New Zealand diplomat laments candy controversy

As a follow-up to the story posted Thursday, April 23, 2009 @ 9:50AM

New Zealand's high commissioner in Ottawa is disappointed her fellow Kiwis are angry at a Canadian Inuk woman who raised concerns about the brand name of a marshmallow candy popular in the southern island nation.

Kate Lackey notes that people in New Zealand are as loyal to the colourful "Eskimos" treats as Canadians are to Tim Hortons coffee. But rude radio comments and online calls for the 21-year-old tourist to head back to Canada are not acceptable, she said Thursday.

"I would hope New Zealanders would be a bit more courteous and understanding," Lackey said.

"I'll probably get into trouble in New Zealand for saying such a thing, but often there's a sort of 'rednecky' element ... The people who get on talk-back (radio) and stuff haven't had time to think through a bit more deeply how the other person might feel."

Canadian Seeka Veevee Parsons made headlines across New Zealand this week after complaining to a TV crew about the candies, which are shaped like a person bundled up in a furry parka and are sold in a bag bearing the picture of a smiling Inuk in front of an igloo.

Born in Iqaluit, Nunavut, and raised in Glovertown, N.L., Veevee Parsons said the word "Eskimo" was originally an insult meaning ``eater of raw flesh." As a child, she was teased and called a ``dirty Eskimo girl."

"I think the term 'Eskimo' can almost be related to the term 'savage' or 'Indian' or maybe even the 'n-word' for African-American people," she said in an interview earlier this week.

The word was replaced in Canada with "Inuk" and "Inuit" in the 1970s, although it is still common in Alaska. And it's still part of the name used by the Edmonton team in the Canadian Football League.

The "Eskimos" debate has led to phone calls and emails flooding New Zealand radio and television shows and has become a prime topic for bloggers. Most are overwhelmingly in support of keeping the name. Some have called Veevee Parsons a "busybody" and a ``b*tch." Many want her to go home.

"Will the Inuit stop clubbing fur seals to death? We don't come to your country and tell you how to live," one man wrote on the 3News television website.

The Cadbury Pascall company has defended its product and refuses to change it.

Lackey said that's a business decision she won't interfere with.

"That sounds a wee bit hard-hearted, but, as I say, this particular candy has been around for so long. I think New Zealanders would have had absolutely no idea that it might cause offence to another people."

She said she has the highest admiration for the Inuit and has travelled across Canada's North.

Veevee Parsons has spent the last two months trekking around New Zealand and planned to leave in a few weeks to tour Australia. She is scheduled to fly home in June.

Before her return, she wants to mail packages of Eskimos candies to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Nunavut Premier Eva Aariak to bring their attention to the confections.

"I just hope Seeka enjoys her stay in New Zealand and that she doesn't feel that the bulk of New Zealand people would be other than hospitable to a young Canadian on our shores," said Lackey.

She said she doesn't think the candy controversy would ever cause a political rift between the two nations.

"You could hardly have two countries closer together in attitudes and values than Canada and New Zealand," said Lackey.

"I often say that for New Zealanders, Canada seems like the least foreign country in the world. People arrive here and, after about 10 minutes, they feel at home."

Eskimo Lolly: Candy...or racial slur?

By her own calculation, Canadian tourist Seeka Lee Veevee Parsons is one unpopular woman in New Zealand right now – just because of what she insists she is not: an Eskimo.

The Inuit woman is garnering headlines – and animosity – for suggesting a favourite New Zealand candy, the Eskimo Lolly, is both racist and improper.

Veevee Parsons said yesterday she has been shocked at the hostility she has created in the country she loved from the time she arrived two months ago by simply raising the issue of the candy she saw recently in a New Zealand store.

"Calling someone an Eskimo is no longer responsible," said the 21-year-old Parsons, who is from Nunavut but has been on an extended work holiday in New Zealand.

"When I was a kid, they used to call me a dirty Eskimo girl and it's a term that shouldn't be used anymore especially on a candy. Is it right that people go around eating shapes of people of another culture?"

The Eskimo Lolly, described as "cherished" and a "treasure" to New Zealanders, is a multi-coloured marshmallow candy in the shape of a person wearing a thick hooded jacket in front of an igloo.

Veevee Parsons, who is working at an organic farm near the city of Rotorua, said she made the comments to a television station after being interviewed at a tourist information booth she was visiting.

Ever since the story about her complaint aired on one television station earlier this week, Veevee Parsons has been interviewed nearly a dozen times and viewers and readers have been responding by the thousands to her concerns. Most of the response has been personal attacks against Veevee Parsons, with a few telling her to "go home" and others insisting she shut up. "I eat jelly babies. It doesn't mean that I like to bite small children. It's just confectionary," wrote one reader. "If you don't like it, how about you don't buy it!"

Daniel Ellis, spokesperson for Cadbury/Pascall, the maker of the candy in New Zealand, said in an interview with media that he's been surprised by the strong public opinions provoked by Veevee Parsons' comments. In the 54-year history of the Eskimo Lolly, there have been only two complaints about the use of the term, Ellis said.

"People felt one of their favourites was being discussed in such a way that they've had to voice their opinion," said Ellis. "New Zealanders are very patriotic."

The company, while it takes the complaint seriously, doesn't intend to change the name.

A non-sports fan, Veevee Parsons said she didn't even know there was a CFL (Canadian Football League) team called the Edmonton Eskimos until her family pointed out to her that it's her grandfather's favourite team.

Veevee Parsons plans to return home to Canada in June and said she intends to send the candy to Prime Minister Stephen Harper in hopes he'll bring the issue up.

University of British Columbia social work professor Frank Tester, who researches Inuit social history, said the term Eskimo, which originated from the Cree language and translates as eater of raw meat, has never been an appropriate term. He said despite complaints, Eskimo Pie is still for sale and one Vancouver bagel shop shows a toothless Inuit poster to tout its soft bagels.

Veevee Parsons' uncle, David Veevee, who lives in Iqaluit, said he's been surprised at the uproar created over his niece's statements about the use of the word Eskimo.

"It doesn't bother me if people down there in the south use the word Eskimo," said Veevee. "They just don't know any better. So maybe if what she's doing is educating them, that's all right. It's just a candy, after all."

So what do you think? is it simply a candy? or a direct, hateful racial slur? and what ABOUT the names used by those other brands? like Eskimo Pie, or sports teams like Edmonton Eskimos, Washington Redskins, Kansas City Chiefs, Cleveland Indians, or The Chicago Blackhawks logo? is it time, now in 2009 to look into these as well? What do you think?

Man buys U.S. Military secrets from thrift store for $9

A tourist walks into a thrift store.

It sounds like the opening line to a bad joke. And this case was a bad joke -- for the Pentagon.

Chris Ogle of New Zealand was in Oklahoma about a year ago when he bought a used MP3 player from a thrift store for $9. A few weeks ago, he plugged it into his computer to download a song, and he instead discovered confidential U.S. military files.

"The more I look at it, the more I see, and the less I think I should be," Ogle said with a nervous laugh in an interview with TVNZ.

The files included the home addresses, Social Security numbers and cell phone numbers of U.S. soldiers. The player also included what appeared to be mission briefings and lists of equipment deployed to hot spots in Afghanistan and Iraq. Most of the information appears to date to 2005.

The New Zealand journalist who first reported the story was able to contact at least one of the soldiers by dialing a phone number found in the files. He hung up once she explained why she was calling. Video of how man discovered secret military files »

Pentagon officials say that they are aware of the MP3 player, but can't talk about it until investigators confirm that the information came from the U.S. Department of Defense.

"The government isn't doing a good job of protecting the information that it collects," said Marc Rotenberg of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington.

Despite government efforts to protect sensitive information, this is a growing problem, privacy experts say.

Two years ago, the Department of Veterans Affairs lost track of a laptop with the personal information of millions of soldiers. And computer hard drives with classified military information have been found for sale at street markets in Afghanistan.

"When you can identify American personnel, when you have their names, their home address, their cell phone numbers, you put people in a dangerous position," Rotenberg said.

In this case, the personal information for several hundred soldiers landed in friendly hands. Ogle told said the MP3 player is being kept in a safe place and he will happily turn it over to U.S. military officials if they ask for it.