EDITORIAL: Next time let's treat evacuees with respect, not suspicion

This city’s reputation now sports a black eye.

On Friday, June 13, the dust from the previous night’s election had barely settled when a hotel manager took a group of a local reporters on a tour. That tour itself is innocent, but the reason it was organized certainly is not.

A rumour about the Kashechewan residents, temporarily living at the hotel after flood waters forced them to evacuate their community, rapidly spread. The rumour begins with a friend of a friend who allegedly works at the hotel detailing extensive damages caused by the evacuees.

Trashed hotel rooms, smashed TV sets, broken windows and a destroyed lobby amounts to a price tag beyond $130,000.

Many who believed the tale were passionate and angry about it. The thought of an Aboriginal community staying in the city and destroying private property raised hackles.

Those residents, most of whom took to Facebook to vent frustrations, opposed the idea they were letting race fuel the rage. But the passion in their arguments, along with the use of the term ‘they’ to mean every Aboriginal person in Northern Ontario, betrays them.

Believing rumours of trashed hotels leading to bills beyond $130,000 without any evidence makes you gullible. Taking to the Internet to spread the rumour and adding the accusations that ‘they’ are uncivilized and ungrateful goes beyond innocent ignorance. 

The next time we host people forced from their homes because of disaster, perhaps we can treat them with respect and not suspicion.