes a big responsibility.

To go down the “you people” road takes us in a completely wrong direction. We can criticize the changes we see around us — be it too few poppies or too many mega homes, but to make sweeping statements about particular ethnic groups is lazy and destructive. It avoids the hard work of reaching across divides, educating ourselves and others, and fostering relationships.

To use a hockey analogy, we can focus on a game (us/them) or focus on the game (the power of a sport to bring people together with respect and purpose.)

We don’t do ourselves, or our sport, justice by thinking small.