The following verse was written by Sherry Hunt, a PSAC member of Agriculture Local 30048 in Lethbridge. After reading about the latest cuts to government––with another huge hit to Agriculture in the Prairies––Hunt looked back at the past two years of a Harper majority and how our country has changed.
"It made me think of the well-known quote from Martin Niemöller––although he was speaking of an even more radical threat at the time, under the rule of Hitler," explains Hunt. "I considered what we're facing in Canada, and how we're losing the country we know and love. This verse is certainly no reflection on the original, just the musings of a concerned mother and activist. It's a reminder that we as Canadians need to find our voice and speak up before it's too late."
First they came for the national child care program, but my children were grown, so I said nothing.
Then they came for the status of women funding, but I am not a feminist, so I said nothing.
Then they refused to acknowledge 500+ missing Aboriginal women, but my family is safe, so I did nothing.
Then they came for the statisticians, but I don't understand math, so I said nothing.
Then they came for the Canadian Wheat Board, but I am not a grain farmer, so I did nothing.
Then they came for the climate scientists, but I like warm days, so I said nothing.
Then they prorogued our pensions, but I am too young to care and retirement is far off, so I did nothing.
Then they abused the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, but I am a citizen and have a job, so I said nothing.
Then they betrayed the treaties, but it's complicated, so I did nothing.
Then they came for my coworkers, and I was so happy it wasn't me, I said nothing.
Then they came for me.
*The timeline above may not be in chronological order and is not a comprehensive listing of all of the programs and services that have been cut or communities that have been affected by Stephen Harper and his Conservative government.
We encouraged members to add their own verses to help us paint a more complete picture. Here are some of the suggestions we received:
Then they came for Katimavik, but I am over 21, so I said nothing.
Then they came for the Pastures, but I live in a city, so I said nothing.
Then they came for the waterways, but I neither fish nor swim, so I said nothing.
And then they decided to take away editorial independence of our country's media, but I don't work for CBC, so I said nothing.
And then they muzzled our scientists, interfering in our country's ability to use sound data to make policy decisions, but I'm not a scientist, so I said nothing.
Then they restructured (attacked) EI, but I have a job, so I said nothing.
Martin Niemöller (1892-1984)
Niemöller was a prominent Protestant pastor who emerged as an outspoken public foe of Adolf Hitler and spent the last seven years of Nazi rule in concentration camps. Niemöller is perhaps best remembered for the quotation below:
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak for me.
*Courtesy of United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.