Canuck government establishing 300,000 People's Army!!!

 We're geographically located between two aggressive imperialist powers, the U.S and Russia. In 1969, while living as a resident alien in the U.S., I organized against their war on Vietnam. I refused three draft notices in a week, and wished I could have found a way to fight for the Viet Cong in their war of national liberation. When I returned to Canada in 1972 I joined a ragtag group of mainly uni student in The Canadian Liberation Movement - CLM. We were half a century ahead of our time ;  )-

Canada Mobilizes a People's Army

DEC 12

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The government has finally laid its cards on the table. The threat against our nation is real. That is why the Department of National Defence (DND) announced its plans to establish a 300,000-person citizens’ army.

This would be one of the largest civilian reserve mobilization efforts in recent Canadian history.

Details are vague, but the plan seems open to people not of traditional military age and those who might not normally meet the rigorous basic training standards of the regular army.

The government politely explained that this citizens’ army would be used to help fight forest fires and other emergencies. And yes, that work will matter but in reality, the government is sending a message to Donald Trump.

This will be a volunteer army trained in weapons and the use of drones. Canadians have watched the horrific war in Ukraine and understand the danger of hoping for the best in dealing with an aggressive neighbour. The release of the Trump doctrine lays out how serious MAGA is in taking down global democracies and reducing Canada to a vassal state.

Since I first reported on the citizens’ army on the Meidas Canada Network, we have been inundated with positive responses from across the country. I’m not surprised. I have sensed a widespread determination to protect our nation from the day I launched The Resistance on Substack.

The government is now moving from tiptoeing around the thug to making long-term preparations. DND has announced an ambitious plan to raise military readiness with 185,000 soldiers and 100,000 reservists. But the move to establish a 300,000-strong civilian defence force shows us just how seriously the government is taking the threat to our sovereignty.

I have been thinking a great deal about how a proactive civilian defence plan would work. Here’s what I would recommend:

1. Choose an inspiring name rooted in Canadian pride and patriotism- perhaps the Maple Leaf Battalion.

2. Build from the bottom up. Decentralized local networks of resistance will foster esprit de corps and can respond quickly in the event of a local emergency.

3. Equip members properly with a uniform and access to a weapon so they can carry out their responsibilities confidently and safely.

4. Draw on the expertise already in our communities: involve health care and front-line workers, community planners, retired military and police.

5. Invite the Canadian Rangers to play a role in establishing local training programs and consider a Junior Rangers-style program for our young people.

6. Prioritize training in first aid, communications and logistics that can be used at the local level in case of emergency.

7. Bring in Ukrainian trainers to help with drone skills and civilian-defence expertise.

8. Give the battalions a strong social media presence to highlight local service and build national unity.

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I have spent my whole life working for peace and the de-escalation of conflict. But I fully back Prime Minister Carney on this issue because the threat is unmistakable.

This is an unprecedented moment in our nation’s history. A people’s army is a nonviolent demonstration of resolve. By building networks of grassroots resistance, Canadians are showing our determination to defy the MAGA pressure.

But should an increasingly erratic or desperate Donald Trump choose to cross the line, we need to be ready.

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Canadian Liberation Movement: opposing American imperialism 50 years ago

Fifty years ago, 1975, I went to jail for opposing American imperialism. My crime was wearing a bright yellow teeshirt emblazoned with the slogan YANKEE GO HOME! Yep, we were far ahead of our time in the small Marxist-Leninist Canadian Liberation Movement (CLM).

We were a gaggle of university age twenty-somethings, with a handful of genuine working class members. We had a number of front groups to recruit members. The 85% Quota Campaign’s goal was to limit the influence of American profs in Canuck universities while encouraging the teaching of Canadian culture. 

We had our own newspaper, New Canada. I was its circulation manager, which mostly meant standing on campus corners flogging copies and sending small bundles to CLM clubs scattered across Canada.

Another of our front groups was The National Committee for Independent Canadian Unions, the NCICU. Our goal was to form independent Canadian unions as breakaways from American controlled unions like the Steelworkers. Over the decades this goal has been achieved in some measure.

Our mottoes were Independence and Socialism. I doubt most surviving members are still Marxists, but our youthful adventurism in pushing for Canadian freedom from American control has finally reached desperate relevance with the Canadian public. We were just half a century early ;  )-   

Here’s my poem about the twenty-four hours jail time in 1975.

  

DOMINION DAY IN JAIL

(Celebration 1975)


I spent last Dominion Day in jail
in a cold cell
on a steel bench -
cold, sleepless, angry and proud
tho almost wanting to feel foolish.

Fed a cheeseburger and a coffee in 24 hours
fingerprinted
stripped of my shirt
frogmarched - mugshot
insulted.

All this for the patriotic crime
of daring to say YANKEE GO HOME!
to the Yankee Shriners
parading thru downtown Toronto.
They thought it was the 4th of July
(Canada Division).

Cold, sleepless, hungry, angry
              PROUD
that I was cold, sleepless, hungry, angry
and not enjoying the July sun
lounging on the green grass in Queen's Park
or lining the parade route for the Shriners.
This growing pride made my solitary jail cell
a celebration of Dominion Day.

Chris Faiers

This is wonderful Chris and it's very meaningful especially now-- I think that the few paragraphs you wrote about CLM are sort of  the best ad for what or who we were--thanks for writing and the poem's great

Judy Haiven, PhD 

Writer/activist

Halifax NS

Canada

If you’d like to know more about me, my politics and activism, perhaps, you can listen to this podcast Pretty Heady Stuff. Scott Stoneman, a researcher and writer, interviewed me and boiled the interview down to 50 min. You can decide how much you actually want to listen to!

 

Yankee Stay Home! - "Continentalism is Treason"

 A poem for The Donald: two of our slogans in the 1970s Canadian Liberation Movement were Yankee Go Home and Continentalism is Treason.  Maybe it's time for the CLM to regroup.

Dominion Day in Jail/Yankee Go Home campaign/hate laws

DOMINION DAY IN JAIL

(Celebration 1975)


I spent last Dominion Day in jail
in a cold cell
on a steel bench -
cold, sleepless, angry and proud
tho almost wanting to feel foolish.

Fed a cheeseburger and a coffee in 24 hours
fingerprinted
stripped of my shirt
frogmarched - mugshot
insulted.

All this for the patriotic crime
of daring to say YANKEE GO HOME!
to the Yankee Shriners
parading thru downtown Toronto.
They thought it was the 4th of July
(Canada Division).

Cold, sleepless, hungry, angry
              PROUD
that I was cold, sleepless, hungry, angry
and not enjoying the July sun
lounging on the green grass in Queen's Park
or lining the parade route for the Shriners.
This growing pride made my solitary jail cell
a celebration of Dominion Day.

Chris Faiers

some publication history and notes:

This poem tells the true story of my arrest in 1975 for the heinous crime of wearing a bright yellow teeshirt emblazoned with YANKEE GO HOME as part of a protest against the Americanization of Canada. Our pro-nationalist group, The Canadian Liberation Movement, had recently adopted this slogan.

I was charged under the new Ontario "hate crime" laws, an example of the police misinterpreting a new law to suit a political agenda. Several other CLM members were also arrested as part of this somewhat misguided campaign - the Canadian people were definitely not of a mind to rise up and bear witness against the ongoing assimilation of our country into the United States.

We fought the charges all the way to the Supreme Court of Ontario, a process which took well over a year. I was acquitted by the Supreme Court, and the judge admonished a testifying officer for his lack of credibility.

In 1978 I started the literary press, Unfinished Monument Press, with intentions to publish more radical poetry than was generally published in Canada at the time (with some notable exceptions, including Milton Acorn and bill bissett).

The first collection I produced was my chapbook, Dominion Day in Jail. The poem was subsequently included in further collections of my poetry as well as in the Steel Rail Publishing poetry anthology Poems for Sale in the Street, edited by Tom Clement and Ted Plantos, 1979. The idea and title for the anthology were mine, suggested to Tom, who was boarding in the house I rented at 2128 Gerrard Street East in Toronto. A new generation of poets made appearances in this collection, including Jim Brown, Rosalind Eve Conway, Mary di Michele, Len Gasparini, Greg Gatenby, Gordon Gilhuly, Gwen Hauser, Jane Jordan, Julie McNeill, Robert Priest, Alfred Rushton, Sara Spracklin, and Kris Sri Bhaggihadatta. Steel Rail Publishing was founded by former members of the CLM house press after the CLM splintered and dissolved over issues of sectarianism and social fascism shortly after the ill-fated Yankee Go Home campaign.

Killaloe target practice 1975/winter bear meat/'our generation' not confrontational/

Hi Again, Kent
A bedraggled Chase & I are back from our afternoon hiking in this new snowfall. That's good that you've made arrangements with Kathy to retrieve your forgotten bags.

Re Killaloe Station, I spent some time up there in my CLM days. Several comrades lived in the area - the murdered Jon Penner (have you read my poem about him? - I'll copy it after this email) - and the husband & wife couple of Jim and Lynne Brown - she's the daughter of famous WW2 artist Leonard Hutchinson, & she's a talented artist as well.

I stayed with the Browns on their rented farm near Killaloe several times as 'the New Canada (newspaper) rep' for CLM. Locals used to drive by & shoot at their farmhouse from their pick-ups. One memorable visit, as I was settling in for the night to sleep in their livingroom, Jim handed me an antique .303 rifle with the instructions to, "Return fire if any of the rednecks start shooting at us from their trucks!"

It was either later on that visit, or on a similar one, when we visited Jon Penner for a CLM meeting at Penner's shack-like farmhouse. Suddenly Penner grabbed a rifle & fled out the door, shouting BEAR! MEAT FOR THE WINTER! Jim Brown thrust a bayonet in my hands, & rushed after the meat seeking Penner, who had already fired wildly into the thick woods. While they reloaded, I surged ahead into the cold dark brush after a potentially wounded bear, until common sense overcame the adrenalin rush & I realized what dangerous craziness I was heading into!  




Re War Objectors and how our generation of young Amerikans responded to authority & the Vietnam War, Jim Christy & I told parallel reminiscences at  dinner at their farmhouse Saturday night. My story was about attending a rock concert at Gulfstream Racetrack in Florida circa 1966-67 - Jimi Hendrix was the feature, but he refused to play in the pending electrical storm. But Chuck Berry stepped up & amazed & amused the wannabe hip young crowd with his by now old-fasioned riffs and duck walking antics. Suddenly a ripple of activity spread thru the crowd. A young guy had sneaked in without a ticket, & security guys were chasing him around the stadium.

My immediate response was to help him, & I rushed to where he was now being held captive by police & security guards. There were about 10 or so cops, & I was sure that many others in the crowd were thinking like I was, that we had tens of thousands of 'liberators' in the crowd. In my naivety I rushed forward, yelling for the cops to release the guy. Then I looked behind for the rest of the liberators - and OOPS ...no one else was fucking there! So much for solidarity & any sense of politikal smarts among this generation. Christy's story was very parallel, with the Hell's Angels being the bad guys this time. But again, Christy had the same experience and as he put, a sudden moment of enlightened clarity that this hippie/flower children generation wasn't into confrontation, no matter how superior our odds were.  

..........................................................................................................

Morley just stopped in to visit on his way home from groc shopping - now it's time to think about dinner & unwind further.

... maybe finish these thoughts about war objectors & the painfully slow evolution of our species on this hillbilly planet another time ...

peace & poetry power!
Chris ... and Chase wrffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff!

 
On 2013-01-28, at 12:13 PM, Kent Bowman wrote:

Hey Chris - Thanks for the offer. However, I would like to have my bags earlier, so as Kathy is coming to TO. within the next couple of weeks, I think I will make arrangements to visit her after all to pick up the bags and to say hello. I am very fond of both Rui and Kathy and believe that they are sympaticos with the rest of us. By the By, a play is being put on next summer in Killaloe on the hippie move to that area in the 1960s and Chris, a local businessman (i.e., Bonnechere Caves), will be playing the part of a war objector. It will also celebrate Barnie McCaffery, a fellow
W.O. who started the Wilno Express and successfully integrated into the Wilno community, documenting local history in song and story (Not an easy task if you are familiar with that area). Chris and his wife, Val, are lovely people who are great supporters of the Arts in their area. Chris tells me that he will be operating a local radio program and was pleased to receive my poetry book with the many Madawaska Valley Poems as well
as the double CD of folk music and, of course, New Orleans Will Rise Again. I am certain he would be interested in your new book and Morley's CD too. If you are interested, I will be happy to forward his contact information and inform him of any contacts you want to make. I will keep you
advised on this project and also mention that he told me that he is considering poetry readings in the caves (he now has musicians performing
there). All the best Chris and I hope to see you at the end of next month. I have just reviewed the pics. of our travels and cleaned them up and
there are some lovely shots of your amazing world. I am certain that we will want to do another winter visit in the future. Cheers, Kent

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

IN MEMORY OF JON PENNER

Strange death even the half-tamed winds

off Lake Ontario moan through Toronto ...

Leaves in High Park are telling stories

how trapped hours in your rusting car

the police took you to jail

instead of hospital.



They say you hanged yourself in the night!

You who were a semi-pro fighter

not fighting for glory

but for the peace of a needle in your arm.

This fighter hanged himself?

Cat burglar who clung to life on frozen sills!

You defeated the needle

and forsook the city's catspaw money

to live miles down a deserted road -

alone - in a house so haunted the moon

glowed through cracks at midday.



Strange they feared your politics

of democracy while you lived alone

writing novels and making magic

with your silver chloride half-tones.



The wind you now haunt

tells strong tales ...

the leaves are redder this fall.

Your murderers twist and turn

and don't know why

the full moon on the Ottawa Valley

glows brighter than the sun.

article on Milton Acorn in Toronto Star (thanks, Joe!)

Fiorito: Milton Acorn’s poems find fresh audiences with new book

Published on Friday January 04, 2013

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Toronto Star file photo Milton Acorn was a Canadian poet, writer, and playwright. The often controversial figure won the Canadian Poets Award in 1970. A poetry award in his honour was established in 1987, a year after his death.

By Joe Fiorito City Columnist

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There is a new Milton on the shelves; it was launched recently at the Imperial, a modest bar tucked away in the corner at Dundas and Yonge.

But when I say Milton, I do not mean the one going on about his blindness. I mean Milton with the cigar and the growl, the chronic nosebleeds and the red worker politics; your Island poet, your people’s poet.

Acorn, Milton.
The tough nut.

As for the Imperial, it is where the downtown guys bring their deep thirst late at night, and where Ryerson kids mourn or toast their future.

Now and then, you get poets.

The evening was lovely and chaotic. There was singing. There were skits, one of which involved an eyeball flung across the room.

There was a reading by the actor David Fox, who looks as unlike Milton as anyone can be, but he played Acorn on stage long ago, and he drew on that when he read.
Oh, how he read.
I mean that half the pub held students drinking deeply, and thinking less deeply, and they were also — Milton would have approved — looking for a little tenderness with the help of beer. They were rowdy. They didn’t care.
Fox made them care.
That’s art.

I had one or two coffee-house poetry flashbacks. I saw an old guy sleeping on a bench during the folk songs; a long time ago he would have been stoned. I think this guy was just old, cold and tired.

And then four bicycle cops marched in, one after another; bright yellow jackets, guns on their hips. They snaked through the room in single file, a kind of bike cop conga line. Who knows what they were looking for?
Maybe Milton.

I should say I met him once. He was a stalwart in the Canadian Liberation Movement when I was a new recruit. This was years ago, in Thunder Bay, and he was passing through.
 
The political philosophy of the CLM was so rigid it hurt. Our tactics included a naïve Canadian nationalism, to which I still cling.

I recall the sticker we used to slap on cars with American plates: “Yankee Go Home. We Don’t Like You The Way You Are.” This was the time of the Vietnam War. I slapped a few stickers on cars myself.
I blush to confess it now.

Anyway, Milton came to my place with some other cadres. He fell instantly for the girl I was seeing, and he saw my chessboard and he thought he would show off, and show me up at the same time.
I thrashed him.
Then I offered him some of my poems. He read them wordlessly, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and growling all the while.
I was, in those days, writing sharp little imagist poems. He said nothing, and then he growled that the poems sounded like Black Mountain stuff — American, a CLM sin — and therefore no good.
I now see my mistake.
I should have shown him the poems first, and then beat him at chess. Not that it mattered. He didn’t stand a chance with my girl.

The book is called In A Springtime Instant. It is published by Mosaic Press, and it was edited by James Deahl, himself a poet to contend with.

Say what you will about Acorn — and you can always say he needed a bath — he was Whitmanesque. I bet that would have bugged him. Old Walt was American.
No matter.

Old Milt should be read.
 
Joe Fiorito appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Email: jfiorito@thestar.ca.