Silent vigil speaks volumes

Kingston and the Islands MPP John Gerretsen (right) greets Sister Jean Higgins SP (left) and Sister Shirley Morris SP prior to one of the weekly silent protests in front of Kingston City Hall

By Paul Schliesmann

The following article by Kingston Whig-Standard writer Paul Schliesmann appeared Feb. 14, 1996. It is excerpted here with permission.

It can be bitterly cold some days in front of Kingston’s city hall. A bone-chilling wind whips in from ice-covered Lake Ontario, right into the faces of a dozen or so silent, resolute protesters.

On Fridays, at noon-time, you can set your watch by them. They assemble here at the same time each week for their vigil to protest Ontario government cutbacks to social welfare programs.

Protests are nothing new in the Mike Harris Ontario of 1996. But mostly they are staged by, and for, unionized civil servants with the most to lose — namely their jobs. But this ongoing protest at Kingston city hall is different. First, it is not loud, boisterous or violent. There are no insults hurled at the Conservative government. Most impressive of all is that the vigil-keepers are here to support the poor and remind the government and the middle and upper classes that they are their brothers’ and sisters’ keepers.

Among the dozen or so protesters stand several Sisters of Providence. Sister Shirley Morris has been the spokeswoman for the group of nuns and laypeople protesting social assistance cutbacks and opposing the Conservative government’s plan to cut provincial income taxes by 30 per cent.

“We always look at it that you have to feed the body before you can touch the soul,” she says. This approach is not new. Religious groups have traditionally counselled the poor. And, apart from occasional public criticism from bishops and other higher-ups in the mainstream churches, they perform their grassroots-level social work quietly and efficiently.

“Render unto Caesar what are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s,” was Christ’s advice. The emerging social protest organized by religious groups is less acquiescent. Mike Harris is the new Caesar. And today’s message is more along the lines of: “Render tax savings unto the needy.”

Rev. Bill Hendry of Sydenham United Church laughs at the scriptural revision. He’s been working hard with Companions Interfaith Group of Kingston, a multi-denominational gathering of concerned citizens, in opposing the tax cuts and the government’s proposal for a tax hike.

Sydenham United, The St. Vincent de Paul Society, the Salvation Army and the local food bank share a list of poor people in the city. Each month, they provide vouchers for food and other necessities for nearly 2,000 people, and the list is growing.

“When this government proceeded with its incredible cuts to the least-protected in society, that affected us right off the bat because we had people getting into deeper trouble more quickly,” said Hendry. “You can’t solve your problems on the backs of the weakest.”

For Hendry and the Sisters of Providence, hope remains that Mike Harris will back off his tax-cut proposal, which will throw more government employees out of work.

“I don’t despair. I think the people in the government are good people. They just have a philosophy they need to question. I expect them to change,” Hendry said.

How will the government be persuaded to change? Through signs of community, solidarity, writing letters and, of course, prayer. Not a prayer along the lines of having sinners struck down on the roadside and their political views miraculously transformed.

“You pray all the time,” said Hendry. “Prayer is the listing up of a people’s struggle and we know that the voice of struggle is experienced and felt by numerous people.”