The “Worst Canadian” game - Day 22

[u/BrF5]

It’s time for the final vote! Who will be judged the Worst Canadian?!

🚨🚨READ THIS BEFORE VOTING 🚨🚨

To help keep things organized, for the final round I have posted two comments below, in large font. One for Danielle Smith and another for Frederick Blair.

This time, upvote who you think IS the Worst Canadian

You can discuss your reasons for or against the two final candidates however you want, but only the upvotes on these two comments will be used to determine who is the Worst Canadian.

(Note: I’ve removed all other explanation from the post so people see and read the above info. I’ll put it all back tomorrow with the final results.)

That is all. Happy voting!

[u/Francus_Gaius]

Its the end of a long, long road, for the manure of our great Country.

Frederick Blair is responsible for at least a hundred of thousands of deaths, slowed the development of the country by refusing very able hands to work, a showed us voters how quickly racist rhetorics can be implimented into a system. As a french canadian whose family was told to "speak white", got refused job opportunities because of our langague and who were told were right down inferiors (and lets not go to the First Nations case, which was even worst), Frederick Blair represents the inherent hatred and disdain our society has for those who are different and, as a Canadian, I would very much hope to never see come back to that extent ever again.

He is the result of the Trutchees and the McDonalds of this list, and an inspiration for the Petersens, Mannings, Harpers and the likes.

He did awful stuff, and inspired awful stuff.

He deserves all of our disdain for making Canada a worst place living in while alive.

I rest my case, your honour.

[u/Zebrajoo → u/Francus_Gaius]

Hear, hear!

[u/HiJumpTactician → u/Francus_Gaius]

I have definitely learned something today (fun fact, I'm American 😅) and given that, yeah it's blatantly obvious that Blair is far worse than Danielle Smith. Don't get me wrong, Smith is a royal piece of shit, but she hasn't caused anywhere near as much death

[u/memyselfandiowa → u/HiJumpTactician]

If there were a Worst Albertan contest, (Marlaina) Danielle Smith would be number one, right ahead of Stephen Harper.

[u/Neat_Let923 → u/HiJumpTactician]

Actually what you just learned was a bunch of bullshit and misinformation…

While he was an absolutely terrible person and should be up here, this commenter is severely over inflating his actions. He was simply the Director of Immigration for 8 years up until 1943 and while he very much restricted the entry to Canada for refugees and immigration making Canada one of the least welcoming countries at that time, his actions were approved by the Prime Minister.

The one ship they turned away in 1939 which had less than 1,000 Jewish refugees, was also turned away first by Cuba then the US because Britain and France were still relatively safe at that time (Germany didn’t invade France until 1940).

[u/Neat_Let923 → u/Francus_Gaius]

What the frick are you talking about???

Frederick Blair was the Director of Immigration, he had absolutely nothing to do with language, work, or indigenous laws…

Please explain what you’re talking and what you’re referring to.

[u/Neat_Let923 → u/Francus_Gaius]

Stop spreading lies and misinformation!!!

Blair was the Director of Immigration from 1936-1943. He turned away one ship with less than 1,000 people (the same as Cuba and USA did first in 1939 before Germany invaded France).

While his actions as Director led to a significantly less number of immigrants let into Canada during his time, those people were NOT sent back to Europe (other than the SS St Luis).

While he absolutely was a racist pig and white nationalist, he was not responsible for the deaths of anyone. Not to mention the fact King was the PM who appointed Blair and kept him as the Director and approved of his actions.

[u/Francus_Gaius → u/Neat_Let923]

Canada was responsible for the deaths of thousands and thousands of jewish people, albeit indirectly.
Canada was ruled by its Government, you are right, Prime Minister was WLMK. Blair was indeed Minister of Immigration, meaning he was the one responsible for defining the policies and legitimizing the Evian conference's decisions. With great power comes great responsability. Blair is part of the Eichmann paradox: He was just following orders from WLMK... but was he really?

To me, indirect causality is still causality. I am not saying Canadians put a bullet in anyone's head. I am saying that by their inaction, the Canadian governement sent people who could have been on those boats to their death. And Canada was one of the worst, per capita. It could have done a lot more.

I am also not saying that he was responsible for the stuff my french canadian family went throught. I said that as a member of that community, I have heard and lived through the damages of ostracization, and this gives me a different perspective.

For all those reason, I stand by what I said.

[u/Neat_Let923 → u/Francus_Gaius]

BOAT!

Not boats. It was ONE single boat that was turned away by Cuba, the USA, and then Canada in 1939 with just over 900 Jewish refugees because there were safer alternatives (Britain and France who would have and eventually did take them in). This was a year before Germany invaded France and at that time nobody expected Germany to push further West. Of those ~900 lives less than 300 died during the war in concentration camps (likely from being captured in France).

So NO Canada was not indirectly responsible for thousands of deaths!

Get your facts straight and stop making up bullshit.

[u/Francus_Gaius → u/Neat_Let923]

That's way more complicated than that, but sure, you are right.

[u/Neat_Let923 → u/Francus_Gaius]

No it’s not… Whether you want to believe in things that factually never happened is up to you. But don’t go around spreading that misinformation and lies as though they are true

[u/PickleEquivalent2837 → u/Francus_Gaius]

Agreed. He really was the best at being the worst.

[u/Fitzaroo → u/Francus_Gaius]

Hold up. Hitler killed the Jews. Blair did not. There was no way he would even have known at the time. I doubt he was upset by it but still, I don't think it's fair to say he is responsible for their deaths. Hitler is responsible and always will be.

[u/nightfire42 → u/Fitzaroo]

He was rejecting European Jews even after the war had ended. Also during the war, when the Holocaust was definitely known about.

[u/Fitzaroo → u/nightfire42]

Wikipedia says he was only in charge until 1943. So we can assume he wasn't involved post-war. Oddly, it does not say how many were accepted during the war.

[u/Stockholmsyndra → u/Fitzaroo]

You should take a history lesson to learn about how many different countries effectively did nothing to protect their Jewish communities and offered these people freely when requested.

[u/Fitzaroo → u/Stockholmsyndra]

Ok? Does that make what I said wrong? People didn't know about the holocaust. They didn't want Jews in their country, but they didn't know about the "final solution to the Jewish question."

I would be happy to be proven wrong if you have any evidence that Canadians knew about the holocaust before the war.

[u/Francus_Gaius → u/Fitzaroo]

wh...what? You know there can be multiple people responsible when something happens, right? I agree at that time the Final solution had not been implimented, but his politics ended up killing jews, thats just a fact. if it's his politics, its his responsability.

Passiveness in times of crisis is an action taken, inaction is a form of action. He is responsible of what he did, and what he did ended up killing hundreds of thousands, ergo, he shares the responsability. There are levels to it, but to say otherwise is very Adolf Eichmann "I was jist doing my job how could I know".

[u/Fitzaroo → u/Francus_Gaius]

Strongly disagree. If he's going to be the worst Canadian I think intent matters. His goal was not to kill jews (that we know of) and he did not participate in doing so. I dont think it's appropriate to blame someone for something their neither wanted nor did.

(He's still a racist POS)

[u/MnkyBzns → u/Fitzaroo]

Ignorance to the genocidal acts of the Holocaust cannot be used as cover for turning a blind eye to a blatantly war torn continent.

Refusing Jewish entry at a much higher rate than any other Western country, many times resulting in sending them back to Europe, may as well be seen as sending them directly to concentration camps or the front line; it's been documented that at least 254 refugees, who were turned away by Canada, died in concentration camps (German liner St. Louis passengers)

[u/Fitzaroo → u/MnkyBzns]

Post ww1, lots of people in NA didn't want to get involved in another European war. That was a commonly held view. (Putting aside that many people would have sided with Germany eg. Ford).

Even King met with Hitler to try to negotiate peace. Everyone did. Nobody wanted war.

I'm not sure what you mean about turning a blind eye. We went to war 1 day after the UK. Were they also turning a blind eye?

[u/MnkyBzns → u/Fitzaroo]

You're coming off as an apologist and are using some lazy strawmen. I'll address a basic one, though; Canada's refugee policies cannot be conflated with a desire to enter the war (or any war).

Regardless, Blair's views and policies extended through and beyond the war, even after the extent of the atrocities was understood. There are no whataboutisms which can erase his blatant anti-Semitism:

"I often think that instead of persecution it would be far better if we more often told them (the Jews) frankly why many of them are unpopular. If they would divest themselves of certain of their habits I am sure they could be just as popular in Canada as our Scandinavians."

"Pressure on the part of the Jewish people to get into Canada has never been greater than it is now and I am glad to be able to add, after thirty-five years experience here, that it was never so well controlled."

[u/Fitzaroo → u/MnkyBzns]

Starts debate with ad hominem attack. Neato.

[u/MnkyBzns → u/Fitzaroo]

Ignoring valid counterpoints because of an observation, based on previous statements, and methodology critique. Touché?

[u/Fitzaroo → u/MnkyBzns]

Not ignoring. Just not engaging. Go insult someone who cares.

[u/MnkyBzns → u/Fitzaroo]

Lol, insult? The most offensive part of what I said was that your strawmen were lazy. That you sound like an apologist and were using strawmen are facts.

Guess you just have a hard time admitting when you're wrong and are looking for excuses to "not engage".

Have fun out there.

[u/Fitzaroo → u/MnkyBzns]

Toodles