This blog is not about sports, it is about democracy. So if you’re not a fan of the latter, don’t bother reading this because you might work for the Greater Toronto Airport Authority, and you might already know the story.
On a recent trip to B.C. to host my father’s company golf tournament (Darren Dutchyshen was not available), I passed through the security check at Pearson International Airport in Toronto and followed each of the many rules. I emptied my pockets. I removed my hat, shoes, and belt. In fact, the only metal I did not remove was on my mp3 player under the title: Balls Out Riffs. I even removed my wedding band just in case, as not to hold up the line behind me as I passed through the metal detector. Upon successful navigation through the detector I emerged on the other side ready to retrieve my belongings, which I had co-operatively placed in the plastic bin. Everything was there: Hat, shoes, watch, heavy metal. But no belt. My belt was in the determined hands of a security officer (Her face, beaming with authority). She had come to the misguided conclusion that my belt buckle was a threat to the security of the passengers on my aircraft. My belt buckle. A threat.
Why?
The belt buckle in question is an oval western-style design with a mould of two tiny wild west revolvers, roughly the size of the fingernail on your thumb. Despite the fact that the design was clearly decorative, she was confiscating the belt. No questions asked. No negotiation. No reasoning with the situation. End of story. I was powerless. I had two choices: Pay to store it, or never see it again.
Keep in mind that this belt was my private personal property. Snapped from my grasp under the authority of the Canadian government without a second thought because a person in a position of authority concluded in a matter of seconds that the fingernail sized “guns” on my belt buckle posed a threat. And there was not a damn thing I could do about it.
As you can imagine, an argument ensued in which security threatened police intervention if I did not co-operate. Police intervention? Was I in Toronto or Tibet?
I understand that we have rules in our society for a reason. They are to protect us from ourselves. But they all require common sense to fairly enforce, and they always come down to interpretation. For instance: if you are doing 101 km/h on a highway where the speed limit is 100 km/h, are you breaking the law? Technically, yes. But there isn’t a police officer this side of communist China that would write you a ticket. Did I have a “gun” on my belt last week? Yes. Was it a firearm that endangered the people around me? Absolutely not.
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| The buckle in question. (Courtesy: Big Dude Home Studio) |
There was no reasonable interpretation of the rules last week at Pearson International Airport when I attempted to clear security. None. And government authorities that cannot reasonably interpret the rules they enforce is a very dangerous thing, no matter how low level the incident.
But I do have rights. And given that we live in a democracy, it was my right as a citizen of this country to take the matter up with my local Member of Parliament, Olivia Chow. Unfortunately there was no one at her office to answer my call, and the phone number posted on her website directed me to a voice mailbox that was full. Three seconds later I was disconnected from the call. Undeterred, I sent her an email last Friday to which I have yet to see any acknowledgement whatsoever that the email has even been received by the member of parliament that I helped elect to power.
If you are disappointed that this blog was not about sports. I am sorry. Most of you never agree with what I’m saying anyways. This blog is about democracy and freedom – something we can all agree on. And something we must all protect. It is my democratic right to speak out when I feel that my rights as a citizen of this country have been violated. Unfortunately, the only way my elected representative is going to hear about it is if her PR flack shows her this blog on sportsnet.ca.
Is this the democracy that we are at war to protect?
Then again, maybe airport security thought I was Darren Dutchyshen?