Saturday, August 29, 2009

Good old Nova Scotian Hypocrisy


The recent glossy colour insert in the Herald from the Province, promoting their "Doers and Dreamers" Guide, has a photo of a cute kid on the front, bottom lef. She looks happy and is sitting in a pile of Nova Scotia pumpkins.

Well that cute kid, along with her sister and parents were deported last year. She is Maria Lua da Silva, the daughter of Paula and Azeitona da Silva, the Brasilian couple who were the core energy behind the capoeira dance centre and troupe in the North End.

It was the height of hypocrisy to deport these people, who were contributing immensely to the cultural wealth of our city and Province, while allowing some other very questionable people to stay. But to add to that by stealing the image of their child to promote our culture, which we denied them, borders on criminal.

I wonder how much the da Silvas are being paid for this use of their daughter's image, or, because they have been tossed out, it is being used without permission or fee? How totally Canadian would that be?

I am sure someone in the media could have some fun with this.

They also used her image on the front cover of their Festivals and Events Guide. Really really insulting, when you consider she was booted out of the country.

3 comments:

Natalie Joan said...

Unbelievable. Surely someone, somewhere should have caught this?

Gifted Typist said...

Aahhhh. Really?

I remember that little girl, i knew her parents when I played surdo in Samba Nova. Unbelievable that they would use her lovely little face to promote the land that deported her. Did that make the news?

Brewnoser said...

It did indeed. Twitcoast was on it...

http://www.thecoast.ca/RealityBites/archives/2009/09/17/immigration-irony