The Value of a Life
The Canadian Perinatal Surveillance System has just announced a very sad little statistic. It is their estimate that an approximate 200 newborns a year go unregistered in Ontario, the only province that allows municipalities to set a fee for the registration of a birth. The current cost in Toronto to have your baby's arrival officially documented is $27.50, although that amount will rise to $35.00 on July 1st.
While the fee may be nothing to many parents, for those who struggle financially, it may be more than the family budget can handle. Should one of the unregistered babies die, their death would also go unregistered, and then, officially, the little one would never have existed.
How can such a state of affairs be allowed to continue in Ontario, in a developed country, where the government claims a charter of rights applies to each and every citizen dwelling under its jurisdiction? Shouldn't the registration of a birth be a right? Is this not the same as declaring some to be intrinsically more valuable than others? You have to wonder what criteria the government are using here to judge the value of a life.
Dying is not an activity that comes cheap, either. Ontario's official forms are a little less expensive for this one - $15.00 if you want a basic form, or $22.00 if you want a certified form. Neither of those should break the bank, so to speak, unless we are talking again about people on limited incomes. No, the money needed for dying that got me this past weekend was the amount charged by the attending cleric. You see, my father passed away and we requested a priest from my mother's parish to conduct a service at the funeral home. No problem. Mr. Cleric-Collar was glad to come and intone the appropriate words. Just before he left however, he did extend his hand to take his "honorarium". He charged $200.00. Of course, we paid it, but I was left standing there with a taste in my mouth like stale puke.
Again, what of the economically underprivileged? While I am sure there are members of the clergy who would waive the fee, I am equally sure that there are those who would not. It disgusts me. Correct me if I am wrong, but I think that the holy writings of most religions are devoid of stories recounting their deity's gettind involved onlly with those who anted up first. Are the clergy there to offer words of comfort, or to remind us that everything comes with a price tag?
Bono declares in one of his recordings, "the god I believe in isn't short of cash". If the clergy need to pay their mortgage, they could perhaps charge set yearly fees for congregation membership, and gear them directly to income. Real believers should have no problem with the system, since tithing is not a new idea. Those who do bitch and whine about it could maybe get the latest DIY edition of "Religious Rites for Dummies" and go it on their own. People who look to a representative of a formal religion for guidance and comfort at such a time should receive it without being asked for cash. God wouldn't mind.
While the fee may be nothing to many parents, for those who struggle financially, it may be more than the family budget can handle. Should one of the unregistered babies die, their death would also go unregistered, and then, officially, the little one would never have existed.
How can such a state of affairs be allowed to continue in Ontario, in a developed country, where the government claims a charter of rights applies to each and every citizen dwelling under its jurisdiction? Shouldn't the registration of a birth be a right? Is this not the same as declaring some to be intrinsically more valuable than others? You have to wonder what criteria the government are using here to judge the value of a life.
Dying is not an activity that comes cheap, either. Ontario's official forms are a little less expensive for this one - $15.00 if you want a basic form, or $22.00 if you want a certified form. Neither of those should break the bank, so to speak, unless we are talking again about people on limited incomes. No, the money needed for dying that got me this past weekend was the amount charged by the attending cleric. You see, my father passed away and we requested a priest from my mother's parish to conduct a service at the funeral home. No problem. Mr. Cleric-Collar was glad to come and intone the appropriate words. Just before he left however, he did extend his hand to take his "honorarium". He charged $200.00. Of course, we paid it, but I was left standing there with a taste in my mouth like stale puke.
Again, what of the economically underprivileged? While I am sure there are members of the clergy who would waive the fee, I am equally sure that there are those who would not. It disgusts me. Correct me if I am wrong, but I think that the holy writings of most religions are devoid of stories recounting their deity's gettind involved onlly with those who anted up first. Are the clergy there to offer words of comfort, or to remind us that everything comes with a price tag?
Bono declares in one of his recordings, "the god I believe in isn't short of cash". If the clergy need to pay their mortgage, they could perhaps charge set yearly fees for congregation membership, and gear them directly to income. Real believers should have no problem with the system, since tithing is not a new idea. Those who do bitch and whine about it could maybe get the latest DIY edition of "Religious Rites for Dummies" and go it on their own. People who look to a representative of a formal religion for guidance and comfort at such a time should receive it without being asked for cash. God wouldn't mind.
1 Comments:
I thought it was free to register a birth and death -- I thought that was right afforded to all citizens of Canada. Isn't that one of the reasons we pay taxes? It's disturbing that user fees are being charged to babies and the dead -- not usually pockets that have money.
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