GOTTA LOVE EDMONTON #1

A montage of a chain of incidents with composite conversation a la 'The Conversation' 1974, with Gene Hackman.

"Police complaint line, can I help you?"
"Yes, I filed a complaint 2 weeks ago, file #_________."
"The stolen Honda civic and the Aboriginal thief?"
"Yes."
"Do you have more information?"
"Yes, you can close the file.
"Why"
"The thief died last night in the cold. It was -20°C. He was homeless. He banged on my door at 11:00pm. I threw him out. He was found this morning in the creek ravine. He had mental health issues and was Aboriginal."
"Well, there's one less bad guy in the world."
"Well, he stole my car, and several others, but he was damaged, not 'bad'". "The damage left his head scrambled and it was in a different world from the rest of us. He couldn't get along with people." "And so he was broke", "And homeless."

"He was all of those things because he was Aboriginal, so his mother, being in the Edmonton, had no access to traditional supports when she was pregnant and had a new baby. The White system afforded her no access to White resources so mother and child had basically no support at all. Probably she had no money, either to keep herself or to raise a child."

"And, of course, she was dealing with the effects of 157 years of abuse to her population by Canada, and so had a lot of internal damage of her own to deal with."

"So, really, the fact that he lived till thirty something is rather remarkable, and the fact that he died is more proof of the systemic racism of the system. But never mind, just make a note in the file."
'Goodby'.

#Edmonton, #Alberta, #Indian, #Thief