Halifax house fire disaster

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Thu, 2019-02-21 09:30

lagatta4

I'm sure all of you must know the details of this great loss by now.

You can send condolences to their Mosque here:

management@umcc.ca

Imam: abdallah.yousri@gmail.com

There is also a funding campaign, among other things to bring the mother's parents here as she is inconsolable, understandingly. The father is seriously burnt, and if he survives will need a great deal of support.

https://www.gofundme.com/spryfield-fire-disaster-support?fbclid=IwAR2HEc...

A message from CUPE Nova Scotia: https://novascotia.cupe.ca/2019/02/20/statement-of-condolence-for-the-vi...

Sadly and disgustingly, there have been many online hate comments targeting this family, from many places.

Thu, 2019-02-21 11:10

Unionist

Here is a report on this heartbreaking tragedy for those who (like me) didn't catch the story on the news yet:

Family that lost 7 children in fire came to Halifax as refugees in 2017

They say it may take months before the cause of the fire is determined. That's disturbing, given the other similar constructions in the vicinity.

Please don't take this the wrong way, but I don't generally send money to "GoFundMe" campaigns run by people or organizations that I don't know. I'm not sure where you got the information about bringing the mother's parents here, lagatta. The campaign blurb says:

Quote:

We need to support them in facing their calamity and help them finding a new shelter and pay for expected expenses.
It's hard to estimate how much they'll need to restart their lives, but we urge haligonians and the people of Nova Scotia to do their best.

[...]

Please be advised that these funds have nothing to do with burial or any other costs. All collected funds will be gifted to the family afterwards.

I really believe that society, rather than sympathetic and heartbroken individual strangers, needs to be responsible for helping people in such disasters to recover and get on with their lives. Charity is a poor and random substitute for social services and support.

Thu, 2019-02-21 20:59

lagatta4

I was simply mentioning the campaign as part of the story. Of course the real solutions are socialised. My point in mentioning the campaign was simply mentioning a positive response as opposed to the hate speech about the family. Bringing family members to help the aggrieved mother was also in several news stories. I don't feel the need to include quotes and footnotes in something as casual as a babble post. The media sources are easily available, and I made up nothing.

Thu, 2019-02-21 23:11

WWWTT

Oh my f’n god seven children dead. So so so sad for this horror.

Part of me doesn’t want to know about these kinds of events, especially being a father. A superstitious side of me wants to be ignorant out of fear such a horrific nightmare may find me

Thu, 2019-02-21 23:23

(Reply to #4) #5

Unionist

lagatta4 wrote:

I was simply mentioning the campaign as part of the story.

Well actually, you gave reasons for supporting the campaign - bringing the mother's parents here, and the support that the father will need if he survives. I simply went to the GoFundMe page which you linked, and those things weren't mentioned. You don't have to defend your mentioning the GoFundMe page. It's perfectly all right.

Quote:
My point in mentioning the campaign was simply mentioning a positive response as opposed to the hate speech about the family.

Would you mind telling us where you saw this hate speech?

Quote:
Bringing family members to help the aggrieved mother was also in several news stories. I don't feel the need to include quotes and footnotes in something as casual as a babble post. The media sources are easily available, and I made up nothing.

Before answering your post, I did some searches about the issue of bringing the parents to Canada - and I couldn't find anything. That's why I asked where you saw that. You seem to take that as an accusation that you made it up. Haven't we gotten to know each other better than that over the years, lagatta? When I ask "where did you see that", I mean, "where did you see that" - not "you're lying".

My comments and questions were extremely serious. Almost $1/2 million has been raised in this GoFundMe campaign. For what purpose?

I have trouble understanding why the response to this and similar tragedies (like Humboldt) has become, "give money". I don't see anything positive about that, unless there are very specific identifiable needs that can't be filled the way they are for any other situations where people suffer losses. You consider this campaign to be positive - that's the substance of your comments - and I'm seriously interested in why.

Fri, 2019-02-22 06:32

lagatta4

In Nova Scotian media; the Chronicle-Herald and others. Simply quotes from people who knew the mum. And no, I'm not going to delve into that stuff again to check on the quotes, but there is absolutely nothing I made up.

It is problematic for money to be the default response to loss of lives, in particular young lives such as in this and the Humboldt tragedy. In the case of the quadriplegic Mosque shooting survivor, he could no longer access his dwelling and people bought him an adapted house in the area (near Université Laval, the Mosque, friends etc). Ideally the state should fund that, but I don't think the contribution would be sufficient - this is a problem frequently faced by injured workers for example.

Comments were disabled at the TVA site, and at other media, but I don't know which ones. Radio-Canada devoted a segment to this issue on its morning show yesterday.