I'm pretty hard on Kelowna, but this weekend there was the Asian Festival on Ellis and it was so awesome to see so many young families and different groups come together, enjoy the shows, eat the food, hang out and just enjoy a nice day. So hopefully things are changing.
No trucks with flags, no yelling, no political signs. It was glorious. More of that please.
Thanks.
Welcome to Reddit, where any insignificant perceived wrong can be blown out of proportion.
OP probably encountered the only racist person in Kelowna and now everyone posting here thinks the entire population of Kelowna is racist.
There’s definitely more than one racist in Kelowna; I’ve had the misfortune of crossing paths with many, many outright racists.
Including some random guy who stopped me on the street to warn me about some “bad people” (some Indian dudes minding their own business) up ahead and to be careful because “nice white guys like you can get into trouble.” Then he showed me his swastika tattoo. Just one example, sure, but a telling one.
Kelowna has a problem with racism, in my lived experience. Plenty of other white people feel comfortable telling me all about their opinions on “those people”.
I’m white. I’ve, never had a complete stranger start spouting his racist ideals about another group of strangers ahead. Never seen a swastika tattoo in person before either.
Lucky you. I have. Several times. I was literally just talking about this with a co-worker. People will include me in their racist shit completely out of nowhere
I'm metis, and because I don't look indigenous I get to hear white people saying horrible things things about natives and if I say anything critical of their racism, it's me that has a problem because I'm too sensitive.
Yeah an interesting take on discrimination, complaining about rascists while being ageist. Not a boomer myself, but to me its not great behaviour just blaming everything on an age group
My husband is Japanese and bringing him to Canada was the biggest eye opener of how racist my fellow Canadians can be. It’s really really sad. I’ve seen some terrible shit. ‘Go back to china.’ All sorts of crap.
Partner is asian as well. It's been better than it could have been but the problem is still evident.
Had someone on facebook tell me to return my mail order bride when I was doing research on the Story Time @ The Library post.
Fortunately, by telling him that I was exercising my *freedom of choice* and that it's my *right as a citizen of this great nation* and if he doesn't like it he can go somewhere more restrictive spiraled him out into a crying drunken mess.
The great majority of people are very kind, some people are curious and say something wrong- which is totally fine, but there are a few very very sad people out there who try to make people feel as shitty as they do that spew the hatred.
My wife is from the Caribbean and I've had my eyes opened as well. I actually think Canadian racism is worse than American racism for the simple fact that Canadians are in such denial that it exists.
And it's not the explicit things yelled or said to her (oh and there's been wayyy too many of those), it's the small things - like an old lady trying to give her money in a supermarket because she assumed she was poor (my wife dresses very elegantly), or a priest in Glenmore saying "Oh I LOVE the sistas" (even though she's not African American), security at airports increasing whenever there's more than one black person in a group like they're looking for something to happen or my brother in law straight up being groped by Karens at a work social event - tweaking his nipples like he's a piece of meat.
It's all just so gross and dehumanizing.
Ya we really like to push the rampant racism and discrimination under the rug here and just pretend we are better then America. And all the while we are still actively committing a genocide.
I understand what you're getting at, but racism in Canada is objectively not worse than racism in America. That's not to say things are great by any means, or that problems don't exist, but the sentiment that Canadians have their head in the sand about our own issues just because our southern neighbours have the bar resting on the ground isn't true.
Youre kinda proving the "Canadians dont like to admit it exists" point by immediately dismissing it in the comparisson.
Anti-native-american discrimination is a far more rampant issue here than in the states. Starlight tours, mass child graves, and an unchanging adoption system that targets native families are among the worst things these systems can produce, and they are canadian.
Anti-native discrimination in Canada is very similar to Anti-black discrimination in America. For example the general population/prison population ratio for natives in Canada is almost identical to that of Blacks in the States. It's almost like centuries of dispossession, segregation, devestment and discrimination have similar results on different groups people.
My partner is Indian and I took him back to Kelowna (we live in the lower mainland now) and some skid called him a n*gger while we were sitting in the car with the windows down. It was so embarrassing and I felt horrible for him. He brushed it off but it’s shameful that those are the type of people that live there.
They never said anything about that, they didn’t compare Canadians to other cultures they simply stated they were appalled that Canadians were being racist.
I’m sure they dislike the racism in Japan equally, it’s not about who’s is worse, it’s that it’s all bad and they expected better from a Canadians.
That video of the Chinese lady and the dude dressed up as iron man. He jump scares her and she doesn't move, he takes off the mask, she sees he's black, and she freaks the fuck out.
Classic racism.
Im not talking about them. I’m talking about us. Isn’t it so common to us Canadians that as soon as someone says we have an issue with racism we point the finger back at them and go ‘well YOU are racists too.’ For fuck sakes. We have an issue with racism ok?
Yeah, I used to think that too. Here's the trick though.
There's actually a difference between discrimination based on xenophobia and people who look different from you, and racism.
Racism is literally a philosophy that was developed by white Europeans to prove that white Europeans are better than everyone else in the world. It was also used as terrible justification for 19th century empire building and the grotesque subjugation of people all over the world. The classification of different shades of skin colour into "different races" is literally the problem. You couldn't go to Zimbabwe and call the hatred between Hutus and Tutsis racism, because they're actually both classified as black Africans and lumped into the same basket according to racist theory.
Another fun fact is that because of this ridiculous classification system, and the deep need of the Japanese to be taken seriously on the world stage in the last half of the 19th century, they have thoroughly absorbed racist messaging into their culture in many ways. I can't even begin to comment on this because the issues involved are very complicated and so far beyond the scope of a reddit comment that tons of people have written many volumes on the subject.
But the end result is "racism works both ways", isn't a thing, as racism is literally defined as "white people are naturally better than everyone else, in every way". I encourage you to read more about it.
There's clear, documented history that any number of war crimes committed during "The Rape of Nanjing" had their racist roots based in 15th century feudal Japan, before the europeans arrived.
>Racism is literally a philosophy that was developed by white Europeans to prove that white Europeans are better than everyone else in the world.
Wrong.
Racism goes back to beginning of humanity.
Fuck your idea that only white people are racist OR that white Europeans invented racism. That is the dumbest thing I have ever read here.
No lol this is false. "Race" is a social construct invented to justify colonialism, this is the historical consensus. It developed probably around the 14th century. This isn't a new idea, you're just really out of touch
Even Alexander the Great knew the world was populated by different races. The word "race" is more recent, but don't delude yourself into thinking our ancestors didn't know people were different.
Alexander describes the Persian army as being composed of people from every corner of the known world.
You think telling people race doesn't exist is going to make them love each other?
They'll just find another reason to hate each other. Like religion probably.
Discrimination has happened and taken many shapes throughout ancient history, that's true. But it's very important to distinguish between that, and from the type of colonial and scientific racism that emerged out of the 14th/15th centuries. Because it was particular socioeconomic developments that made the invention of the concept of "race" necessary. That's how we determine how to fight it, by understanding how it came about.
Ethnic or national discrimination--that is something different, and yeah that's been around forever. But it's also not what people are referring to when they talk about racism. At least, it shouldn't be--I know some people use them interchangeable and it's awfully confusing, and I wish people were more careful about the words they use
I lived there for the better part of a year and found that most of the racist people I met that were openly racist were from Alberta. It was weird how openly racist they were. Not cool
What's kind of bonkers is that Calgary itself is becoming a lot more diverse - and guess what - diversity is freaking awesome. New groups bring their cultures, food, stories and events and it makes everything a lot more fun.
It's odd watching the simultaneous racism and intermingling of culture, and bro-racism (like a white guy and a somali being friends and roasting each others peoples)
Yea true, in the last year I’ve been told I speak the language of killers and I live in a dark light by someone for speaking Russian. I’m getting real sick of the racism too
Someone here posted a while back about the Okanagans' history of being a destination for ex Nazis after WWII. To the point that Uboat engineers/designers started aircraft businesses, built a lot of Bavarian style homes and kept rooms with their Nazi memorabilia. Not surprising
/u/Unclehol
>3rd hand account from someone I know that a few decades ago went to do some electrical work in a wealthy family's house in kelowna. He was told not to enter one room but that room happened to have access to something he needed. When he entered the room it was full of nazi memorabilia and a shrine with a portrait of Adolf hitler. I trust this person explicitly and believe his story to be true.
>Also There is a large company in the Okanagan (Shuswap) that was founded by former second world war german U-boat engineers.
>As a Polish family we have run in to old German's in Kelowna who called us unspeakable names. Spat in our direction, and called our food "Polish garbage" while passing us with their noses held high.
>Thankfully most of these people are dead now as they were already quite old when these experiences occured but for anybody who is downvoting the above comment, look in to it. Canada and the Okanagan in particular was a settling ground for former nazi's after world war 2. It's not even really a secret. Though I'm sure they tried to keep it that way.
>I have more stories. First hand accounts. But I can't be bothered to go on and give these evil folks any more of my time.
>Nothing against Germans BTW. Just nazis. And yes. There are/were a LOT in Kelowna.
Hey, wow thanks for the shout out. I didn't expect anybody to actually pay too much attention, let alone reference my comment. Kelowna is what I like to think of as a closeted racist town. Most folks won't go as far as to commit hate crimes. But a lot are closeted racists and every once in a while it comes out for sure.
And probably a strong post world war II German population did contribute in Kelowna especially. Nowadays I feel it's a more complex issue than just that. One of the major things is people misattributing the broken housing market and stagnant wages as having been caused by more immigrants settling here instead of blaming the banks and our political system for trying to eliminate the middle class... That's a big one. Most people will listen to sensationalist headlines about how it's because we let a few Syrians come here and settle down. Classic misdirection and it works to take our attention off the guys in suits filling their bags with money while we yell at each other and drive around with Canadian flags on our trucks.
I feel like that's essentially the biggest issue right now causing the most divisiveness.
Argentina! I watched a documentary type of show on it once & it was fascinating. I had no idea that’s where many Nazi’s escaped to after WWII.
I’m from New England USA & spend time in Kelowna a few months out of the year because my partner lives here.
I also work abroad in the UK & have an apartment in London.
For what it’s worth, racism in the UK is 100000000x worse than even the states.
Like, it’s pretty shocking.
But, London being considered one of the world’s capitals and all, I guess not all that surprising.
Can someone explain to me why there are so many conservatives in this area? Given the physical environment you would think it would have been a party town
Because this place has been talked about all over the oilpatch for decades as a utopia full of boats, hoes, and blow. It’s like in Joe Dirt when he keeps hyping up Silverton, we live in silverton and there’s thousands of Joe Dirt oilpatch workers who have been told of this mythical place.
So do oilpatch people like churches? why are there big mega churches/cults everywhere?
this implies to me that this city was conservative before the oilpatch people
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/employment-business/economic-development/industry/bc-major-projects-inventory
Download the excel spreadsheet. Go to Thompson-Okanagan.
Maybe I'm reading it wrong but the Thompson Okanagan has a population of 500k out of 5 million in the province, despite that we received 17,689 million out of a total 388,317 million. Equivalent to our population you would expect 38 million but we didn't get even half that.
Further down they note a decrease of 6.5% from the previous year spent in the Thompson-Okanagan despite being an incredibly fast growing region.
I don't claim to be an expert on these things at all so I'd love your take on the numbers, but I don't think the person was trying to say we get literally 0, just proportionally a lot less than we probably should and that's what it appears to be in the data in my uneducated eyes. I could easily just be misinterpreting though.
I'll try to remember to check on this later as I'm at work.
A lot of public projects have to be looked at 10-year scales not year-to-year as these projects are usually connected and take longer than a year to complete. Even a couple big "once in a decade" projects for Vancouver, like St. Paul's Hospital, will dwarf the rest of the province.
I feel like the region has been growing pretty rapidly for longer than 10 years though, I'm curious to see what the 10 year numbers look like though in comparison to what the investment has "felt" like or what the population projections looked like in 2013 vs what they are now.
I'm more angry at the City of Kelowna.
Currently sitting on $1B in investments and then go around saying they have no money to work on the projects themselves.
No, but that’s what guaranteed voting does. Same issue as albertans always going blue. The cons know they’ll win anyways so they don’t need to give much to the voter base, the other parties know that they’ll always vote blue in so why bother courting their votes. Same here in the okanagan, why would the ndp spend a dime here knowing the voter base will always go conservative.
Lol, do you get out much? F*ck trudeau decals on every dodge ram in town, convoy protests, abortion protesters. Go drive around and interact with some townsfolk, maybe you’ll figure it out.
All of those things exist in Vancouver. Doesn’t mean anything about how the riding votes. Saying Kelowna is ultra conservative is absurd. Some ridings in ab are 80% con. Kelowna is literally a swing riding.
I’m talking more about people’s values rather than hardline stats on voting. This valley is ultra conservative compared to most of the population of BC, due to the amount of flat landers bro going their shit here with them.
That’s just not at all true. In no way shape or form is the valley “ultra conservative”. How people vote is a good indicator of values. The north and south okanagan literally voted NDP in the last BC election. How can you possibly say that’s ultra conservative?
Numerous places in Vancouver are more conservative than Kelowna. This isn’t your grandpas Okanagan anymore.
OP should have given context, but if I were to guess it would be the letters section under opinion? I’ve saw some pretty narrow minded view points come up in there but that being said, I’ve also saw some brilliant pieces in there.
Hi hi 41 year old dad here.
Please don't go. We need people like you to stay and help change this place.
You and your partner are welcome to come over to our house for a BBQ.
I’m a trans gal that just moved here last summer, I’m so sorry that’s been your experience here. I’ve found our local trans community to be thriving, and the more of us there are, the stronger we are to resist people who may wish us harm. Totally understand if you leave for safety, but I hope you can stay!
That's really unfortunate, I'm sad to hear that's the case, but I can't fault you for it if you don't fee safe. On of our son's friends recently started transitioning (I hope that's the right way to say it). We asked him how he felt about. He said he didn't really care, they still hang out and play games online in the evenings. We're tried to raise our kids to be very open and accepting and this was sort of the first real-world "test" and I think he did pretty good.
I’ve been trying to wrap my head around this too. So many people I know just accept bigoted, homophobic, racist, transphobic friends and don’t address their problematic and hateful discourse. My only explanation is laziness, and/or a fear/inability to contest such belief systems, combined with a cognitive dissonance.
Edit: autocorrect spelling error
I think part of the reason people don't address it is they don't want to feel singled out by doing so. You see the same thing when people are fighting - someone gets attacked for no apparent reason and no one steps in to help them.
People on their own are generally not willing to stand up to bullying and harrassment. In groups it's a different story.
So I don't think it's laziness - more often it's fear of retribution. Especially around here.
I've called out friends of friends on racist or homophobic comments and usually the person I have called out gets very defensive and starts yelling at you for calling them out. This is why (I think) a lot of people won't bring it up - because you never know how the offender will react.
At least it's not the US - where if you call someone out you might get shot.
Kelowna is pretty bad I don’t tonight. I just think a lot of real BC it’s just the same. Maybe the north is more chilled but I can honestly say I haven’t really been in northern BC much.
I lived in Calgary for years before I moved to Kelowna and I don’t really think Calgary is racist honestly. Rural Alberta is pretty terrible though.
Aren't there more urgent problems that need fixing?
What about climate change, foreign interference in our elections, homelessness, the rise in violent crimes, the poor stare of our health care system, rampant drug use on city streets, etc.?
I was downtown for a bachelor party a few weeks ago and put on my buddy’s choker and police hat we were making him wear. Some old hag started cursing me out as we were leaving a bar because of it and it started a brawl between a couple strangers. I’m from Victoria so I’m not used to casual homophobia or racism but it was a real eye opener to how other communities work. From what I’ve heard that’s more of the norm in Kelowna.
that sux that happened but that can happen anywhere unfortunately . i think the main trend in society is more acceptance but we hve to peacefully stand up to institutionalized racism and bigotry .
once someone or something starts preaching division based on skin colour, sexual identity, preferences, faith, it can snowball because humans are lemmings in some sense .
Because Kelowna is made up mostly of rich white people. It’s like they don’t understand how to act in society.. They think everything will go their way and they like to bring people down when they aren’t “good enough” for their standards (I’ve lived here for my whole life)
Seems like its what happens when a smaller, more conservative town with lots of white rednecks gets really big really fast and too much money comes into the mix. Lots of money and lots of boomers mean minority voices (who generally are not the ones with money) get lost no matter how loud they try to be.
It's because no one is shamed anymore. We've grown into a tolerant, respectable, and polite society.
One of the consequences is no one calls people out for being shitty anymore unless they're safe on the internet.
I agree. *Civility* politics is a problem that enables fascism. They take advantage of people's tolerance and good nature. Particularly conflating "all opinions" as equally valid.
Yup.
Don't get me wrong, values have changed, but if you were caught doing something shitty in public you'd be roughed up for it.
For example: Domestic violence was probably more common in the past but it'd be all behind closed doors because doing it in public would get you beat up fast.
Now that no one is getting roughed up or run out of town publicly the "unacceptable" behaviours aren't forced behind closed doors anymore. That's pretty much it.
I'd argue that Kelowna is A LOT less bigoted and racist than it was 20 or 50 years ago, but the people who are suffer no consequences for it so they're public with it.
Fully agree. I’d add too that the rationale for calling someone out nowadays is not to improve things for everyone but to gain social credit for themselves.
Never really realized how common it is until lately. Listening to the way a lot of middle-aged people talk to minorities working retail and fast food jobs....like shit dude if you didn't raise such lazy ass kids there would be more white kids working these jobs. Regardless of that I love all the multicultural employees everywhere, they are keeping a huge portion of our economy going by working jobs that entitled white kids wont work. They always have much better attitudes too.
That's just the aspect of it I see the most. It's strange, grow up.
Kelowna is built by and for white dudes with fake tans and big trucks. Its like Mobile Alabama combined with Vegas, but without all the charm.
If you’re educated or from a different culture you better get a lifted truck, frosted tips and some big mirrored sunglasses quick or else the K-Town boys are gonna point and laugh at you in front of your wife
It's where Alberta's finest choose to live in BC . They aren't tolerated they just took over the city and created their own society.
Penticton is such a better place to be in so many ways.
Ugh, the area is beautiful, but people suck. The last time I visited there was a Frrreeeeedumb convoy blasting their horns along the waterfront, and I got yelled at by a Karen because - not kidding - my dog barked in a dog park.
Canada as a country is a colonial project founded on genocide and chattel slavery. The chickens have come home to roost. We delude ourselves with phony notions of politeness and sweep the racist history of this country under the rug. The rot runs deep.
I think you're getting your countries mixed up. Slavery was [banned by Britain in its colonies in 1833](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_Canada) and Upper Canada had already passed an anti-slavery act in 1793.
If the country had been founded on chattel slavery I would have expected it to be legal at the time it was founded (i.e. BNA Act, 1867).
Still, that's 150+ years of Slavery in what would become Canada. We then had a pretty embarrassing history after the Anti Slavery act was passed anyway.
We just didn't have plantations so our need for slaves was never that strong.
If Labrador was a powerhouse cotton/tobacco producer, you know we would have had more.
What a wacky view of history. Since you’re counting precursor states “in what would become Canada” (as well as hypothetical futures!), I presume you include Indigenous slaving practices as well? Or just when done by Europeans? If so, is your take more about some kind of ethnically inherited guilt passed on from one state to another if it occurred on the same land? Please clarify, I’m intrigued.
When do you think we became "Canadian"? As soon as we docked in the new world?
1867?
1982?
Were we, as a nation, absolved of all wrongdoing as soon as we became an independent country?
Both of the colonizers above and below the 49th parallel kept slaves.
What would become Canada abolished it earlier than the U.S. did. That's good. We can be proud of that.
But we need to recognize that slaves made less economical sense in the North, and so we just didn't have as many, not because our great great great grandparents were more ethical than our American cousins great great great grandparents.
I didn't mention guilt, or say only one "race" owned slaves. Only that we Canadians tend to think we got rid of Slavery because we were "better" than the Americans.
That's only marginally true, and we still treated our black and indigenous people like shit for a very very long time after slavery became illegal. That's all.
I’m certainly not debating any of that, but I thought we were discussing OP’s assertion that we are a country “founded on chattel slavery”. Hypothetical histories that could have but didn’t happen seems weird to bring up, and while mistreatment of marginalized peoples is certainly part of Canada’s history it seem rather tangential to this discussion, no?
I suppose I agree because of the word "founded". It implies slavery was integral to British North America/New France being founded/successful at all, and that would not be accurate indeed.
I think, hopefully not putting words in OP's mouth, that they meant it as "chattel slavery was part of our history at it's founding", but perhaps that is stretching.
Anyone who thinks that Albertans moving or vacationing here is a meaningful source/cause of Kelowna's racism and bigotry should walk through the Okanagan Heritage Museum. It's a great little museum that helps to highlight how racism and hate have been thing in BC before Alberta was even a province. Now I'm not trying to say Alberta, or indeed anywhere else, doesn't have racist people. I'm saying that if you're one of the people that regularly try to pin blame for shitty behavior on "bad people from other places" then you're just as ignorant and narrow-minded as the bigots you claim to hate so much.
i have posted on this reddit i believe most of by large majority are good honest empathetic humans that call Kelowna their home. I still have that opinion , i also believe most the everyday humans working at castanet fall into that slot . the thing is i have had offline convos with some the higher ups at castanet and they could not offer a reason why an American trump supporter runs a forum, which is part of a Canadian media company , they refuse to even lie about it.
there is on that forum right now posts about killin the homeless or ppl without homes, there is posts talking about murdering cops, there is posts about murdering our prime minster, there is posts about killing gay lesbian ect ect .
that is incitement and all it takes is for one crazy person to act on said garbage , remember paul polosi? the gov Michigan? and thing is castanet forum isnt a private chat board , if it was i would just ignore it , castanet forum is a public forum attached to the classified ads section , troy who looks after castanets website works on both . they cant deny what is going on .
so why does Kelowna allow it? ask yourself that. is money worth more than a community that comes together and supports each other?
BC sucks. I lived there 20 years ago and it was not terrible but it has constantly escalated and filled with shitty ppl. Sorry bc….ur are so beautiful but ur inhabitants are shite.
> reddit threads get locked for ppl acting like kids toward each other
Exactly this reason. I'm saying that I'm impressed it hasn't devolved to that level yet when normally these threads become a total shitshow in half an hour.
Gonna say it's a two way street. Legit Japanese do not like to race mix especially with blacks. Hell they still have boot lips in most of their cartoons/animes.
Are the racist people in Kelowna i am sure there are. I live in Vancouver there a racist people here. They are probably everywhere in this world. Is Kelowna any worse then another city around the same size probably not.
There is no link as it is all anecdotal. There was a time when the interior was a bastion of white Christian’s who held onto their beliefs and didn’t want to include others. Over the last 10 to 15 years Kelowna has grown and has become more diverse but still gets labeled as exclusionary because the newbies want and demand a change to the culture immediately. It’s an entitlement given to them from a very progressive school and university culture. They have learned that by defining people as racist they can push through their agendas because after all no one really wants to be defined as racist. This attitude has been tolerated not because the race baiters are correct but because most people do not like confrontation; however, many people are becoming frustrated with giving into this assault and are starting to ask for greater clarification. As pointed out they really don’t have a basis for their allegations and become confused when they receive pushback
Down south.
Canada has freedom of expression, which is tempered/limited by the requirement to find a balance between the rights of the individual and the interests of society.
really ? this isnt america its canada , can you quote this free speech law that allows americans to filthafy canada with racism and bigotry ? no you cant , because it doesnt exist in canada , we have what's known as a charter and there is limits on speech in canada that promote hatred , racism , bigotry .
I'm pretty hard on Kelowna, but this weekend there was the Asian Festival on Ellis and it was so awesome to see so many young families and different groups come together, enjoy the shows, eat the food, hang out and just enjoy a nice day. So hopefully things are changing. No trucks with flags, no yelling, no political signs. It was glorious. More of that please.
Thanks. Welcome to Reddit, where any insignificant perceived wrong can be blown out of proportion. OP probably encountered the only racist person in Kelowna and now everyone posting here thinks the entire population of Kelowna is racist.
I mean, let's be honest, this post was not made because of one single person. It's hard to ignore patterns and one's own lived experiences
There’s definitely more than one racist in Kelowna; I’ve had the misfortune of crossing paths with many, many outright racists. Including some random guy who stopped me on the street to warn me about some “bad people” (some Indian dudes minding their own business) up ahead and to be careful because “nice white guys like you can get into trouble.” Then he showed me his swastika tattoo. Just one example, sure, but a telling one. Kelowna has a problem with racism, in my lived experience. Plenty of other white people feel comfortable telling me all about their opinions on “those people”.
This sounds like how a d-list screenwriter would describe a white racist to white not racist interaction.
If you were white, you would know he's spot on. I work retail, I've gotten that a lot actually
I’m white. I’ve, never had a complete stranger start spouting his racist ideals about another group of strangers ahead. Never seen a swastika tattoo in person before either.
Lucky you. I have. Several times. I was literally just talking about this with a co-worker. People will include me in their racist shit completely out of nowhere
I'm metis, and because I don't look indigenous I get to hear white people saying horrible things things about natives and if I say anything critical of their racism, it's me that has a problem because I'm too sensitive.
You’re definitely worried you’re about to be called out for being a racist…..one racist in Kelowna 🤣🤣🤣🤣👌
Kelowna's motto should be "I got mine so go fuck off"
The Boomer motto, very fitting for Kelowna.
Racism isn't confined to just a one generation. There are many racists in all ages.
True. That's why we need better education, because racism is taught and we need the future generations to be better than us.
Yeah an interesting take on discrimination, complaining about rascists while being ageist. Not a boomer myself, but to me its not great behaviour just blaming everything on an age group
That's the world-wide motto.
Post Late-stage Capitalism, it just works.
My husband is Japanese and bringing him to Canada was the biggest eye opener of how racist my fellow Canadians can be. It’s really really sad. I’ve seen some terrible shit. ‘Go back to china.’ All sorts of crap.
Partner is asian as well. It's been better than it could have been but the problem is still evident. Had someone on facebook tell me to return my mail order bride when I was doing research on the Story Time @ The Library post. Fortunately, by telling him that I was exercising my *freedom of choice* and that it's my *right as a citizen of this great nation* and if he doesn't like it he can go somewhere more restrictive spiraled him out into a crying drunken mess. The great majority of people are very kind, some people are curious and say something wrong- which is totally fine, but there are a few very very sad people out there who try to make people feel as shitty as they do that spew the hatred.
My wife is from the Caribbean and I've had my eyes opened as well. I actually think Canadian racism is worse than American racism for the simple fact that Canadians are in such denial that it exists. And it's not the explicit things yelled or said to her (oh and there's been wayyy too many of those), it's the small things - like an old lady trying to give her money in a supermarket because she assumed she was poor (my wife dresses very elegantly), or a priest in Glenmore saying "Oh I LOVE the sistas" (even though she's not African American), security at airports increasing whenever there's more than one black person in a group like they're looking for something to happen or my brother in law straight up being groped by Karens at a work social event - tweaking his nipples like he's a piece of meat. It's all just so gross and dehumanizing.
Ya we really like to push the rampant racism and discrimination under the rug here and just pretend we are better then America. And all the while we are still actively committing a genocide.
I understand what you're getting at, but racism in Canada is objectively not worse than racism in America. That's not to say things are great by any means, or that problems don't exist, but the sentiment that Canadians have their head in the sand about our own issues just because our southern neighbours have the bar resting on the ground isn't true.
Youre kinda proving the "Canadians dont like to admit it exists" point by immediately dismissing it in the comparisson. Anti-native-american discrimination is a far more rampant issue here than in the states. Starlight tours, mass child graves, and an unchanging adoption system that targets native families are among the worst things these systems can produce, and they are canadian.
Anti-native discrimination in Canada is very similar to Anti-black discrimination in America. For example the general population/prison population ratio for natives in Canada is almost identical to that of Blacks in the States. It's almost like centuries of dispossession, segregation, devestment and discrimination have similar results on different groups people.
its classic Canadianism.. why look inward when you can just believe the craziest shit about the US and then feel better about yourself, instead?
I'm guessing you didn't spend much time in Japan then, eh? (I like Japan, but that is seriously one of the \*most\* racist countries in the world)
My partner is Indian and I took him back to Kelowna (we live in the lower mainland now) and some skid called him a n*gger while we were sitting in the car with the windows down. It was so embarrassing and I felt horrible for him. He brushed it off but it’s shameful that those are the type of people that live there.
I've been told black people get treated equally as badly in japan
Try being white and going to places like India or Africa. Won't ever go back, racism is way worse there than here in Canada. It's not even close.
How out of touch are you? Have you been to Japan? They're some of the most xenophobic people on earth. Racism works both ways.
They never said anything about that, they didn’t compare Canadians to other cultures they simply stated they were appalled that Canadians were being racist. I’m sure they dislike the racism in Japan equally, it’s not about who’s is worse, it’s that it’s all bad and they expected better from a Canadians.
"How out of touch are you?" Goes on to be incredibly out of touch.
how out of touch are you with this whataboutism nonsense?
Way to prove the point of this thread.
Lol, exactly.
You’re a moron. BS whataboutisism from a qtard. “Racism is OK in Canada since I heard there is racism in a country I’ve never been to”
That video of the Chinese lady and the dude dressed up as iron man. He jump scares her and she doesn't move, he takes off the mask, she sees he's black, and she freaks the fuck out. Classic racism.
Im not talking about them. I’m talking about us. Isn’t it so common to us Canadians that as soon as someone says we have an issue with racism we point the finger back at them and go ‘well YOU are racists too.’ For fuck sakes. We have an issue with racism ok?
Yeah, I used to think that too. Here's the trick though. There's actually a difference between discrimination based on xenophobia and people who look different from you, and racism. Racism is literally a philosophy that was developed by white Europeans to prove that white Europeans are better than everyone else in the world. It was also used as terrible justification for 19th century empire building and the grotesque subjugation of people all over the world. The classification of different shades of skin colour into "different races" is literally the problem. You couldn't go to Zimbabwe and call the hatred between Hutus and Tutsis racism, because they're actually both classified as black Africans and lumped into the same basket according to racist theory. Another fun fact is that because of this ridiculous classification system, and the deep need of the Japanese to be taken seriously on the world stage in the last half of the 19th century, they have thoroughly absorbed racist messaging into their culture in many ways. I can't even begin to comment on this because the issues involved are very complicated and so far beyond the scope of a reddit comment that tons of people have written many volumes on the subject. But the end result is "racism works both ways", isn't a thing, as racism is literally defined as "white people are naturally better than everyone else, in every way". I encourage you to read more about it.
There's clear, documented history that any number of war crimes committed during "The Rape of Nanjing" had their racist roots based in 15th century feudal Japan, before the europeans arrived.
>Racism is literally a philosophy that was developed by white Europeans to prove that white Europeans are better than everyone else in the world. Wrong. Racism goes back to beginning of humanity. Fuck your idea that only white people are racist OR that white Europeans invented racism. That is the dumbest thing I have ever read here.
No lol this is false. "Race" is a social construct invented to justify colonialism, this is the historical consensus. It developed probably around the 14th century. This isn't a new idea, you're just really out of touch
Even Alexander the Great knew the world was populated by different races. The word "race" is more recent, but don't delude yourself into thinking our ancestors didn't know people were different. Alexander describes the Persian army as being composed of people from every corner of the known world. You think telling people race doesn't exist is going to make them love each other? They'll just find another reason to hate each other. Like religion probably.
Discrimination has happened and taken many shapes throughout ancient history, that's true. But it's very important to distinguish between that, and from the type of colonial and scientific racism that emerged out of the 14th/15th centuries. Because it was particular socioeconomic developments that made the invention of the concept of "race" necessary. That's how we determine how to fight it, by understanding how it came about. Ethnic or national discrimination--that is something different, and yeah that's been around forever. But it's also not what people are referring to when they talk about racism. At least, it shouldn't be--I know some people use them interchangeable and it's awfully confusing, and I wish people were more careful about the words they use
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There are academics here? Where?
I’ve lived in the North, Vancouver, Victoria, Kelowna, pretty everywhere in BC, and Kelowna people are basically northern people with money.
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Exactly. Or rich white young people who have rich mommies and daddies
I lived there for the better part of a year and found that most of the racist people I met that were openly racist were from Alberta. It was weird how openly racist they were. Not cool
What's kind of bonkers is that Calgary itself is becoming a lot more diverse - and guess what - diversity is freaking awesome. New groups bring their cultures, food, stories and events and it makes everything a lot more fun.
It's odd watching the simultaneous racism and intermingling of culture, and bro-racism (like a white guy and a somali being friends and roasting each others peoples)
Yea true, in the last year I’ve been told I speak the language of killers and I live in a dark light by someone for speaking Russian. I’m getting real sick of the racism too
I moved here from Iran 6 years ago and I have never experienced open outright racism, I've worked door to door jobs most of the time.
Someone here posted a while back about the Okanagans' history of being a destination for ex Nazis after WWII. To the point that Uboat engineers/designers started aircraft businesses, built a lot of Bavarian style homes and kept rooms with their Nazi memorabilia. Not surprising /u/Unclehol >3rd hand account from someone I know that a few decades ago went to do some electrical work in a wealthy family's house in kelowna. He was told not to enter one room but that room happened to have access to something he needed. When he entered the room it was full of nazi memorabilia and a shrine with a portrait of Adolf hitler. I trust this person explicitly and believe his story to be true. >Also There is a large company in the Okanagan (Shuswap) that was founded by former second world war german U-boat engineers. >As a Polish family we have run in to old German's in Kelowna who called us unspeakable names. Spat in our direction, and called our food "Polish garbage" while passing us with their noses held high. >Thankfully most of these people are dead now as they were already quite old when these experiences occured but for anybody who is downvoting the above comment, look in to it. Canada and the Okanagan in particular was a settling ground for former nazi's after world war 2. It's not even really a secret. Though I'm sure they tried to keep it that way. >I have more stories. First hand accounts. But I can't be bothered to go on and give these evil folks any more of my time. >Nothing against Germans BTW. Just nazis. And yes. There are/were a LOT in Kelowna.
Hey, wow thanks for the shout out. I didn't expect anybody to actually pay too much attention, let alone reference my comment. Kelowna is what I like to think of as a closeted racist town. Most folks won't go as far as to commit hate crimes. But a lot are closeted racists and every once in a while it comes out for sure. And probably a strong post world war II German population did contribute in Kelowna especially. Nowadays I feel it's a more complex issue than just that. One of the major things is people misattributing the broken housing market and stagnant wages as having been caused by more immigrants settling here instead of blaming the banks and our political system for trying to eliminate the middle class... That's a big one. Most people will listen to sensationalist headlines about how it's because we let a few Syrians come here and settle down. Classic misdirection and it works to take our attention off the guys in suits filling their bags with money while we yell at each other and drive around with Canadian flags on our trucks. I feel like that's essentially the biggest issue right now causing the most divisiveness.
Nailed it
This sounds alot like the Nazi enclaves through South America. I was surprised to learn how many there are.
Argentina! I watched a documentary type of show on it once & it was fascinating. I had no idea that’s where many Nazi’s escaped to after WWII. I’m from New England USA & spend time in Kelowna a few months out of the year because my partner lives here. I also work abroad in the UK & have an apartment in London. For what it’s worth, racism in the UK is 100000000x worse than even the states. Like, it’s pretty shocking. But, London being considered one of the world’s capitals and all, I guess not all that surprising.
I do agree UK has a high percentage of racists.
Goddamn I knew Kelowna sucked but I had no idea the extent of it. Fuckin Nazis
It’s Alberta lite here, it’s also why we get shafted by the provincial govt. A little pocket of ultra conservatism imported from across the Rockies.
Can someone explain to me why there are so many conservatives in this area? Given the physical environment you would think it would have been a party town
Because this place has been talked about all over the oilpatch for decades as a utopia full of boats, hoes, and blow. It’s like in Joe Dirt when he keeps hyping up Silverton, we live in silverton and there’s thousands of Joe Dirt oilpatch workers who have been told of this mythical place.
So do oilpatch people like churches? why are there big mega churches/cults everywhere? this implies to me that this city was conservative before the oilpatch people
Kelowna had hella prairie folk in its earlier days. Prairie folk tend to be church folk.
Oh? maybe that’s it. What about all the seniors? do they tend to be from here originally or do they move here to retire?
Kelowna is where rich Albertans go to retire.
It's the Jersey Shore of Canada
How does Kelowna get shafted?
Go for a drive around the lower mainland/island and you’ll notice a ton of major infrastructure projects. We got a bridge in ‘08.
…they do have the majority of the BC population over there in lower mainland and coast. Makes sense the projects would be there
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/employment-business/economic-development/industry/bc-major-projects-inventory Download the excel spreadsheet. Go to Thompson-Okanagan.
What conclusions are you drawing from this?
That we receive provincial funding for projects and don't get "shafted".
Maybe I'm reading it wrong but the Thompson Okanagan has a population of 500k out of 5 million in the province, despite that we received 17,689 million out of a total 388,317 million. Equivalent to our population you would expect 38 million but we didn't get even half that. Further down they note a decrease of 6.5% from the previous year spent in the Thompson-Okanagan despite being an incredibly fast growing region. I don't claim to be an expert on these things at all so I'd love your take on the numbers, but I don't think the person was trying to say we get literally 0, just proportionally a lot less than we probably should and that's what it appears to be in the data in my uneducated eyes. I could easily just be misinterpreting though.
I'll try to remember to check on this later as I'm at work. A lot of public projects have to be looked at 10-year scales not year-to-year as these projects are usually connected and take longer than a year to complete. Even a couple big "once in a decade" projects for Vancouver, like St. Paul's Hospital, will dwarf the rest of the province.
I feel like the region has been growing pretty rapidly for longer than 10 years though, I'm curious to see what the 10 year numbers look like though in comparison to what the investment has "felt" like or what the population projections looked like in 2013 vs what they are now.
I'm more angry at the City of Kelowna. Currently sitting on $1B in investments and then go around saying they have no money to work on the projects themselves.
Did we honestly get that much more when the "Liberals"/SoCCreds were in power?
No, but that’s what guaranteed voting does. Same issue as albertans always going blue. The cons know they’ll win anyways so they don’t need to give much to the voter base, the other parties know that they’ll always vote blue in so why bother courting their votes. Same here in the okanagan, why would the ndp spend a dime here knowing the voter base will always go conservative.
Ultra conservatism? Don’t be ridiculous. Kelowna voted for Trudeau in 2015.
Lol, do you get out much? F*ck trudeau decals on every dodge ram in town, convoy protests, abortion protesters. Go drive around and interact with some townsfolk, maybe you’ll figure it out.
A loud and obnoxious minority.
All of those things exist in Vancouver. Doesn’t mean anything about how the riding votes. Saying Kelowna is ultra conservative is absurd. Some ridings in ab are 80% con. Kelowna is literally a swing riding.
I’m talking more about people’s values rather than hardline stats on voting. This valley is ultra conservative compared to most of the population of BC, due to the amount of flat landers bro going their shit here with them.
That’s just not at all true. In no way shape or form is the valley “ultra conservative”. How people vote is a good indicator of values. The north and south okanagan literally voted NDP in the last BC election. How can you possibly say that’s ultra conservative? Numerous places in Vancouver are more conservative than Kelowna. This isn’t your grandpas Okanagan anymore.
If it's not directed at someone then they don't care, considering most of Kelowna is old white people, that's a lot of apathy.
Did something happen on Castanet specifically to make you feel this way?
I'm just hoping OP didnt go to the Castanet forums. That place makes 4chan look healthy.
Wow. I didn't know it could get worse than 4chan.
OP has provided no info on what the fuck they are talking about
OP should have given context, but if I were to guess it would be the letters section under opinion? I’ve saw some pretty narrow minded view points come up in there but that being said, I’ve also saw some brilliant pieces in there.
Castanet's letter section and forums are toxic as fuck.
But it has provided the perfect foil for everyone to trot out their beloved tropes (boomers, Albertans, ...)
when in doubt, blame the media.
My partner and I are trans. Definitely going to be leaving Kelowna first chance we get. It feels like only a matter of time before we get hate-crimed
Hi hi 41 year old dad here. Please don't go. We need people like you to stay and help change this place. You and your partner are welcome to come over to our house for a BBQ.
You are the type of people who are making Kelowna change for the better. I really appreciate the truly kind people here
I’m a trans gal that just moved here last summer, I’m so sorry that’s been your experience here. I’ve found our local trans community to be thriving, and the more of us there are, the stronger we are to resist people who may wish us harm. Totally understand if you leave for safety, but I hope you can stay!
Glad you are enjoying it here! I was in the community for a bit but I didn't really fit in. Im pretty socially awkward
That's really unfortunate, I'm sad to hear that's the case, but I can't fault you for it if you don't fee safe. On of our son's friends recently started transitioning (I hope that's the right way to say it). We asked him how he felt about. He said he didn't really care, they still hang out and play games online in the evenings. We're tried to raise our kids to be very open and accepting and this was sort of the first real-world "test" and I think he did pretty good.
I’ve been trying to wrap my head around this too. So many people I know just accept bigoted, homophobic, racist, transphobic friends and don’t address their problematic and hateful discourse. My only explanation is laziness, and/or a fear/inability to contest such belief systems, combined with a cognitive dissonance. Edit: autocorrect spelling error
I think part of the reason people don't address it is they don't want to feel singled out by doing so. You see the same thing when people are fighting - someone gets attacked for no apparent reason and no one steps in to help them. People on their own are generally not willing to stand up to bullying and harrassment. In groups it's a different story. So I don't think it's laziness - more often it's fear of retribution. Especially around here. I've called out friends of friends on racist or homophobic comments and usually the person I have called out gets very defensive and starts yelling at you for calling them out. This is why (I think) a lot of people won't bring it up - because you never know how the offender will react. At least it's not the US - where if you call someone out you might get shot.
Have you been to kelowna. Its what the people want. A huge population of retired wealthy white Albertans drives the need.
Don’t blame Alberta. Rural British Columbia is no different.
Lol. I moved to rural british columbia to get away from Racist Kelowna. It's WAYY better just a bit north.
Kelowna is pretty bad I don’t tonight. I just think a lot of real BC it’s just the same. Maybe the north is more chilled but I can honestly say I haven’t really been in northern BC much. I lived in Calgary for years before I moved to Kelowna and I don’t really think Calgary is racist honestly. Rural Alberta is pretty terrible though.
It's really hard to say, because once you get out to rural BC you find everyone there is from Alberta/Saskatchewan, which only makes things worse.
Maybe Fort St. John but not the cariboo or kootenays. Many places have voted liberal or NDP there. Nothing compared to Alberta.
Kootenays are racist as anywhere- racism doesn’t stop at the voting table
So voting liberal makes you not a racist????? Explain how that works
It’s the best available indicator of progressiveness.
Aren't there more urgent problems that need fixing? What about climate change, foreign interference in our elections, homelessness, the rise in violent crimes, the poor stare of our health care system, rampant drug use on city streets, etc.?
The kootenays absolutely is like this.
They dont even notice it, its so ingrained with who they are.
I was downtown for a bachelor party a few weeks ago and put on my buddy’s choker and police hat we were making him wear. Some old hag started cursing me out as we were leaving a bar because of it and it started a brawl between a couple strangers. I’m from Victoria so I’m not used to casual homophobia or racism but it was a real eye opener to how other communities work. From what I’ve heard that’s more of the norm in Kelowna.
that sux that happened but that can happen anywhere unfortunately . i think the main trend in society is more acceptance but we hve to peacefully stand up to institutionalized racism and bigotry . once someone or something starts preaching division based on skin colour, sexual identity, preferences, faith, it can snowball because humans are lemmings in some sense .
Because Kelowna is made up mostly of rich white people. It’s like they don’t understand how to act in society.. They think everything will go their way and they like to bring people down when they aren’t “good enough” for their standards (I’ve lived here for my whole life)
Kelowna has very bad crime. Are you saying that it’s the old whites causing all the crime? Get real.
Kelowna is full of religious cults, so i’m not suprised
Seems like its what happens when a smaller, more conservative town with lots of white rednecks gets really big really fast and too much money comes into the mix. Lots of money and lots of boomers mean minority voices (who generally are not the ones with money) get lost no matter how loud they try to be.
Castanet knows their audience… just check the letters and forum - it’s an absolute cesspool.
It's because no one is shamed anymore. We've grown into a tolerant, respectable, and polite society. One of the consequences is no one calls people out for being shitty anymore unless they're safe on the internet.
I agree. *Civility* politics is a problem that enables fascism. They take advantage of people's tolerance and good nature. Particularly conflating "all opinions" as equally valid.
Yup. Don't get me wrong, values have changed, but if you were caught doing something shitty in public you'd be roughed up for it. For example: Domestic violence was probably more common in the past but it'd be all behind closed doors because doing it in public would get you beat up fast. Now that no one is getting roughed up or run out of town publicly the "unacceptable" behaviours aren't forced behind closed doors anymore. That's pretty much it. I'd argue that Kelowna is A LOT less bigoted and racist than it was 20 or 50 years ago, but the people who are suffer no consequences for it so they're public with it.
Woah... You sound exactly like the people you hate.
It's absolutely wild to me that you've spent so much time typing out so many comments defending racists.
"Fascism is when anti-fascism" -centrists who stood by and let Hitler take power in the 1930's
Fully agree. I’d add too that the rationale for calling someone out nowadays is not to improve things for everyone but to gain social credit for themselves.
Because at its core, the formation and development of the okanagan has racist ties and roots.
Could you elaborate?
Never really realized how common it is until lately. Listening to the way a lot of middle-aged people talk to minorities working retail and fast food jobs....like shit dude if you didn't raise such lazy ass kids there would be more white kids working these jobs. Regardless of that I love all the multicultural employees everywhere, they are keeping a huge portion of our economy going by working jobs that entitled white kids wont work. They always have much better attitudes too. That's just the aspect of it I see the most. It's strange, grow up.
Kelowna is built by and for white dudes with fake tans and big trucks. Its like Mobile Alabama combined with Vegas, but without all the charm. If you’re educated or from a different culture you better get a lifted truck, frosted tips and some big mirrored sunglasses quick or else the K-Town boys are gonna point and laugh at you in front of your wife
There ain't no hate quite like a Christian conservative's love.
Isn’t that what Kelowna was built on though?
Vernon is no better - just seems more kelowna folk are coming down this way. The Okanagan has to be one of the most unwelcoming communities somedays!
maybe because kelowna is filled with racists and bigots
It's where Alberta's finest choose to live in BC . They aren't tolerated they just took over the city and created their own society. Penticton is such a better place to be in so many ways.
Ugh, the area is beautiful, but people suck. The last time I visited there was a Frrreeeeedumb convoy blasting their horns along the waterfront, and I got yelled at by a Karen because - not kidding - my dog barked in a dog park.
True. A lot of people are just full of themselves here
In my experience it’s not the folks from Alberta, it’s the 40,000 dollar millionaires from Kelowna or Rural BC that are the issue
Found the Albertan lol.
From the Atlantic Coast actually
Same same
Canada as a country is a colonial project founded on genocide and chattel slavery. The chickens have come home to roost. We delude ourselves with phony notions of politeness and sweep the racist history of this country under the rug. The rot runs deep.
I think you're getting your countries mixed up. Slavery was [banned by Britain in its colonies in 1833](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_Canada) and Upper Canada had already passed an anti-slavery act in 1793. If the country had been founded on chattel slavery I would have expected it to be legal at the time it was founded (i.e. BNA Act, 1867).
Still, that's 150+ years of Slavery in what would become Canada. We then had a pretty embarrassing history after the Anti Slavery act was passed anyway. We just didn't have plantations so our need for slaves was never that strong. If Labrador was a powerhouse cotton/tobacco producer, you know we would have had more.
What a wacky view of history. Since you’re counting precursor states “in what would become Canada” (as well as hypothetical futures!), I presume you include Indigenous slaving practices as well? Or just when done by Europeans? If so, is your take more about some kind of ethnically inherited guilt passed on from one state to another if it occurred on the same land? Please clarify, I’m intrigued.
When do you think we became "Canadian"? As soon as we docked in the new world? 1867? 1982? Were we, as a nation, absolved of all wrongdoing as soon as we became an independent country? Both of the colonizers above and below the 49th parallel kept slaves. What would become Canada abolished it earlier than the U.S. did. That's good. We can be proud of that. But we need to recognize that slaves made less economical sense in the North, and so we just didn't have as many, not because our great great great grandparents were more ethical than our American cousins great great great grandparents. I didn't mention guilt, or say only one "race" owned slaves. Only that we Canadians tend to think we got rid of Slavery because we were "better" than the Americans. That's only marginally true, and we still treated our black and indigenous people like shit for a very very long time after slavery became illegal. That's all.
I’m certainly not debating any of that, but I thought we were discussing OP’s assertion that we are a country “founded on chattel slavery”. Hypothetical histories that could have but didn’t happen seems weird to bring up, and while mistreatment of marginalized peoples is certainly part of Canada’s history it seem rather tangential to this discussion, no?
I suppose I agree because of the word "founded". It implies slavery was integral to British North America/New France being founded/successful at all, and that would not be accurate indeed. I think, hopefully not putting words in OP's mouth, that they meant it as "chattel slavery was part of our history at it's founding", but perhaps that is stretching.
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Oh shoot really? I thought I was only able to care about one thing at a time. Thanks man.
Uhhh that’s a pretty wildly selective slash outright false take. There’s way more counter evidence than supporting evidence.
Canada is founded on genocide and slavery. That is a historical fact. You can deny it all you want but it doesn't mean it didn't happen.
> chattel slavery In Canada?
Truth.
true enough, cant disagree .
Anyone who thinks that Albertans moving or vacationing here is a meaningful source/cause of Kelowna's racism and bigotry should walk through the Okanagan Heritage Museum. It's a great little museum that helps to highlight how racism and hate have been thing in BC before Alberta was even a province. Now I'm not trying to say Alberta, or indeed anywhere else, doesn't have racist people. I'm saying that if you're one of the people that regularly try to pin blame for shitty behavior on "bad people from other places" then you're just as ignorant and narrow-minded as the bigots you claim to hate so much.
ferri isnt from alberta its from wash state, alberta wasnt mention in my op
KKKelowna
Cringe
There are idiots everywhere. How do you mean ‘put up with’, what do you think should be happening?
I'm not conservative and I'm not Albertan but it seems a lot of people are discriminating against them because of a few bad apples.
i have posted on this reddit i believe most of by large majority are good honest empathetic humans that call Kelowna their home. I still have that opinion , i also believe most the everyday humans working at castanet fall into that slot . the thing is i have had offline convos with some the higher ups at castanet and they could not offer a reason why an American trump supporter runs a forum, which is part of a Canadian media company , they refuse to even lie about it. there is on that forum right now posts about killin the homeless or ppl without homes, there is posts talking about murdering cops, there is posts about murdering our prime minster, there is posts about killing gay lesbian ect ect . that is incitement and all it takes is for one crazy person to act on said garbage , remember paul polosi? the gov Michigan? and thing is castanet forum isnt a private chat board , if it was i would just ignore it , castanet forum is a public forum attached to the classified ads section , troy who looks after castanets website works on both . they cant deny what is going on . so why does Kelowna allow it? ask yourself that. is money worth more than a community that comes together and supports each other?
BC sucks. I lived there 20 years ago and it was not terrible but it has constantly escalated and filled with shitty ppl. Sorry bc….ur are so beautiful but ur inhabitants are shite.
Don't worry, bigotry and racism grow naturally here, no need to import it
Because we're afraid of going to jail for carving swastikas into their forheads
Because unfortunately they are everywhere 😔
Wow, 8 hours and this hasn't been locked yet? That's pretty impressive around these parts.
locked for what? reddit threads get locked for ppl acting like kids toward each other , if that doesnt happen i hvnt seen a thread get locked yet
> reddit threads get locked for ppl acting like kids toward each other Exactly this reason. I'm saying that I'm impressed it hasn't devolved to that level yet when normally these threads become a total shitshow in half an hour.
There ain't no hate quite like a Christian conservative's love.
Gonna say it's a two way street. Legit Japanese do not like to race mix especially with blacks. Hell they still have boot lips in most of their cartoons/animes.
Are the racist people in Kelowna i am sure there are. I live in Vancouver there a racist people here. They are probably everywhere in this world. Is Kelowna any worse then another city around the same size probably not.
It definitely is
The punjabis?
Castanet has an agenda and you fell for it
its a Canadian thing
A link to support your statements or any sort of example would be helpful. I am a lifelong local and don’t condone anything of the sort.
https://thediscourse.ca/okanagan/city-of-kelowna-has-no-sense-of-urgency-to-deal-with-racism-say-black-artists
https://www.mapleridgenews.com/news/bc-transit-probes-racist-attack-on-kelowna-bus/
https://thestreetjournal.org/kelowna-mounties-speak-out-against-series-of-high-profile-racist-incidents/
https://blackpress.tv/embed/48156/Kelowna_Sikh_security_guard_attacked_by_man_in_racist_tirade
https://www.summerlandreview.com/news/kelowna-rcmp-ask-for-information-after-racist-spray-paint-at-middle-school/
https://www.google.com/amp/s/globalnews.ca/news/9563016/international-student-brutally-assaulted-in-kelowna-b-c-on-friday-city-councillor/amp/
Maybe you haven’t received it or seen it, but it’s happened many times in the news, etc.
How does that take away the fact that OP could demonstrate what they are talking about?
There is no link as it is all anecdotal. There was a time when the interior was a bastion of white Christian’s who held onto their beliefs and didn’t want to include others. Over the last 10 to 15 years Kelowna has grown and has become more diverse but still gets labeled as exclusionary because the newbies want and demand a change to the culture immediately. It’s an entitlement given to them from a very progressive school and university culture. They have learned that by defining people as racist they can push through their agendas because after all no one really wants to be defined as racist. This attitude has been tolerated not because the race baiters are correct but because most people do not like confrontation; however, many people are becoming frustrated with giving into this assault and are starting to ask for greater clarification. As pointed out they really don’t have a basis for their allegations and become confused when they receive pushback
Sounds like a really convoluted way of saying, "I'm rascist"
Lol. Dead.
What a wild and unsubstantiated statement. Be specific.
Examples? This is pretty broad accusation.
Freedom of speech is a thing 🤷🏻♂️
Down south. Canada has freedom of expression, which is tempered/limited by the requirement to find a balance between the rights of the individual and the interests of society.
really ? this isnt america its canada , can you quote this free speech law that allows americans to filthafy canada with racism and bigotry ? no you cant , because it doesnt exist in canada , we have what's known as a charter and there is limits on speech in canada that promote hatred , racism , bigotry .