A Poem — “Zero Tolerance”

 

Welcome to the Government of Canada’s

Barbaric Cultural Practices Hotline.

 

If you wish to report on mass killing of seal pups,

press 1.

 

Waterway pollution in the Athabasca oil sands,

press 2.

 

Clearcutting of boreal forests,

press 3.

 

Forcing of First Nations’ children into residential schools,

press 4.

 

Refusal to accept Jewish refugees,

press 5.

 

Refusal to accept Syrian refugees,

press 6.

 

To report a crime in progress, such as

honour-based killing or

female genital mutilation,

please hang up and dial 911.

 

(Editor’s note: Poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday)

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