In an effort to encourage the youth of Canada to speak up about their thoughts on our country, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation began a forum entitled, “The Great Canadian Wish List” on the internet site Facebook. Facebook is a social networking website that has become popular for connecting and re-connecting with friends, colleagues, co-workers and family through the internet. As of February 2007, there were 20 million users and the number keeps growing.
CBC worked with Student Vote to create the Wish List. Student Vote is a non-partisan educational program. It creates an election experience for students who are not yet voting age. On its website, www.studentvote.ca, it is said: “We hope they’ll have a chance to discover what being involved can do for Canada.”
On this CBC-created group, any Facebook user may make a wish for others to support. On the first day, Dave Gilbert heard about it on CBC World News and decided to make his wish known: abolish abortion in Canada. A discussion thread was started in the main group, which grew quickly with intense debate. Posts numbered in the thousands, as both sides of the issue jumped in to defend their view.
The conclusion of the summary of the abolish abortion wish states, “This wish aims to redeem the humanity of the preborn child. It also recognizes that there need to be necessary social changes in place to support women in crisis pregnancies.”
As Gilbert’s wish grew in supporters, an opposing wish was started: I wish that Canada would remain “pro-choice.” Kirsten Van Houten said in the wish summary that “in response to the growing support for the ‘pro-life’ group’s wish, this wish is an alternative for anyone who is ‘pro-choice.’” She also explained the rationale for the wish: “Abortion is an issue concerning a private individual and their body. Canada’s legal system is based on the concept that individuals are rational, self-interested, dignified human beings, which is reflected in the Morgentaler case. In addition, given that a fetus is not considered to be a child until the second or third trimester, there can be no claim that it’s murder.”
There has been much media attention given to this surge of talk on abortion. The Globe and Mail, along with MacLeans.ca, had articles on it. On June 12, the CBC News at Six covered the Wish List and interviewed Gilbert. He says the number of supporters and amount of talk on abortion “shows that with open and free debate, Canadians want to talk about (abortion). This is not a closed issue.” Also interviewed was Tamara Small, who studies politics and social networks at Mount Allison University. She attributes the wish being number one to supporters who are better organized.
The nature of Facebook allows many individuals to post as much as they would like as often they would like with whatever they want to say. Needless to say, then, many arguments have been posted, logical and illogical. The issue dominated many discussions, despite the intention of the CBC to have a plethora of wishes talked about.
At the top of the main group, CBC points out: “Remember, too, that this is not a moderated site: we set it up, but that’s it. This is your place to have your say, get into your debates and discussions and views. Lay off the swearing and the bickering. This is a public place – give folks a chance to speak out, too.
“We’re not sure where this all leads to in the end, but at the very least, we hope people have some fun, as well as celebrating and debating what makes us proud.”
Apart from the debate on abortion, many other wishes are being stated. A wish for a spiritual revival in our nation is a leading wish. Topics surrounding tuition fees, the environment and defending the traditional definition of marriage also have gained many supporters. The CBC is planning to air a program about the top wishes in early July.
