Writer, poet. In love with the beauty of people. Assistant editor at Canadian Mennonite. A Grandmother Named Love (Inanna 2019). https://xitter.cf/t.co/vfnKMUGyLJ
Ontario, Canada
Joined June 2018
- Tweets545
- Following299
- Followers153
- Likes2.4K
A. S. Compton retweeted
The Wilmot land grab is not how democracy works. Kicking farmers off their land is un-Canadian... it is not the Waterloo way. It is downright disrespectful to farmers #FightForFarmland #onpoli
A. S. Compton retweeted
Wilmot farmers are weighing up whether they want to continue investing in their businesses. Why would they when they know they could lose their land if the Region or province decide to just take it if they want it? This is destabilizing the farming community in Wilmot. #ONpoli
ON farmers deserve respect. Ford & Co. are funding the ROW land assembly of 770 acres of Class 1 Farmland in Wilmot Township for industrial use. This farmland will be lost w/o ANY public consultation. Wilmot farmers are NOT willing hosts. #FightForFarmland #NoFarmsNoFood #onpoli
A. S. Compton retweeted
.@CFifeKW: "What's happening in @WilmotTownship right now is essentially 'ground zero' for every farm across ON. This is not a Wilmot issue. This is the integrity of farming for province of ON."
#ONpoli #DougFord @fordnation @mikeharrisjrpc @RegionWaterloo @Redman4Region #farmers
A. S. Compton retweeted
The Wilmot farmland grab has been shrouded in secrecy from the beginning. The Ford government forced the Region to sign NDAs and are funding the purchase/expropriation that threatens to force farmers from their land. #ONpoli #FightForFarmland – at Waterloo, Ontario
A. S. Compton retweeted
The next chapter of Greenbelt Scandal happening in Wilmot. Greenbelt 2.0. If it can happen to us, it can happen to any farming community. The govt has enabling legislation that fast-tracks expropriation of farmland, like the 770 acres of prime agricultural land in Wilmot. #onpoli
A. S. Compton retweeted
“a developer approached the farmers offering to pay $58,000-an-acre because he heard the land would be rezoned to industrial, this is exactly why the RCMP is investigating Doug Ford right now,”
Call it Greenbelt 2.0 or Farmgate...the community deserves answers. #onpoli
The Region of Waterloo and Wilmot Township have a lot of explaining to do.
#RegionofWaterloo #WilmotTownship #governmentsecrets #NDA #farmlandloss #landassembly #expropriation
therecord.com/news/waterloo-…
Mennonites have told a lot of stories about our #WW2 #ContentiousObjectors. I wrote a piece for Canadian Mennonite about a #Mennonite who enlisted.
canadianmennonite.org/storie…
I had the honour of interviewing Di Brandt, a brilliant Canadian poet. Read about it in Canadian Mennonite.
canadianmennonite.org/storie…
#Mennonites are strong advocates of socialized #healthcare and services. My grandfather often told us how proud he was at age 18 to be earning enough income to pay taxes; it was his civic duty to contribute to society.
#Mennonites lived (some still do) in tight-knit, self-sufficient communities, mostly of farmers and tradesfolk. #OldOrder communities speak #PennsylvaniaDutch (low German), some Modern speak it with our grandparents, while others chose to not teach their children generations ago.
I come back to these two poems over and over. Yilin Wang and Ross Gay.
ex-puritan.ca/sichuan-diaspo…
poets.org/poem/small-needful…
#ModernMennonites still prioritize pacifism and #SocialJustice. They were active in the '70s #environmental movements and continue to innovate and promote low-consumerism lifestyles (ever wonder where the #BlueBox #recycling program started? A Menno community).
Similarly, in #WW1, #Mennonites refused #conscription, but without the government's blessing. Some were jailed as #traitors, tarred and feathered, or bribed conscription officers to bypass their names.
#Mennonite communities cared deeply for their COs (never 'proud', pride is a sin) as a substantiation of their commitment to pacifism. Communities were persecuted for their refusal of military service.
#ConsciousObjectors were called COs by their home communities, but elsewhere they were known derogatorily as yellow-bellies, yellow boys, conchies, and cowards, for their avoidance of #conscription.
#WW2 #Mennonites
#ConscientiousObjectors were required to serve the country in non-militaristic ways: mining, building railways, forestry, for approx. 4 months. Hard labour, far from home communities.
Many people hated them for their exemption, refusing to open shops and towns for the CO camps.
#Conscription in Canada was enacted in 1941. Leaders from #historicPeaceChurches (Mennos, Tunker, Brethren-in-Christ, Quaker) were informed their people would be exempt on religious grounds. Boys who refused conscription were called #ConscientiousObjectors.
When #WW2 was declared, several groups of Canadian #Mennonite delegates travelled to Ottawa to negotiate a promise of exception of service, should conscription be enacted.
