Clerk Defies Supreme Court, Refuses Gay Marriage Licenses

[Pyrrho]

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I have never felt safer than when I have been in Canada.  The police I saw interacting with people most recently (in Montréal) were so polite, I would want to comply with pretty much anything they wanted just because they were so polite.  (I witnessed someone doing something that he was not supposed to do, and the policeman who saw him was incredibly polite to him.  It was so striking, my wife and I laugh about it from time to time.  I wish I lived in a place where that sort of interaction was normal.  It did not hurt anything that the policeman charmingly spoke French, which just added to the overall feel of what was happening.)  

The fact that most of the police did not have guns also gave a feeling of safety.  If they don't need guns, and they deal with criminals, it must be a pretty safe environment.

I also felt safe in Germany many years ago.  There are certain theoretical things I very much like about the U.S. Constitution, with, for example, the rights of free speech, but I never had any problems when traveling to foreign lands.  But most of my travel has been to civilized countries, as I have enough of savagery where I am and do not need to travel to experience that.  I travel for the purpose of having a different experience from what I have at home.

Certainly, whenever I have gone to the States to visit friends,
I cannot deny I always breathe a little sigh of relief when I return to Canadian soil.

But that's partially because I have more rights in Canada, as a Canadian,
than I do, as a Canadian, in the States.

I'm glad you felt safe here,
and certainly we don't have anywhere near the amount of long-standing racial tension
or mass-shootings that they do in the USA.

However,
While I certainly don't mean to sound as if I'm tossing your compliment back;
because I do like to hear people appreciate the nice things about my country,
I also don't want people to get a false sense of security:

But we have plenty of crime here.  We have ethnic and street gangs here, including MC-13.
We have Hells Angels and mafia here.  We have corruption.
We have third-world degree poverty in some areas.
Toronto's crime rate has been nearly doubling, every year.
It seems like every day I hear about another stabbing or shooting in Toronto.

Canada also has an atrocious problem with drugs, too.  It's everywhere.

Winnipeg has appalling crime rates and a horrible record of violence against First Nations people.

The Anglos and Francos still dislike each other in significant measure;
and the possibility of Quebec separating from Canada is never completely off the table.

We also have our own problem with racism,
especially in such multicultural cities as Toronto and Montreal and Vancouver.

We do have our own problems with police brutality;

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(I don't know where in Montreal that you saw police not carrying guns,
because all Canadian law enforcement carry guns,
certainly in major cities,
and every single cop I've ever seen was packing;
...Maybe they just weren't carrying where you could see it??)

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You just don't hear as much about it.

Having said all these horrible things, Canada is still a very good country
and many people from other parts of the world say they 'feel safe' here.

But you can get a false sense of security;
It's not perfect, by any means.

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Since I stayed near "Old Montréal," it would have been in or near that area.  My wife and I both noticed that some of the police did not carry guns, and some did.  I have had this fact confirmed by a resident of Montréal who is known by my wife.

Next time you visit Montréal and spend some time in the area of Old Montréal, take a look at the police.  You will see for yourself, if you look at enough of them (and assuming that they do not change this policy).

I know there are different types of police (e.g., local, regional, national), but I paid no attention to what type had guns and what type did not, nor whether they were all local or whatever.


As for the rest, of course, I am not deluded into imagining that Canada is an idyllic paradise of perfect bliss for everyone.  But if you look at the numbers of people killed by police there versus here, or the numbers of people killed by others there versus here, I think you will find Canada is in fact safer than the U.S., regardless of whether one feels safer or not.  A quick look verifies that Canada has less crime than the U.S.:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_C...omparisons

Also, I notice that looking near the top of the page, I was in a part of Canada that is safer than even the national average for Canada.  So I think my feelings were spot on, whether they were properly justified or not.