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https://torontosun.com/news/local-news/hazel-mccallion-others-to-rally-in-support-of-don-cherry?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR3hHzF_3iuC5zifPMdkjd3c0uzguCubVveu9d3jQ0RX6OBqx3_9bdr8Up4#Echobox=1573613961

"You People" "The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him." -G.K. Chesterton Hundreds of thousands of Canadian soldiers have given their lives in the last century for "you people" to live in this great country. On November 11th we pay tribute to their sacrifice and remember the soldiers who made our freedom; including the freedom of speech, possible. It is because of them that "you people" can write whatever it is you wish on social media, it is because of them "you people" are free to express and follow whichever religion, sexuality, belief or ideal you choose to; free of persecution. On November 9th 2019 Don Cherry spoke the words: "You people... you love our way of life, you love our milk and honey, at least you can pay a couple bucks for a poppy or something like that. These guys paid for your way of life that you enjoy in Canada, these guys paid the biggest price." He is not wrong. The words "you people" don't translate to "immigrants" in my vocabulary. But it did for the tens of thousands who brought their complaints to the attention of SportsNet and multiple social media platforms. "You people" to me represents ANYONE who enjoys the freedom we are given in Canada without a second thought about the cost of that freedom. "You people" targets those with a total disregard for how we pay our respects to our servicemen. Don Cherry was not disrespecting Canadian soldiers of different ethnicities. His comment was directed to ANYONE purposefully not wearing a poppy but enjoying the freedoms our country provides. However, if you were one of the humans who got offended and saw it as "racist" or "xenophobic" all I can say is... ....if the skate fits, go ahead and lace that b*tch up and wear it. We have a Prime Minister who openly mocks minorities with countless "black face" party tricks. He has discriminated against and disgraced women in his cabinet and breaks promise after promise to our aboriginal population. But a true Canadian PATRIOT rather un-gently encourages the public to wear poppies in remembrance of veteran sacrifice and he is fired from an iconic career. I ask anyone who was offended by Don Cherry's words to walk down to your local Legion right now and ask a veteran why they did what they did. When the vet is finished explaining, I want you to explain to them why Don Cherry's words offended you personally. You won't. "You people" will have no way to justify your easily offended feelings after hearing a vets selfless response of why they risked their own life for our country and the freedom "you people" take for granted. "You people" owe every Canadian veteran your life, but because of their sacrifice your life will likely never be called for collection. The least "you people" could do is give them your respect.

I've been a member of this board for 17 years and don't ever remember it being strictly fishing, infact some of the best ever discussions around here have had nothing to do with fishing. As far as Don Cherry's opinions, he's entitled to think whatever he wants. Personally, I buy & wear a poppy the 1st day they become available and always wear it till the 11th but if I see someone not wearing one I certainly wouldn't chastise him for it because it's his choice.

It's only offensive to the easily offended. I say to them grow a backbone and get over it. By FAR most of the comments I've seen on social media totally support him, one petition had over 60K signatures. Tons of the comments are also about dropping sportsnet from their tv packages and switching their phone packages from Rogers. Rogers is likely going to take a big hit financially and it looks good on them for succumbing to all the lefty hypocrites.

I’m glad he wouldn’t apologize. His statement was exactly what it needed to be. Wouldn’t bend to the lefty’s for a second. MacLean should be ashamed of himself for not having the guts to stand by him. You’d think that after 30 years of working with a guy there would be some loyalty.

One of the local guys was out on Sunday on the closest fishable water to my house. It's less than a mile to his spot from my front door.

Time to lighten this thread up a bit!!! Here's a pic I took of my pooch with my new lens!!! ENJOY!!! 😜

You don't have to open a thread, you choose to...you can't blame others for your choices. HH

It's not just the attitude of "this board".... It is being echo'd across the country. IMO, you calling out "This Board", is just as bad as Don saying "you people". We all have are opinions, and that's a good thing.

To be fair I'm an Information Technology Analyst, it's my job to look at things on the internet!!! 😜

I am somewhat surprised reading some off the posts here thinking Grapes said nothing wrong, disappointed yes but not surprised. Our discriminatory thoughts are just a slip of the tongue from becoming words, me included. As far as him saying immigrants don't buy and wear Poppy's, how would he know, how would anyone know? That is a thing that can not be quantified. My Mom was an immigrant, from the US, she wore Poppy's. A 2nd cousin that lost his life when shot down on a sortie in a RAF bomber over Germany in 42' was never given the chance to wear a Poppy, he never made it home. My Grand Father that took shrapnel to his scull fighting for The British during WW1 never wore a Poppy, he was an immigrant from Italy that volunteered to fight then later in life was interned in Camp Petawawa as an enemy of the King in 39', Grape's can add him to his list. I am not wearing a Poppy either. I have bought 5, 1 is on the floor of the truck, 1 is where I keep my car keys, 1 went through the wash cycle and 1 is MIA. They won't stay on. I must be an immigrant.

Newfies are the most toughest immigrants bye.

Last I understood, were all immigrants. Was I offended, NO!! I hope Don runs for Prime Minister, we need someone that tells the truth. and that so called friend Mclean should be ashamed throwing his partner under the bus. Were living in a weak world now. To many people throwing the race card if they disagree. You can't say a thing to your kids anymore or they'll run to mommy and cry, try and take their cel phone off them, life ended I'll commit suicide.

Big Cliff, i have always respected and looked up to your words and opinions. Your response to this topic does certainly reinforce my thoughts, beliefs and admiration for you. You could not have said it any better! Here’s to you . 👍👍🍺🍺 Cheers!

Nothing to do with free speech.If someone comes to your house and starts using foul language----permitted by the constitution but unacceptable in your house------you are certainly entitled to kick him out. Rogers, TSN or whoever have that same right. Cherry can go down the street with his own soapbox.

Once again it's great to see the anti immigrant stance of a lot of members on this board. Threads like these make me wonder why I stick around here as you see the true colours of some people. Guess Im a glutton for punishment. Waiting for the inevitable "Don't let the door hit you on the way out" from the usual suspects.

Lol. The chicken dance. How nice. Get fired on Remembrance Day for telling people to wear a poppy. Priceless. When the next war brakes out I hope they are the front line

Going to miss him,i think saying nothing wrong,he is so falling soldier ,and pays his respects so often. He seems not worried ,all good

He was blunt that's for sure but the scary part is I can't figure out why people find what he said racist?? As an old guy I think'll just refrain from saying anything these days. He didn't try to assign reasons for the lack of poppies; he just made an observation.

He number 7 👍 on the list of the most admired Canadians and that list is quite lib/left biased as David Suzuki and Pierre Trudeau are above him.

In related news, Fabricland stock has plummeted due to their biggest customer no longer needing their wares.

Sorry....you crossed the line there....

YOU PEOPLE You and you and you and you and ME. YOU PEOPLE Warm milk and honey. Great stuff. The greatest D man you will ever see.

Agreed.

All I'm asking for is for you to tell me what he said on Sat that was racist? That's it. Once you do I'll simply point out that your interpretation of what he said probably isn't the same as everyone else's and that calling him a racist is ridiculous.

What did Cherry say that was racist?

Much better than Unemployment Boots or goat rubbers, eh>

Dose it count for a discount ? LOL HA HA HA

To be fair we are now always connected to our work through our laptops and smart phones and pretty much expected to be on call 24/7. So if thats an expectation then we should be allowed to surf the internet a while at work. I always say that you can do what ever you want as long as the work gets done.

I'm sitting at my desk at work. Felt this thread needed something other than negative comments.

If this cold keeps up could be a record early ice wine harvest.

When discussing topics like this, I always like to keep in mind that I was just "luck of the universe" not born into a war-torn country. I could've very easily been born in Afghanistan, escaped in desperation with my family, and ended up in Canada, rather than being lucky enough to be born here. Nothing more than luck that I was born to my parents and not another set of parents. Many of the people immigrating have experienced war firsthand, and live with the memories every day. I'm not going to fault someone coming from a situation I know nothing about for either not being aware of the meaning of a poppy, or choosing not to wear it because they just came from war and choose not to relive it. I was born here, I'm certainly aware of how pivotal our veterans were in Canada BEING such a great country, so I'll wear a poppy every year and make sure I donate a reasonable sum to the poppy box when I purchase one. I mean, if you want to get mad about something, get mad at people who pull into a store in a high end Range Rover and drop a quarter into the box. Personally, not something that I let bother me, but if I was going to get mad about something around poppies, that'd be what would grind my gears.

I have to agree with you here. I was probably part of some of the more contentious threads that got the "No political threads" rule implemented in the first place. Since then I have dutifully avoided commenting in the political threads while watching everyone else carry on as usual. What is the point of a "no political threads" rule if in actual practice it's a "post Politics all you want and it will be locked after everyone is divided about the subject" rule? Either allow political threads or don't, but the half measure is doing just as much damage as not having the rule at all imo. I'm going back to not posting in these threads this is just food for thought for the mods.

EXACTOMONDO MY GOOD FRIEND Is it crappie time yet ?

Regardless ofthe reason I am glad to see him go---long overdue. Sad to see and someone so senile and making so little sense ramble on. Down at the pub it might be Ok, but on national TV??

Has he made any attempt to deny that his comments were aimed at immigrants? You’d think that be the natural response of someone who felt they’d been misunderstood. I would of thought he’d have had ample time by now.

Luckily there's only an inch of snow or dragging that thing would kill a fella!!!! Should be sled safe by the weekend.

spiel.you ,,are the master.if your not cooking your creating art.

Bear Creek Cottages and Ice Fishing, they have both options, sleep on ice huts or stay in nice cottages with day huts.

Don’s intention was to say people he thinks are immigrants don’t wear poppies. How do we know this? He stood by what he said. You can’t go back and spin what he said to make it more palatable. He refused to apologize and is now gone. I’m not even going to get into why he thinks the people he sees are immigrants. The surprising thing is that after he’s said about Europeans, indigenous people, etc it was a poppy that got him fired.

My take on Ron's reaction was that he agreed with Don and did not see Don's intention as being racist, just Don using his limited education and vocabulary to get a point across. I think he knows Don better than any of us. If you look for racism, you will find it, but I think Don's intention was to bring to light the fact that too many people don't appreciate the life they have here or the sacrifices made by others to maintain that lifestyle. I also think that SportsNet was already looking for reason to let Don go... much easier to let him go, then let him still the pot. HH

It's pretty clear... "you people"... "love our milk and honey"... is going to be perceived as racist. Even if it wasn't intended to be (hard to believe that). I can respect his point about wearing poppies and acknowledgment but he crossed the line. He should just eat his pride on this one and own up to his poor choice of words. Unfortunate but he doesn't get a free pass. I feel bad for Ron though caught up in this, he was probably half listening and getting cued in his ear to cut to commercials or something and gave his standard thumbs up without really clueing in.

BIG CLIFF

I think some of the problem is lots of people dont wear poppies. But instead of saying Canadians in general aren’t wearing poppies, he singled out immigrants in Mississauga and Brampton. “You people come here and enjoy our milk and honey” come on guys, if you can’t see that’s offensive.....

Just think of all the kids that play and watch hockey and hang off every word this man has to say. Not a very good example in my mind.

Glad that he is gone. He is anti-immigrant and pro white so bye bye. Canada is all inclusive and if you cannot get behind that then get in line behind cherry and show your true colors.

What does he say that isn't racist. You go first because your list is shorter.

Freedom of speech has zero to do with people saying racist things without consequences. Long time coming. He hasn't been able to finish a sentence for almost as long as he hasn't been able to finish a thought. And that's coming from a white middle aged male born in Canada hockey fan. The only demographic he hasn't said something uninformed about.