Stewart Burnett

Inuvik, NT

Dear Editor,

Thank you to Cece Hodgson McCauley for her fantastic columns over the years. I am sad to hear of her passing but her words will live on.

Her columns were always a breath of fresh air in a land that is so vacuumed of free expression. Her work stands in stark contrast to the looming shadow that haunts so many corners of the North, where people are afraid to speak up about domestic abuse, political improprieties or even share a controversial thought.

Her final column spoke to me and I wanted to address her directly.

Cece, they donSA国际影视传媒檛 write like you because theySA国际影视传媒檙e scared. We have grown up in a generation of online witch hunts and unspoken threats.

Best hope thereSA国际影视传媒檚 nothing dark in your past, or even an off-colour joke you made on Twitter 10 years ago, because it could blow up in your face at any moment.

Most would rather hide and play it safe.

I resonate with your columns and the words in your last piece, because of my past growing up with a speech impediment. I used to dream of speaking freely and never thought it would be in reach.

Once I overcame the mental hurdle of my stutter, I was appalled to find a world that didnSA国际影视传媒檛 want me to speak simply because they didnSA国际影视传媒檛 like my ideas.

The hell with that, man. What I think is going down in history, wherever that ship lands me.

ThatSA国际影视传媒檚 a hill to die on if there ever was one.

Cece, you canSA国际影视传媒檛 go down more honourably than telling the truth, or whatSA国际影视传媒檚 true to you.

God speed, and let that next voice rise above the fog.