9:30 p.m. - 2004-05-15
Blessings
I first met Gordon Legge in the mid 80's in the capacity of a volunteer for Amnesty International. For a period of years their local phone line was forwarded to my home and I was the first person that people encountered when they sought help or information from the organization. It was a natural fit because small children kept me homebound, but I could still do a lot of effective work on human rights issues by acting as that touchstone.
Gordon called one day asking for as much information as Amnesty International could give him on Central America. I recognized him as the reporter who had covered issues of war in other very dangerous countries for the Calgary Herald. It was obvious from the stories he filed while posted overseas, that he took a very careful and judicious approach to representing the facts as he witnessed the bloodshed and destruction. He didn't demonize or sermonize - he was able to lay bare the human toll without exploiting the victims. His upcoming assignment was to a very long and volatile conflict in Central America. He came by my home to pick up the material and we talked for a while about what he had seen in earlier assignments and what would likely face him in this one. I expressed great concern for his safety, because at that point, anyone who was identified as a foreigner in the area he was going to was automatically a target and some very gruesome things had happened. He chuckled and allowed as the Herald had had to pay the highest risk level on the insurance they took out for him and even then the insurance agency hadn't wanted to take the risk on his chances of survival even at that rate. I watched for his stories during that time, because their presence in the paper meant he was still alive.
When he came back, he took over as editor of the religion section of the paper. That wasn't a surprise since he told me that he had attended seminary with the intent of becoming a priest, but had found that it was not his calling. Studying faith systems had long been an avocation of mine so we had discussed - when he would call the Amnesty line with further requests - his journey of faith, as well as my own. He was profoundly spiritual in his approach to every task he undertook even though it never came across as judgement or proselytizing in any way. Very rare and it showed in the quality of the material in that part of the newspaper under his guardianship.
During that time I was also very involved in education and community issues. At one of the annual provincial meeting of the parent groups in this province, there was a workshop offered by Constable Brown of the Red Deer Royal Canadian Mounted Police detachment. It seemed an odd topic for a bunch of moms all focused on the education of their children in that his topic was protecting those same children from recruitment into gangs. He told us about the infiltration and spread of white supremacist activity in our province, as well as the invasion of the first line of gangs such as the Hells Angels. It was obvious that a lot of the parents in his session had a difficult time accepting that that was possible. Having personed the Amnesty line for a while though, I didn't have that problem - it just reinforced and validated some of what I had heard and experienced working with their callers. There were about 8 to 12 terrorist organizations in the 80's in Canada recruiting, fund raising and trying to put their spin on their acitivities who would call the AI locals regularly when the organization would publish information they felt did not reflect their reality.
Our organization also attracted those who wanted to use the group's name and reputation to further their activities for "back home". For example one man joined claiming to be a refugee from Lebanon. He said that he and his wife had been psychologists in their country of origin. When he learned how involved I was with our local school board, he asked if I would help the two of them gain access to elementary school aged boys of families from their home country, so that they could assist them and their families as they struggled with settlement issues common to refugees. I spoke with one of the trustees I had a close relationship with. She got back to me to let me know that this couple had tried several ways to gain access to the children, but their purpose wasn't to help them - it was to recruit and train them to go back as "Freedom Fighters" in their country of origin.
The RCMP constable showed us a video that had been taped by a young man by the name of Larry Ryckman. He had gone to the white supremacist compound in Hayden Lake, posing as a sympathetic Italian reporter wanting to know how the organization was going to spread their doctrine. The leader gave a very thorough presentation including a detailed plan for the establishment of their organization in Alberta, using a variety of front organizations - militia, "churches", gangs, youth groups - to gain access, especially to young teens. He talked about the ways of money laundering from the proceeds of gun running, drugs and prostitution. We - the parents - asked the constable why there hadn't been more information available about this in our local media so that citizens could be aware. He replied that his work wasn't even sanctioned by his own detachment and he had to do it on his own time at great personal risk. The presentation was after the story of the "teacher" Jim Keegstra had broken but for some parents even that could not verify even a portion of what this gentleman told us. That was just the tip of the iceberg with respect to the extent of the problem.
Gordon ran a series of stories about the same topic focusing on the use of "Churches" as fronts for these cretins. He had used a book about the subject specific to activity in North America as the vehicle to tie all the pieces of his presentation together. I told him what we had learned at our parent conference and gave him the name of the constable so that he could follow up on his information if he wished. I also told of some of the things I had learned being the local contact for Amnesty International - of the corruption and abuse of power within government and corporate structures located in our own province. It had become obvious to me that although the reason given for all the various conflicts world-wide were always hung on religious or ethnic divisions, the truth was much more simply a belief on the perpetuators part of their own unfettered entitlement to power and money at any cost. That call lead to a long discussion on the nature and manifestation of evil. I asked him then why he hadn't written about that when he obviously had the knowledge and the skill to present it in a way that the community could apply in their own lives in oreder to counteract the evil. Sunshine disinfects was my take on it. He said that he wanted to write a book about it and had done some work toward it, but that it would likely very difficult to find any paper or publisher who would print it. He said he had free rein to talk about "evil" in the traditional religious sense but that anything that hit too close to home in terms of revealing the "real evil existing among us" in the community was not allowed.
When I work downtown I often don't have a chance to fully read the papers that arrive during the week - that is my Saturday morning treat. One of the papers had a story about Gordon disappearing from his home in February. I don't know if there was no publicity or if I missed it while I was at training in Ottawa. The reason for the story this week was to announce that his body had been found by a hiking trail in the mountains. He was 56 years old. No cause of death or assessment of foul play or otherwise was offered. Changed my focus for the weekend entirely dear diary, but I think I'll talk about the other issues tomorrow. Reza por favor.
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