Sense of Place #2

From the Western Ontario Better Business Bureau website:
"Before you file a complaint, be sure you have made an effort to settle your complaint directly with the company by contacting the owner, manager or someone in authority with the company.

- Please make sure your complaint is brief but complete and factual.

- A copy of the complaint will be sent to the company for their response.

The BBB will attempt to help the consumer and the business reach a satisfactory settlement; however, the BBB cannot force an adjustment. If a satisfactory settlement cannot be reached, the BBB does offer Mediation Services."

O.K. Here goes:
........................................

Jan Delaney, President
Better Business Bureau of WESTERN ONTARIO
308-200 Queens Ave.
London, ON N6A 1J3
Email: jdelaney@london.bbb.org
Aug 26, 2008

A request for truth in advertising

Dear Ms Delaney,
I am writing to you from a city in Western Ontario. We are located directly on the Trans Canada Highway, the CPR main line, the Trans Canada Natural Gas Pipeline and Canada’s main fibre optic and communication corridor. We are a short distance from the United States border and Manitoba is a 30 minute drive away. We are located in the same economic corridor as Winnipeg, Brandon, Regina, Calgary, Vancouver and other cities in Southern Canada. My Western Ontario City is, in fact, closer to Edmonton, Alberta than it is to Toronto. Despite our southern Canadian location on the busy, main economic corridor, we are treated by Queen's Park and others in deep Southern Ontario like we are "remote" and "Northern". The Minister of Industry claims we have "special challenges," but she isn't able to say what those "special challenges" are when compared to our immediate western neighbours.

Perception is a powerful thing and names are an important part of shaping perception. Names can create the mythology and the mythology can become stronger than the facts.
And some of the facts are that:
- The Province of Ontario is about 1,634 km wide from its easternmost tip to that western boundary not far from my home in Kenora.
- A rough calculation locates the centre of Ontario just west of Pancake Bay on Lake Superior, … west of Sault Ste Marie.
- The longitude at this provincial mid-point is 84 degrees, forty-four minutes West.
- London, Ontario, the location of your so-called "Western Ontario" Better Business Bureau is about 81 degrees, fifteen minutes West longitude, ...which makes it over 300 kilometres to the EAST of Ontario's mid-point!
- You are located at about the same longitude as Timmins, Ontario, whose citizens quite rightly describe themselves as being in EASTERN Ontario.
- Even a glance at the enclosed Ontario map which highlights London's longitude quickly confirms that you and your Bureau are most decidedly located in EASTERN Ontario.

By claiming to be something you are not, you are denying our reality. You are stealing our true identity. Ours is the true Western region of Ontario. In perpetuating a false, south-centred myth, you are, in effect denying the existence of a large and important part of our Province. While Toronto might have much to recommend it, the points of the compass, (and those of us who occupy those points,) are not defined by our relation to it. Southern Ontario is not the center of the universe, … or even the province. To describe yourself as 'Western Ontario' perpetuates a distortion and an untruth and the perpetuation of that lie is harmful to our region.

On behalf of all of us in WESTERN ONTARIO and on behalf of all Ontarions who wish to understand the true nature of our province, this is to request that you change your name to reflect your correct location in relation to the rest of the province.
There can be no geographical justification for describing yourself as ‘Western Ontario”. It is simply not true. This is to respectfully request that you cease this untruth.
Thank you for your understanding and your attention to this request.
Yours truly,
C. Cotton,
Kenora, Ontario

P.S. For the record: like Northern Quebec, Northern Manitoba, Northern Saskatchewan, Northern Alberta and Northern British Columbia, Northern Ontario can be found in that very large area north of the 50th parallel.