Do you have to be born and raised in Flin Flon to be a bona fide Flin Flonner?
Some people seem to think so. Just this week a resident told me of a neighbourly dispute in which his status as an “outsider” – he moved here from another community many years ago – became an issue.
It wasn’t the first time I had heard this sort of uncouth “you’re not from here, this is how we do things here” mentality surface. There are some folks out there who twist civic pride into meaning that anything beneath absolute “Flin Flon purity” is somehow second-class.
I recall the account of one local man who, to my interpretation, was unwilling to obey a bylaw enforcement order because he knew the city representative serving it was not originally from Flin Flon.
Somehow he was okay with everything when another city official, this one apparently a Flin Flon native, was injected into the situation. I just think he’s lucky the city didn’t phone up one of those non-Flin-Flon-born police officers for help!
In a gentler form, this “us and them” mentality is perhaps most visible in the realm of civic politics. Some voters have been known to withhold their support for candidates because they aren’t “from here” and, presumably, could not possibly comprehend the pressing issues before our community.
That line of thinking never made sense to me. A fresh set of eyes often sees what an adjusted set of eyes never can. Why not welcome new perspectives? Why assume certain people don’t “get it” because of the particular geographical point at which they entered this world?
I remember reading a stat somewhere that on average, a Canadian community will consist of roughly half local-born residents and roughly half non-locals. When I think about friends, coworkers, acquaintances and neighbours, that figure sounds about right for Flin Flon – and makes this xenophobic attitude I’m referencing all the more absurd.
From where I sit, some of our most kind, interesting and involved residents were born somewhere other than Flin Flon General Hospital. This includes many mayors and municipal councillors, teachers, volunteers, health-care professionals and artists.
The xenophobia I’m talking about becomes particularly vicious when mixed into a pot with racism, bringing us such comments as, “Why don’t they go back to where they came from?!?”
Most Flin Flonners are not racist and would never say that. But we cannot deny this sentiment exists here, sometimes blatantly, especially in recent years as the demographics of our community undergo a perceptible shift.
Using someone’s birthplace (or race) as an insult, as if it makes him or her a subpar citizen, is reprehensible in any context. May this mentality slide into the abyss with other outdated patterns of thought.
In other words, may Flin Flon live up to its reputation as a truly welcoming place.
Local Angle is published Fridays.
