You could almost hear the combined gasp when, today at Edmonton City Council (Executive Committee) a citizen presented his objections to an affordable housing initiative aimed at housing indigenous people. He referenced “those people” and “their friends”. I turned to Donny, who I was with and said, “did he just say those people?” Indeed, he did. The Councilor who responded did so with empathy but challenged, speaking of his own indigenous background, with a father who was sent to a residential school and the impact that had on his father and the family. He pointed out gently that desperate people do desperate things.

I don’t know why that is so hard for people to understand.

I remember when we were in Ottawa a man who came to Canada from the Netherlands after WW2 told me about how he and his brothers would go out at night to dig up raw potatoes to eat them because they were SO hungry. And they did so knowing that they could be shot be German guards.

Yes, desperate people do desperate things. All the more reason for those of us with means to help those without. Think of that the next time you see someone sleeping on the street or asking for your spare change.

And so the meeting went on – 2.5 hours before the first break. I was very impressed by the councilors present, their attention to detail, and their interaction with the public, even those who seemed misled or misinformed.

The Mayor was chairing, and as he was talking, I felt a drop of water land on my head. I looked up at the glass roof above me – Donny got a drop of water, too. Was it condensation (it was 16 °C outside) or a leak in the roof, as it was raining? I was there because of a Salvation Army request for funding and had a chance to address the executive council. What a great group. They approved our request.

I was able to walk underground from city hall back to the car parked in the library underground parking. So I stayed nice and dry. City Hall is quite an attractive architectural part of downtown with large gathering places, sort of like Toronto has with Nathan Philips Square.

BTW — Wendy saw me on the news tonight!!

And now to a completely different topic….an update on Nugget. I know you are hoping for this!

Since it was raining hard we put his raincoat on him for our walk. He reacted like he used to when we started with a leash by sitting down every 10 feet, but before our walk was over he was running in it! But he must have been tired for when we came home while playing with his favourite little blanket, he fell asleep with his head under it.