Skip to content

Tragedy mars Canada Day celebration for reporter

Life is not like the comics, where heroes battle super-villains and after destroying much of the city, live to tell their tales. Heroes come in all shapes and sizes, with or without capes, and they can die just like anybody else.

Life is not like the comics, where heroes battle super-villains and after destroying much of the city, live to tell their tales.

Heroes come in all shapes and sizes, with or without capes, and they can die just like anybody else.

Justin Bokma might not have been as famous perhaps as Tony Hawk, but he was pretty well known where I am from.

I did not know him personally, but I, like many of the people I grew up with in Ontario in the 90s, knew of the former pro-skateboarder and most of us looked up to him in the way that young people idolize members of their community who are famous.

His death on Canada Day marred everything about the national holiday for me, and is just another example, in my opinion, of why our country needs to take a good look in the mirror.

Working as a bouncer at a Toronto-area lounge, Bokma was not one of those guys who relied on brute force to get his point across, because he did not have to.

He was the kind of guy that talked softly, smiled often and made friends with everyone.

Bokma did not deserve to be shot trying to save someone else’s life, but he died a hero nonetheless.

I only wish I had the courage to face down a loaded gun like he did.

To the people who revere the gangster lifestyle: Give your head a shake.

It’s time for you to grow up, put down the drugs and find some clothes that fit.

We live in a First-World country, and I’m pretty sure none of us lives in a ghetto neighbourhood as bad as the ones the Jews were forced into in 1940.

Our country has some of the strictest gun laws in the world, and yet violence directly attributed to firearms is becoming more and more common.

I dread the thought of waking up one day, in the near future, and not being able to distinguish Canada from other failed states.

Rest in peace Justin Bokma.

The world lost someone good for it on July 1.

push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks