Why does Canada have Black Friday?

> Let America keep its terrible tradition to itself

Duncan Fingarson
Senior Columnist

 

TT" day after American Thanksgiving,
commonly referred to as Black Friday,
is marketed as the busiest shopping
day of the year. It’s the unofficial start
of the Christmas shopping season, and
the cause of more than a few injuries.
Blackfridaydeathcount.com catalogues
the various incidents going back to 2006,
reporting 111 injuries and 10 deaths directly
related to Black Friday. Recently, Canada
has adopted the tradition of offering huge
sales on this day as well.
My question is: Why? Why would
we want to adopt a tradition responsible
for traffic jams, trampling deaths, and
gunfights over parking spaces? The obvious
answer is money, of course. Retailers in
Canada started offering Black Friday deals
within the last few years, in an effort to
keep Canadian shoppers on this side of the
border. It’s an understandable motivation.
The day, though, doesn’t have
any special significance for Canada.
In the United States, it’s the day after
Thanksgiving. That’s when the mall Santas
come out in force, and everyone starts
thinking about Christmas. If you want to
do your shopping early (which you should)
then going out on the day with all the

sales makes sense. In Canada, however,
Thanksgiving is over and done with. We
finished that back in October, and the
holiday decorations came out of the bloody
woodwork on November 1. Why not have
the sales then?

Canada does not need to do
everything the US does. I'd be perfectly
happy not subscribing to the mindless
consumerism that Black Friday represents.
I certainly don’t do my Christmas shopping
at Walmart, no matter how good their sales
are. Not everyone, though, is like me.

As much as I'd like to see Black
Friday go away, it’s probably not going to
disappear any time soon. The lure of sales
is a siren song too sweet for many to resist.
I like saving money (we all do) but I don’t
think that the day of the biggest sales of the
year needs to happen on a specific Friday
determined by another country’s holiday
schedule. I would be distressed to see the
sort of violence that happens on the day in
America migrating north, though I don’t
think this is overly likely.

Still, ?d much rather stay home on
Black Friday. I would be more encouraged
to shop on the day if it didn’t have stupidly
huge crowds of bargain hunters thronging
the stores in mindless hordes. I say, send
the so-called biggest shopping day of the
year back where it belongs: The hell from
whence it came.

(¥ Why you should care about Net Neutrality
(¥ Tim Hortons shouldn't be “quintessentially

Canadian”
And more!

 

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Give the change you wish to see 1n the world

> Have a little compassion and just give people your change

Jillian McMullen
Staff Writer

 

| most people who grew up in
the Lower Mainland remember being
advised that it was more prudent to
give homeless people food instead of
money, because, the argument went,
money would only ever go towards
the purchase of drugs. My response to
that is... so? If someone approaches
you and asks you for the coins hiding
at the bottom of your pocket, what’s
the big deal about handing it over?

I think that attitude is born out
of ignorance and fear. People don't
understand the underlying causes of
homelessness and addiction, so they think
that two dollars in a mixture of quarters
and dimes somehow promotes drug
use in our city. The reality is that there
have always been drugs in Vancouver,
and there will continue to be regardless
of your contribution. The current War
on Drugs in Canada and the US is proof
of that. After years of attempting to
eradicate illegal drug use through strict
legislation and severe punishment,
the only thing it has accomplished is
to multiply the number of overdose
deaths. This “war” has demonized the
homeless and addicted individuals to the
point where fellow citizens are taught

not to help one another. It has also
perpetuated the belief that Vancouver
has a “homelessness problem,” which in
my opinion is a pretty problematic way
to address the actual issue. Vancouver
has a homeless population, but it

is not a “problem.” Vancouver has a
housing crisis of which homelessness

is asymptom and to think otherwise
comes from a position of superiority.

Yes, providing food to our homeless
population is important. There is no
reason for anyone to go hungry ina
country as privileged as ours. At a certain
point, people just need some money. Food
isn’t going to buy homeless women pads or
tampons, and it isn’t going to buy someone
access to a community recreation centre
where they can have a hot shower. People
treat homeless people like they aren't
their own autonomous human beings—
like they can’t, or even shouldn’t make
their own decisions—so advancing this
“food only” mentality is just an example
of you assuming A) you know anything
about the person asking you for change,
and B) you know what’s best for them.

Ultimately, who cares if the two
dollars in quarters and dimes you gave
to someone ends up going towards
drugs? Get off your high horse and
have a little compassion for some of
our city’s most marginalized citizens.

  

Photo by Andy Griffin via Flickr