Clerk Defies Supreme Court, Refuses Gay Marriage Licenses

[MTL]

Thanks for the compliment towards Canada...however religious extremism is sadly on the upswing, here, as well.  :/

But I was mainly thinking of wearing it to my next family gathering.

May as well put the black sheep in a black shirt.

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;

(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??)

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.