Abusing Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

One of the facts that Canada is so proud of is Charter of Rights and Freedom. The Charter starts in this manner:

1. The Charter guarantees the rights and freedom set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society. 

2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:

a- Freedom of conscience and religion. 

b- Freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including the freedom of press and other media of communication.

c- Freedom of peaceful assembly, and

d- Freedom of association.

The entire Charter is provided in this link here:

http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/const/page-15.html

I have no studies in other countries similar law. Technically expressions such as above should be included in every country's Basic Law. However I think the freedom which is offered here and is indicated to be subject to reasonable limits is constantly abused. In fact it looks like someone has created such a soft law to encourage people to come to the country which for decades was not even known to the rest of the world and was suffering - and is still suffering - from lack of workforce. I give you a few examples of the work-force in Canadian soil, the temporary work-force which is frequently here and mainly because some asshole created this law that wandering people can go to Drop-ins or shelters and get free food and bed simply they are so fucking lazy to get themselves together and build a little life. So instead of them who wander around and look for cigarette buts and empty cans and bottles and time get in to scuffles which others and other members of the society and stab each other to death or similar nice acts, the country has to import temporary and permanent work-force similar to below: 

1- While in Edgar Farms in Innisfail, we realized that the crop is being harvested by Mexican workers!!!! Can you imagine that? Mexicans should be brought up here to central Alberta, more than 4700 Km away to harvest Asparagus. It means there are not a few people in the entire vast Province of Alberta and in the big country of Canada who is able or willing to clear a small Asparagus farm of its crop!!!

2- Golden Ear Bridge in Maple Ridge, British Columbia was constructed with a work-force mainly comprised of Eastern European labourers (I guess Polish)!!!!

3- Cargill Meat Solutions, a big food packing company in High River, Alberta now brings contact workers from The Philippines. It's a shock as truck loads of refugees and immigrants land in this country every month. I guess everyone wants to be a C. E. O. here! No labour job!

Apart from that every and each other part of this so-called Charter is abused in a way or two. Just last week I heard of a new law which suspends the driver license of the ones who are fined as a DUI, indefinitely. This actually is a brilliant law and this is what Canada needs to get rid of this trashes who kill people at every corner of the country each month and these fucking losers protested by saying that their rights would be violated if such law is in affect! I don't know if this law is in effect now or not but the Provincial Government should be tougher than this and change this country from a heaven for criminals to somewhere people have more respect for others and the law as well.
This Freedom of Religion or association is another one which is misused by the people. A good example of it was introduced in a previous post a few years ago: Polygamy! Also people come from all different backgrounds and do whatever they want to do and call it part of the new freedom given to them by their new homeland, Canada! The homeland they always try to evade its income tax and work around its law! This subject to reasonable limits is a very good part indicated in the Charter but is vague and creates many questions. But generally most of the law is that. I ran into this problem many times when I was studying for the N. P. P. E.. Canadian law as described in the main textbook is based on English Law and this is how it works: You have a case let's say in 1982 and it was reviewed, discussed and resulted in a verdict. This could be base for a current case and this type of law which is not enacted called Common Law. Discussion over the Charter could be written in hundreds of pages. That actually has given many the opportunity to whatever shit they want to do, as I've said over and over but this created many issues for the country in the past 20 years that newcomers have stepped in Canadian soil from countries which have a completely different culture and law system from the Canadian one. The fact is: You cannot run a country in 2015 and after with the law that you enacted in 1970's!
(Photo: Queen Elizabeth II is signing the Constitution Act in April 27, 1982 when Canada became a full sovereign nation. The Act includes the newly Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom presumably to attract more people to My Home and Empty [native!] Land [this is part of the National Anthem which is joked with, at times, pointing at Canada's population. It in fact has gone up in the past 10 years significantly. Thanks for the war-makers all around the world. Canada now is officially the trash can of the world. Everyone who's ass is kicked lands in Canada! From war refugees of Somalia and Sudan in Africa to war refugees of Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria in Middle East. After all that's what mainly Canada wants: Labour work-force! They don't need brilliant people. Tim Horton's McDonald's, Superstore, Wal-Mart, Dollarama, etc are the main businesses of this country and they welcome the people of the above countries with open arms!]. Pierre Trudeau, the then Prime Minister is seen at left. Looks like he's exhausted! He's extended his leg to stretch a bit or maybe he's kicking the Queen to remind her of something! It also look like it was a windy day!)

Arizona Road Trip (8): To Colorado River and Back Up

Hike down Bright Angel Trial in south rim of Grand Canyon National Park is a beautiful hike and a bit tough mainly because of the heat on the way back.Unlike the majority of hikes the challenge is were you're going back! That's where you exert most of your energy and usually is hot. There are several signs in the park and it's indicated in the brochures and the Rangers also tell you not to go to Colorado River in one day and come back up but that's for the kids whom you see truck loads of them in the park and the old farts, posers and wimps who walk around with their iPad and iPhone and take photos of themselves and their partners!

I started early to beat the heat and I have to admit that I was completely not satisfied with my start but it was OK. I didn't have a really good sleep the night before and was woken up but some fucking selfish fools who were going to hell, I hope, at 04:30 AM! I went to the local McDonald's, as I usually do before my hikes and scrambles, to get a coffee and the guy looked like he was crazy because when I asked for a medium coffee he was going to charge me $2.89!!! I told him to cancel the order but he got a $1 from me and gave me the coffee! That was another reason why I though he must have been crazy. Anyways I got the hell out and drove to the park. The Rangers were there early morning and they checked my pass. I found a good spot and walked towards the trail-head. Here how I did the hike before I provide any detail:

Start time at trail-head: 06:20 hours

Arrival at Colorado River: 09:50 hours.

Total time on the trail on the way down: 03:30 hours.

Start time from Colorado River: 10:10 hours

Arrival at trail-head: 13:58 ~ 14:00 hours.

Total time on the trail on the way up: ~ 03:50 hours

The total time of the hike: ~ 07:20 hours (including short stops for rest and photography)

Total elevation gain (Colorado River to trail-head); ~ 755.9 m. or 2479.98 ft.

Total distance walked (return trip): 25.74 Km or 15.99 Miles.

Now the other details about the hike: This is a nice hike and I had not done any similar to that. It has it's uniqueness but other hikes I have done each have their beauty and uniqueness as well. So there's no way that you can say Bright Angel Trial hike is the best. It's similar to comparing Orange and Apple. Eagle's Nest hike is wonderful but cannot be compared to this. Ptarmigan Tunnel and Crypt Lake are each awesome and beautiful in their own way with their own specifications. I can go on with the list. Nevertheless when I stated there was barely anybody on the trail and it was a bit cold but I was OK. I had my exercise suit on. One of the reason that I always intend to start a hike or scramble very early is that you not only beat the heat and crowd but you have a much bigger chance to see wildlife. Here after few minutes I bumped to a herd of Deer (not sure what kind) who were grazing around the path. I kept going and the first signs of humanity appeared after me. The more you go down, the more magic sights of Grand Canyon disappear but there are lots of other beauties on your way: birds, rodents, different plants and vegetation, cliffs with different shapes and colours and they are all unique to Grand Canyon. 

The US Forest Service has kept (and still keeping) the trail very well and it's easy to walk on. There are rest station, I would call them, on the way that you could washroom or seek shade. Not all of them have potable water though but I didn't stop for water even once. Then you reach Indian Garden which is a very beautiful campground with all facilities. It, looked like to me that the stream, waterfall, all the plants, trees everything is man made and it was, I think but it is very beautiful place. This is where people stay so they can go down to Colorado River the next morning or so! How childish and weak someone could be?! But I understand people are different. Funny thing is when I was on the trail going down to the river or coming back up to the rim, people were trying to show how strong and fast they could be!! They had slept for at least 6 hours in the campground and walked half of the way and they thought they were exceptional. After all the pathetic losers didn't know that there's no race in hiking or scrambling but whatever! 

A view of Indian Garden campground on Bright Angel Trial.

There is another set of switchbacks after Indian Garden if you want to get to Colorado River but many divert their route and go to Plateau Point, which is said a very beautiful viewing point for or take Tonto Trail but I kept going down because I wanted to see how hard it could have been to get to the river in one day and come back up. I finally reached Colorado River, as I stated above, at around 10 to 10 AM. There are restrooms and other facilities by the river as well but I didn't check them. Didn't need them. The river was not very wide and didn't seem very dip but that's only an assumption. Later on I saw photos showing a metal overpass but It would have been somewhere else. I wonder if you could cross over the river and continue to North Rim and stay there. Maybe I consider that as another hike for future or do it north to south. I started going back up after a short break and taking a few photos. Everything was fine until Indian Garden and even after that but in about 1.5 hour to the top and that's a critical phase in hiking, I started feeling tiredness especially because of the heat and I had already lost my headband which protects my forehead from direct sunlight. I applied sun screen and kept going. At one point I wanted to drink water and I realized I was out and there was no water available until I reached the top. The trail got busy with all sorts of idiot! Moms had sleeper type shoes on and holding their babies!!! I don't know what kind of moron does that to only take a few photos of her over 200 Lbs. body and post it to Facebook! 

Anyway the last hour was very hard but I got myself back to the trail-head shortly before 14:00 without having a single minute break after Indian Garden and no water. I didn't want to repeat what I had to do in Lost Dutchman State Park. After reaching the hotel I was so tired that I laid down for few minutes but couldn't sleep.

Part of Bright Angel Trail is seen in the deep valley. This is after passing Indian Garden campground and you still have more than an hour to reach Colorado River. Most hikers have difficulty coming back up from this section and I saw many panting which is normal but I never understood what the purpose of those metal sticks were!!? Completely useless in a well-maintained staircase-like trail such as this. I never needed one! 

 There are a lot to do in Grand Canyon but that was the only hike I did and I really enjoyed it. Whether I will go again? Yes. probably. I still like to try that trail which takes you to the metal bridge and I still like to see the North Rim. Grand Canyon is a wonderful place but need attention and organization. It requires stricter rules for the visitors and hikes but in an environment which money rule, not many rules could be defined and enforced. The US Forest Service cares only about the money. I'm not saying they don't do anything but what they do is not enough. They charge a good amount for everyone steps in the park but after that everyone is pretty much is on his or her own. There's no supervision and watch. Unless something serious happens nobody's going to do anything about this lovely, incredible place. 

(Photo, top: A view of Grand Canyon. The photos you see in posters, magazines and others which look much better than this are all taken, or mostly, by professional photographer who equipped themselves with wide lenses. This, I believe, is not bad compare to them considering I had a normal lens on)

A Good Walk in Kananaskis

The Chef and I have been wanting to do a hike in Alberta for about a week now and today we finally made it. Although it didn't turned out what we had hopped for but it was not bad either. I tried to keep my meal to minimum last night so there would not be a problem with the sleep but there was a problem but not from overeating. It was because of the assholes in the neighbourhood who have no respect for others! I guess with frequent sleep I eventually woke at 04:50 AM by telephone ring. That was The Chef and he said he would be leaving his place soon! WTF? Just freaking call me when you're here! So we left and eventually reached at the gate in Highway 66 at around 07:15. I was not expecting him to call at that time or even show up on time but it happened! 

Our goal was to hike from Little Elbow Campground to Tombstone Campground and maybe beyond but with the Winter Gate being closed we ended up walking from the Prairie Creek, where the gate is located to Little Elbow Campground, some 02:30 hours on way. My mistake was when I visited Kananaskis last, I went to Ice Cave and it's access road is reached before you get to the Winter Gate. For that reason I thought the gate would not be closed due to probably less rainfall and snow but I was obviously wrong!

Highway 66 after Winter Gate, which is located at the trail-head of Prairie Mountain, was fully empty all the way to where pavement ends. Elbow River is seen on left.

We had an easy walk but it was cold and at times the weather turned to snowy. There were absolutely nobody on the entire road when we were heading toward the end of the paved road. We were hoping to see wildlife particularly because there were many small piles of feces could be seen on and around the road. We didn't see anything until we were almost half an hour away from the end of the road and that was when we were taking a few photos beside Elbow River. At first I thought that was a small heard of Moose but soon we realized that I was wrong there were three Horses approaching us. They looked like they were wild horses because as soon as they noticed us they first stopped and looked at our direction and then walked back and then towards the river. They again stopped and when they made sure we were trying to get close to them, started crossing the river and eventually hid themselves in the forest. 

Our next encounter was when we were on the gravel road walking towards the campground and I saw  a couple of White-tailed Deer. It was snowing and hard to get a shot of them. They were waiting on the hill between the trees to see what we were doing. We left them alone and moved forward and when we turned back to get on the road again we saw them jumping and running over the road! 

Our trip back to the gate was quite similar unless we saw people coming up on bicycles. By almost 13:20 we were back to the vehicle, finishing our 06:00 hour walk. 

(Photo: One of the horses is seen crossing the river here. I assume Elbow Valley gets wider in summer after snow on the mountain melts)

The Chef and his Unlimited Disires

I've been in discussion with The Chef for the past 5 days or so in order to find out where we can go for hiking. He insists that he likes to join me but at the same time he does not to go very far away which requires us to stay in a hotel for the night. He keeps saying: We'll sleep in the mountains! I told him that even if we were allowed to sleep anywhere we wanted in the mountains(!), we'd be frozen to death! Poor ignoramus doesn't understand the simple facts.

Eventually the other day we again had a discussion and I explained to him about Wilcox Pass in Jasper National Park and he kind of liked it. As he's a big fan of eating and drinking (alcoholic beverages of course, that is what I mean) he insisted to go this East Indian food place in Downtown called Mirchi. Mirchi in Hindi or Urdu or both means Chili Pepper! And you know their food is very spicy. We got two small dishes and I guess they cost around $30 or something. He paid as he had invited. Mine was a kind of barbecued Chicken with of course special East Indian spices. There were probably as many as 6 pieces all together and they put a handful of old raw vegetable as side item or Salad! I know that these guys never eat war vegetable and barely eat any fruit. I don't know exactly why that is but The Mumbling Guy told me once that the fruit was very expensive in India and only a minor part of the population can afford that. The majority of the fruit is exported, he said. They of course serve the food with freshly backed flat bread which they make it here in front of you in the kitchen with the same hand they wipe their nose a second prior to that or get money from you! The Chef ordered a kind of Goat Stew which was tasty as well but I doubt it was Goat! This kind of meat is very scares and expensive in Canada. So it's as easy as a piece of cake for this guys to serve you any kind of meat they want and call it whatever is listed in the menu because how the hell the majority of customer would know that?! There is so much spices that you cannot tell Goat from Beef or anything else. Besides the majority of foreign national customers, as they have that kind of customer too, have never tried Goat. So they cannot tell either!

Chicken in front and in the back Goat Stew. You can see how disappointing the salad looks like. The small rectangular shape container is kind of sauce but was not good and tasted a bit old. After all this is East Indian restaurant. What do you expect?!

Anyways we had the same discussion again last night and this time he was in the mode of Crab and Lobster. The guy just has bought a $400,000 house with a buddy of his but is not concerned about his loan and mortgages! So we went to a local Superstore and he said: Let's get two Crabs and two Lobsters! I told him that would be too much and we ended up getting only two Crabs but they were huge, each easily a little over 950 g. The two cost $37.10 and $36.94, a total of $74.04 for two! He was a big shocked and I was too, maybe not as much as him but I guess something like that cost us around $50 last winter. We went home and while the Crabs were being cooked and we were drinking his favorite beer, Kokanee, talked about our hike again!

He, this time indicated that Jasper was too far and we should have done our hike somewhere closer. I explained to him a bit about Lake Louise and he was convinced that would be a good selection. 

We let the Crabs boil for some 15 minutes and then turned the heat down and let them cool off. Two whole crabs were not enough for two of us but we each had 3 tall can of Kokanee and I don't think we could easily eat more than that. 

For gear we went to a Value Village the other day before eating at Mirchi, I forgot to add and he bout a big winter jacket and a pair of boot. We assume he has the rest and we will be fine. 

(Photo, top: We let the crabs cool off after we cooked them. They were huge but not too meaty! One definitely is not enough for one person similar to us, if you want to eat it just by itself)

Arizona Road Trip (7): Chinle to Tusayan

I left Chinle after having an awful(!) breakfast at a local Burger King for Town of Tusayan in the south side of Grand Canyon National Park. Apparently the south side or as they call it south rim is the place everyone goes to but that's absolutely stupid, I know that now. The fact is south rim is open early while north rim does not get opened until mid-May. Besides there are less services in there so people cannot get drunk, show off or do any other normally-considered stupid thing that they do! So they tend to spend their time in south. And now that I know it, I will have a plan for north rim for sure. When? I don't know. 

Anyways the road from Chinle to Tusayan goes from Navajo Reserve of course. On the way I had a short stop at Tuba City which is assumed to be a town with majority Native people as its inhabitants. I stopped at McDonald's to get water or coffee, I don't remember and then you reach a three way which the right (north) side leads to north rim and city of Page and the left (south) side leads to Flagstaff and with a branch to Grand Canyon National Park. The road is beautiful and uncrowded and there are lots of photo opportunities. 

You also get the chance to check the small community of  Cameron and it's trading post which is incredible. For me again that was not a place to do shopping but I enjoyed checking the hand-crafted items in the shop. 

Highway 64 is the road you have to take to get yourself to east entrance which takes about an hour, I guess from Cameron but before that you also can stop to see Little Colorado River Gorge which worth stopping but similar to all other corners of the reserve, Native people have their stands selling their hand-crafted gifts. 

Little Colorado Gorge shortly after you turn to Highway No. 64 en route to Grand Canyon National Park. This is a nice place with Native people have their hand-crafted gift stands nearby. It was insisted through a sign that there was no admission! People would have paid, Had there been any admission, I guess but they were paying though the items they were buying from the Natives!

Upon arrival at the east gate of the park, I noticed a line and I guess it took about 20 min. or maybe half an hour to pay admission and pass. It was unfortunate for me that I had to pay $25 for 2 days I had planned to stay at the park because the pass was good for seven day but I didn't have any other choice. There are a few view points between this gate and main information center and the village that you can stop, take photos or ask questions. 

In Watch Tower view point (I guess the name is) which is supposed to a historical place I had a chance to talk to an old gentleman and ask him about the hike down to Colorado River as it is repeatedly said in there that it is not recommended. First he said they say it for public safety and he added that he would have done it in an hour or two, had he been younger(!) I know people use some consciousness they get old and he really was old, maybe past 70 and I told him that it was indicated that the hike would take some 8 to 9 hours. He either didn't know what he was talking about or was not in good mind but eventually said that he would do it in 7 or so hours! This gave me some encouragement, although I was not very convinced. After a few stops I wanted to make sure that I know where I would be going the next morning so I checked the visitor center and few signs and maps and found where exactly Bright Angel Trail-head was and headed to Tusayan to check in to my hotel. To get to Tusayan you head south and it's some 20 minutes or so and I had a reservation at Red Feather Motel. The room was not bad and I head out to get something to eat. There was a huge line at McDonald's at the other side of the street just across from the hotel. So I fucking forgot about it! Then I checked a Wendy's and the prices were so unreasonable that I just got out. Then I checked the only supermarket in the town and bought a few items and got back to the hotel. 

Another picture of Arizona highway. This one is either before I reach Tuba City or after! 

The hotel was full and people were coming one after another. I was lucky that I had reservation so I went in and checked the internet. Working properly. No problem. I got ready for sleep as tomorrow was supposed to be a big day!

(Photo, top: This picture is taken after I left Chinle and hit High 160 to West. The road barely has any vehicle in it and both sides are decorated by strangely-shaped rock, beautiful!)

Who's Paying for City Spring Cleaning?

This question might sound stupid. It's obvious that the people of the same city pay for it. That is done through property taxes and other incomes that the city has. Let's look at the City of Calgary's sources of income. It's funny that the services that we use on daily basis such as city cleaning (which rarely clean), parks, public transportation, pathways, etc is mainly paid by the losers who have purchased a property in this city because almost 42% of the income of the municipality is funded through property tax! Most of the cities in Canada has this spring cleaning in their schedule which is done normally in late March or early April although it's still not considered spring! 

With that in mind I had not used my car for 2 days I guess and I wanted to go for my jogging when I realized my car was not where I had parked it a day or two ago! I soon noticed that the street looks much cleaner than usual and recognized the problem: It had been towed! 

I immediately realized that I have a problem in my hand; I will have to go to city pond lot tomorrow and provide proof that it is my vehicle and get it out and for that I have to make a story up and sell it to the guys at work. Then I thought I should call parking enforcement. They should know. I tried the damn number with my mobile phone and heard all those nonsense messages and then they put me on hold due to larger than normal call volumes! 

Then I said I should try the same number with the land-line and I did. I immediately after dialing the number hit number 2 and a lady picked up! I explained what had happened and she asked for my plate number obviously. She came back after a few seconds and she said that my car had been towed only 3 blocks away from where it had been originally parked! I was surprised and happy at the same time that I would not have to go to the damn pond and waste time there. 

Interestingly the car was just parked a block away, in the same direction she had explained but shockingly I saw a ticket on the wiper! The City normally announces street cleaning with signs at least a week in advance but I didn't see anything the whole week. I looked around and this could be seen on many vehicles all on that block! Basically here we all contributed to that 5% which comes from fines partially and municipalities are normally good at it. I have to see whether I will be able to fight that or not. This ain't fair.

(Photo: This Pie Chart which is taken from City of Calgary website shows how different incomes are put together to complete city's revenue. The biggest from property tax!)