Looking at the latest Order of Ontario winners
24 Outa 25 Isn’t Bad! (if you ignore that Mike Harris is # 25) By Stephen Weir In any other year, the release of the names of people receiving the Order of Ontario is greeted with loud cheers and applause. This year, the January 1st announcement brought out the Boo Birds and Nay Sayers because of one name on the list – former Ontario premier Mike Harris. “Go to Hell, Mike Harris and take the now devalued (Order of Ontario) award from your friends with you!” screamed the lead editorial in a recent edition of the Caribbean Camera newspaper. A group representing seven Ontario First Nations feels the same. They told the CBC that giving Harris the Order of Ontario is an “insult”, a “slap in the face “and a “step back in reconciliation.” Why the backlash? It all depends who you listen to. For the Caribbean community it is all about the cutbacks to social support that the Harris Government made when he was at the helm (1995–2002). Meanwhile Indigenous chiefs are critical of 75-year-old Mike ...