Understanding Attawapiskat

by Mike Coates
FBP

Growing up in Vancouver, I can remember my parents telling me not to believe everything you read in a newspaper. No doubt others of my Baby Boomer generation were also told the same thing by their parents.

Today with so few people reading newspapers the silent majority





are relegated to getting their news delivered in bits and bites via TV network talking heads. Sadly these TV snippets of information focus heavily on "if it bleeds it leads" sensationalism often at the expense of reporting the entire story.

Take for example the recent events at the Attawapiskat First Nations Reserve in Northern Ontario. The News Networks went out of their way to show us men, women and children living in squalid conditions, in sub zero temperatures. And it showed us the Canadian Red Cross coming to the rescue handing out sleeping bags, clothing and food to these poor suffering people. Everything was done by the networks to push the public emotional hot buttons. It worked exactly as planned.
How could this be happening in Canada many of us no doubt asked ourselves? 

Unfortunately the public, through a lack of factual reporting, were left to believe that it was the fault of the Federal Government and ultimately the Canadian tax payers for not providing the money necessary to provide the Attawapiskat First Nations people with the basic necessities of life. 

Upon further investigation, the following story as reported by journalist Ezra Levant tells an entirely different story of what is happening in his video commentary "Understanding Attawapiskat."  

My parents were right when they told me not to believe everything I read in the newspapers and had there been sensational TV reporting in their time they would have added it to the list as well.