A couple of online petitions have been created to deny the Order of Ontario to former Premier Mike Harris.
He was one of 47 people nominated on New Year’s Day to receive Ontario’s highest honour for individual excellence and achievement, but that hasn’t sit well with some Ontarians.
The one petition, created by Laura Feeney from Courtice, states “The same Mike Harris who cut social services, defended hospitals, cut education, sold off the 407 and last but not least allowed privatization of Ontario Long Term Care homes to the point of 3rd world conditions and has seen COVID 19 decimate our vulnerable senior population. Dudley George, an indigenous citizen, was killed by the OPP and Mike Harris was seen as partly responsible for his death. The water situation in Walkerton, which saw 7 people die and hundreds with health issues, will be forever engraved in our minds. That being said, Mike Harris is NOT WORTHY of the Order of Ontario.”
Another petition, created by Mike Rilstone from Hamilton, has almost 35-thousand signatures. It says, “He should be especially remembered for Ipperwash Crisis where Harris’ OPP slaughtered an innocent and unarmed Stoney Point Ojibway Band Member Dudley George, (after newly elected Ontario premier Mike Harris was alleged to have said to the OPP “I want the fucking Indians out of the park”, according to a former attorney general. (Google “Ipperwash Crisis”). the Walkerton water killing scandal, (in which seven people died and hundreds were made ill from drinking contaminated water in Walkerton, Ontario in 2000 and according to the local medical officer of health, it all could have been prevented), the College of Teachers fiasco which still takes money from teachers and delivers almost nothing, and privatization of Highway 407 built by and sold away from Ontario citizens. Help stop Harris from receiving this award!”
A group representing seven Ontario First Nations is also outraged by Harris’ nomination, calling it an “insult,” a “slap in the face” and a “step back in reconciliation.”
For more details on the petitions, please click here, and here.