Holy Cow!I can't believe the feedback I've received from my previous blog entitled: Moosonee - A Trip Into The Past (refer to the comments on the third blog below). It would seem that I pissed off more than one resident of Moosonee. I direct most of this blog to Anonymous #4 (and #5). {as a side note - please use a tag instead of the most boring anonymous}
First off - you are right. Moosonee has a lot of qualities that a resident may desire - such as the short walk across town, the lack of pollution (if you don't count bugs as pollution), the fishing, the isolation from the hustle and bustle of a large town and the fact that everyone knows everyone else. A small town feel. I can appreciate those qualities.
However, to defend my rant about Moosonee as best I can - my comments originated from the perspective of a tourist - not a resident. As I mentioned in my earlier blog - the Polar Bear Express is recognized and marketed throughout the world. In the hotel guest logs I looked through, people from all over the world come to visit Moosonee. To be honest, most of the comments prior to 2006 were positive - people enjoyed the experience. Since 2006 however, the comments were mostly negative due to the lack of facilities for tourists. As I mentioned in my blog - most of the tourist sites were closed during our visit. In addition, the lack of tourist consideration of the train itself (with respect to timing) made my visit less than pleasurable.OK - so whom do I blame. Honestly I believe the people who live in Moosonee have to accept most of the responsibility for the lack of tourist amenities. It is up to the local residents to decide - do you want tourists or not. If you don't I'm ok with that - just stop marketing the town and the Polar Bear Express. If you are proud of your town and want it to be a showcase then get off your ass and do something about the pathetic state of your tourist trade. You decide - either way is fine with me - just stop deluding tourists who spend a lot of money and time to come visit your community.
As for your last comment about the 'seeds that were sown', knowing my father I have no trouble believing that I have a half sister or brother residing in Moosonee. Since my father passed away a few years ago I have no way of confirming the state of my relatives so I just ask one question - do you have red hair?
6 comments:
Just a note - residents of Moosonee (such as myself) are not the ones who are in charge - or have ANY control - of the marketing that ONR does for the Polar Bear Express. And maybe we don't cater to tourists...and that's fine with me. We really don't need closed minded people such as yourself coming up here to bash our community - or even to live, since it's hard to get rid of narrow-minded beliefs that you've obviously allowed to grow in your life. Maybe next time try to talk to some local people, instead of just all the other tourist who have no vested interest in our community.
Hi! I am Anonymous # 4 & 5!
When you mentioned red hair, I crinched. I hope that I am not related to such a narrow minded person.
Your opinion should be directed to the ONR. I am not happy with the train schedule as it is myself as it caters to TOURISTS. Last summer, I took a trip south. The train was late and arrived in Moosonee at 6 pm. We did not leave Moosonee until 8pm (6 pm scheduled departure time) because the ONR had a "duty" to TOURISTS to have time to do their sightseeing. We arrived in Cochrane at 3 am on that trip.
I will stop here because I don't have to justify to you what you feel our community lacks.
If you decide in the future to visit, take the time to get to know the people and the area; you might have a different opinion.
I hope that you will return so that you can offer your apology in person. If not, then I wish you the best.
I spent a few minutes perusing your blog and I have one brief comment to make. I am sickened and saddened to know that someone with your world-view is a teacher. God help us all. In actuality, it's an indictment of our entire educational system that people like you are allowed to directly influence our children.
Moosonee is HOME to alot fo FIRST NATIONS people, SUCCESSFUL FIRST NATIONS people. We read, we write, we walk up right and live in nice HOUSES, houses we actually OWN. We pay land taxes, we're law abiding citizens(some have never seen the inside of a jail cell) we hold down jobs GOOD jobs and we can drive vehicles too...vehicles we OWN outright. Reading your story just re-enforces my ORIGINAL thinking....of you...you sound like a complete idiot..an idiot that lacks a filter from your small brain...to your great BIG mouth.
Oh! and to further verify some of what you mentioned about the railway tracks....that'd probably never happen, they've made ALOT of money off FIRST NATIONS people since they drove the last spike into the ground in the 1930s...and NOT paid one dime for laying their stinking track across OUR Traditional Territory....our people survived many ,many yrs. before any of you came along, and we'll be here for generations to come....and what the heck would YOU know about "A Brave New World"??(the blog pg. title)you utter insults from far away, make racist degrading remarks....and you are suppose to be an educated man? Well! I'm educated too, I lived in your world, went to obtain a post secondary education, had NO choice but to move south, thats where the schools are...I lived there and have opinions about it, but I choose to keep those to myself...I travelled alot in my yrs. on this earth and theres actually NO place like HOME...theres NO place like MOOSONEE....MoosoneeFOREVER*-)
You have insulted our People, what did you expect? You should think before you speak.
*MY PEOPLE (Moosonee-ites)
(correction)
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