iN DISCUSSION: The power of The Complaint

This is where cold hard facts give way to the hottest of takes, mostly mine I suppose. I’m the editor, Marshall Jones.

Want to include yours? Listen, this isn’t the comment section, this isn’t social media. Discussion and debate requires context and a wee bit of bravery — we need your name and where you’re writing from. Include it in your account or email me anytime.

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I’d like to make a complaint about our complaint departments.

Today’s feature story is about a Shuswap food truck owner who stuck to her guns against ridiculous liquor laws and more ridiculous liquor inspectors. It’s good to see someone win. 

But behind the scenes of this tiresome story is The Complaint. Someone has made a whole bunch of them about her business.

Nothing lights the back of a bureaucrat’s pants on fire like The Complaint. Bylaw officers too. Lots of officers and agents we employ would do nothing at all without complaints.

Our whole lives are based on them now. No one cares about five star reviews, no one believes them. Everyone wants to read the one star reviews. Those we can believe.

We give far too much attention and power to the Karens of the world. They know how this works. Enough complaints to the right people and soon no one can dance and listen to live music with a beer and a burger for a grassy picnic.

I think it’s fine to have complaint-based systems, it’s how we deal with complaints that’s the problem. The goal is only to confirm and enforce. It’s the checkboxes. ‘You either didn’t — or you did, and you’ll be warned/fined/shut down.’

There’s no evidence they investigate, understand, solve problems, there’s no incentive to resolve anything.

And of course there are zero consequences for those who make false complaints or frivolous or vexatious complaints. 

The result is the weight you can feel on the shoulders of Sharon Toews, the food truck owner, the kind of entrepreneur we need to celebrate a lot more instead of beating her down.

That’s my Complaint, what’s yours? Email me at mjones@infonews.ca.

Mj

Marshall Jones

Managing Editor

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Is it sensationalism? Are we dividing people when we pull at the tensions of societal changes?

That was a brief discussion in our newsroom this week, when we considered the story of a woman in transitional housing, having escaped domestic violence.

She’s sharing a home with others, presumably in similar situations, except at least one person in the women’s transition was a trans woman.

She demanded a safe space for women-only. She was denied, she appealed to a higher body and lost, sadly more on technicalities than a fully-fledged exploration of the case.

This is one of those intersections between rocks and hard places. She has a valid concern, women fought hard for decades to have their own spaces. But everyone deserves safety, where then does a trans woman go to escape domestic violence?

I certainly don’t know the answer, I don’t think anyone does. We have to figure this stuff out together, that’s why it’s worth talking about.

Not everyone is going to be rational, not everyone will use the right words, but we have to figure this stuff out.

I’d love to know your thoughts. Email me at mjones@infonews.ca.

Mj

Marshall Jones

Managing Editor

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When I walk in my neighbourhood, I am impressed and suitably shamed by many who are ahead of the curve.

I’m in West Kelowna and slowly, more and more yards are being covered in decorative gravel, rocks and boulders. A few drought resistant perennials, a shade tree or two. Drip feed a few annual planters.

It’s not unattractive and rather lovely when done well.

It’s becoming rare to see grass, rarer to see green grass.

Perhaps it’s time for it to go entirely.

I never shovelled snow once this winter. It’s supposed to hit 30 C this weekend. Water restrictions have already started in many communities and more will follow. It’s weird and really wasteful to put treated drinking water on useless grass (and dandelions, of course).

I’m the laggard. I put down fresh sod last year, a small, manageable patch under a shade tree I can walk on in my bare feet and keep my front yard cooler(ish). The grass in that space all died in the ‘heat dome’ of 2021.

It’s a cool and wonderful relic that also, probably, won’t survive. The rest is eventually all going to go. It just doesn’t make sense anymore, though I will miss them.

Are you with me on this? I’d like to hear your thoughts. Email me at mjones@infonews.ca.

Mj

Marshall Jones

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iN RESPONSE

iN RESPONSE to Friday’s newsletter opinion-editorial on lawns, drought and water restrictions

When we built in Osoyoos we put in artificial grass and concrete. We have some pots at front of house and on deck for flowers. A bit of irrigation daily.
We wintered in Arizona for several years and had a large house.
It had a huge back yard so filled it with landscape aggregate and a few bushes that didn’t require much water.
The front of house had a Palo Verde tree and cacti, again not requiring much maintenance or water.
It should be a long dry hot summer here this year.

— Karen Harman, Osoyoos via email

Nothing wrong with a small patch of grass that feeds the birds (bugs and worms) to tickle your toes in, although we do have parks with plenty of grass to enjoy, albeit you may have to walk a bit for it. I myself have about 250 sq. ft. Which luckily doesn’t get much sun so doesn’t require much irrigation. But I will say I can understand many people not getting serious about water conservation when one can see daily examples of waste both from the city, condos/apartments and private residences that often water the sidewalks and streets enough that you can hear the water going down the sewer system. And then there are those who wash their ‘dusty’ car every other day, then wash their driveway and part of the street in front of their place. Not that it is all totally lost but constant cost to first treat it, bring in there and then to recover it, is never a good thing. No excuse for sure. Someone has to be first. But why me?

— Warren Caruk via email

I’m taking out my grass and putting in gravel. Starts today.

— Beverly Ford via email

iN RESPONSE to Wednesday’s newsletter opinion-editorial on trans women and women’s shelters

Education is key.
I think it is fair to say that the trans community is one of the most abused and at risk communities. Most of that, if not all, is because of patriarchal and colonial rhetoric leading to othering, hate and exclusionary policies and beliefs which is purposely taking up an inordinate amount of space.
While I have sympathy for “J” being an abused woman seeking safe shelter, “J” is perpetuating harm to trans women and causing herself more stress because of beliefs and speculation about the trans community. The following excerpts highlight that no actual adverse impacts were experienced:
“J” didn’t point to an actual adverse impact that she experienced while living there, or while attending the yoga class.
“J’s complaint is about her beliefs and speculation about trans women, and not actual adverse impacts she experienced while accessing Salvation Army housing and services,” the Tribunal said in the decision.
The world is not made up of a binary population, and it never was. We need to learn to stop harming, hating and othering non-white cis hetero people. As the case of “J” shows, that doesn’t help anyone.

— Tracey Davis, Kelowna via email

I don’t know the answer about the woman who did not want to share space with a trans woman, except to give space for her fear, it could be real, not political, we don’t know.
But in my opinion this is the very reason for early education about the full spectrum of human gender.
The purpose of having this in schools is not to influence young people, rather to help them understand
and articulate their own feelings and the feelings of others.
This is off topic, but using SOGI for political gain shows either a lack of understanding, curable, or willful ignorance, harder to treat, I think.

— Jane Duber via email

Regarding trans women in women’s shelters, no other woman should feel afraid of her. She is a woman and belongs; she wants and deserves to feel accepted by other women and needs refuge just as much as you do.
No trans woman is interested in assaulting other women!
It’s men who attack and hurt women. That is the actual TRUTH.
There is nothing to “figure out”, Marshall. It’s just a matter of people educating themselves and accepting the fact that transexual beings are part of our society and just as valuable and harmless as you and I.
People need to get over their hateful prejudices because THAT is the real problem.

— Karen Klein via email

Disabled Kelowna tenant faces homelessness after tenancy branch sides with landlord

It would seem that Mr. Millis chose to make multiple issues those that would be his hill to die on. The RTB is well known for giving the tenant every possible benefit of the doubt. With Mr. Millis it would seem that multiple issues had no room for doubt. I don’t mean to be heartless but his choices to fight the world led to a predictable result and his own comments make it clear he is not willing to step back. I guess he is going to be a homeless guy in a wheelchair who has no regrets. I suspect that will be a really tough experience.

— William Mastop via iNFOnews.ca

iN RESPONSE to Monday’s newsletter opinion-editorial on complaining about complainers

Normally the complaint process works. Take for instance the bylaw against having a sea-can in your yard for storage. You see them all the time. Should the bylaw officers ticket every one they see or should they wait to see if anyone complains? It seems more efficient to act on complaint.

The problem is that we don’t track the complainers. I know of a couple of people who’s complaints have ruined lives.

One was someone working on the pediatric wing. They would call in birth alerts against anyone with native ancestry. This would cause MCFD to apprehend the newborn and the parents would spend at least 6 months to get their baby out of foster care. Eventually they got rid of birth alerts but the racist kept their job with no consequences.

Another was a woman who would make up lies about the families in her neighbourhood. MCFD would swoop in and grab the kids first and investigate later. They had to “err on the side of the child” because of all the wildly incompetent mistakes they have made. They couldn’t just list the woman as an unreliable source.

I did see once where the complainer got caught out. There was a wealthy secluded neighborhood where one of the neighbours hated house parties. As soon as the clock struck 11 there was a noise complaint. The police would show up to break up the party. Finally they invited the police chief to come to the party in plain clothes. At 11 p.m. there was a noise complaint. The station called the chief. He confirmed that the house party was perfectly reasonable. “Go ahead and have as loud a party as you like. We won’t be answering her calls anymore”.
The party the next weekend was epic.

— Grant Fraser, Kamloops via email

Not a complaint but sure tired of hearing my name said with a scowl and how bad tempered we ‘KAREN’s” of the world are…lol.

— Karen Amos, Oliver via email

I’d like to complain about your complaining about complaining LOL.

— Brian Porter via email

iN RESPONSE to April 17 newsletter opinion-editorial on MAID

We need to hold fast against this.
There are plenty of places happy to take life.
There ought to be some sanctuary for those who abhor this practice.

— Thomas F. Barry Desmond via email

MAID is horribly problematic.
MAID was given to a 26 year old man, otherwise healthy with tremendous family support, yet who was struggling with depression.
MAID is being offered to our Canadian Armed Forces Veterans who are struggling with PTSD.
MAID has become the only option for Canadians who are living below the poverty line with no housing opportunities.
Doctors & Nurses are badgering patients into accepting MAID, instead of treating them.
MAID was offered to an 84 year old woman who came into the ER complaining of back pain. She has fully recovered and is travelling.Whatever good intentions MAID was supposed to be for, it has become obvious now that MAID is being abused.
Let us invest in palliative care and treat those dying with true dignity, while improving our medical services for people struggling with mental health issues as well as addressing ER overcrowding.

— John Annicchiarico, Kamloops via email

MAID is not a medical cure. Curing by killing sounds like a contradiction in terms.
No, our medical providers should never be forced to ‘treat’ by ending lives.

— Tonia Howell via email

First, let’s call it what it is… assisted suicide. Suicide has always been of great concern. There are help lines and recovery programs to help people who have attempted suicide.
And where a person does die from suicide it is generally considered a great tragedy.
For thousands of years suicide has been considered a tragedy and a sin by Christians. A grievous sin that could prevent a soul from entering heaven. Now that it has been deemed “legal”, is society expected to accept and embrace it? But what about the majority of Canadians and Christians in particular, who still consider suicide, even at the end of life a tragedy and a sin? Should they be forced to participate in it? They should not, and that includes medical doctors, hospitals, and hospices.

— Anita Sehn, Kamloops via email

No hospital provides all services!
There is no reason why this one particular “Elective”procedure should be considered As necessarily available everywhere that receives government funding.
The inconvenience of being moved to a different hospital is suffered by people at every stage of life in the public health system. Some people have to go and pay for procedures in order to receive them in a timely manner.
This is not a religious question. This is a realistic situation.
Bottom line: No hospital in British Columbia offers all services to all patients who request them!

—  Kathy Dahl, Kamloops via email

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