Personal Rights

How did I stand up for other rights such as Pro Choice and human rights? I first talked the talked and then I went with the political party that stood for the things I believed in strongly.

Choosing a political party is a huge responsibility and decision. It may seem that I simply followed what my parents voted but that is not at all the case. While my dad certainly advocated for socialism he never pressured me into voting that way. He explained the different platforms and I listened. I felt that the NDP had the values that I believed in. Later when I was able to get confirmation of those platforms through written material it only confirmed what I already knew. This was the party that had my back.

Not only did it have MY back, but it had the back of others and that was important to me. I am one of those rare people who not only care about “what is good for me” but what is good for society and others as a whole group. I find that most people only look at what is good for them and until such time as they need the social safety net they really don’t care about it. I find it rather staggering considering that the majority of Canadians identify with a Christian church (whether they attend it or not) and the Golden Rule says ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you’ which seems to me to impart a social safety kind of mantra.

I also took my responsibility to the level of actually running in the 1993 Federal election and worked very hard on my campaign, writing new speeches for every appearance, travelling around the biggest riding in Canada on my own and using my personal funds (which was very little at that time actually). I put everything I had into that campaign and it was a proud moment when my parents told me after one speech that the folks behind them said “she is the best one up there, she knows what she is talking about and it’s just too bad she is running in the wrong party”. Sadly he missed the point that if all I was saying resonated with him he should be looking into that party! And yet it was great to know that my speeches had an impact. I was running as a socialist in the biggest riding with a record of being the most conservative population in the country.

If that isn’t advocating for what I believe in I don’t know what is. As my aunt would say “I had bone in my nose”.