St. Michael's: A Disappearing Legacy

I have been posting about my visits to St. Michael's Hospital, in Toronto, where I have been a regular patient for the past year or so. I now won't have to make another visit for another two months. My doctor diagnosed my treatment as successful at my visit last week, and that I just need to return for a follow-up. That is good news. I have said that it is St. Michael who is protecting me, and I carry with me a key chain of the hospital's sculpture.

I briefly mention this in Reclaiming The Beauty of St. Michael's Hospital, where I also write about the hospital.

I didn't know then, in February 26, 2014, four months ago, how appropriate that heading was.

On my last visit, I went again into the gift shop to buy something else - a poster, a replica of the sculpture, a mug even - as a conclusion and my small gift (although I have made a donation already, which can be made here) to my visits to the hospital.

The saleswoman had told me at my list visit that the hospital was changing its logo, and would be bringing in new items in a couple of months.

So I asked her what was new.

She showed me a couple of t-shirts with just the words "St. Michael's, Inspired Care, Inspiring Science" in bold, plain white print against a navy blue background.

"How about the sculpture?" I asked.

"Well, this is the new logo," she replied.

"That doesn't make sense. How is it St. Michael's without that famous sculpture as its logo? The older signs all had it."

"I don't know. We have no say,' she answered, clearly not very happy.

I got a little emotional, and said that if he wasn't going to be around to watch out for us, then who was?

Well, it is the trend now, in our contemporary world, where anything to do with God and Christianity, and more specifically Western Christianity and culture, are subtly being eradicated. The hospital hasn't change its name yet, although I don't doubt that can happen very soon. There are too many forces in multicultural Toronto which want Christianity, the Christian God, and Western culture out of the way.

I wrote here in my February 2014 post (linking to a 2012 post I did on my criticism of the hospital's funding source and new building):

I have criticized the hospital's latest wing, completed in 2011, and its funding source here. But, the St. Michael's Hospital legacy is long and sustained. There is Saint Michael's Cathedral, and St. Michael's Choir School for boys, both in the vicinity of the hospital (more here), giving it moral support.

I wrote in February 2012:

Art is a testament of God. The new hospital addition discards God through the bland, expressionless, spiritless flat glass panes. Since God is not important, then man takes on a different dimension, whose importance is gauged not by his spirituality and his goodness, but by his acquisitions and his power. And money is rootless, so it can come from the highest bidder, from any corner of the world. Shing won this time around, but it could have been anyone. Anyone, that is, who could come up with extra zeros on the donation check.

Even before that physical removal of the presence of God, or God's archangel, I had a premonition that the whole idea was to remove God altogether.

I figured this out two years before St. Michael was officially removed as the hospital's logo.

One of the hospital's new wing that is part of the hospital's "state-of-the-art" medical facility was funded by a Hong Kong businessman, Li Ka-Shing. His inroads into Canada include:

...the single largest shareholder of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), the fifth largest bank in Canada until the sale of his share in 2005 (with all proceedings donated, see below). He is also the majority shareholder of a major energy company, Husky Energy, based in Alberta, Canada.

In January 2005, Li announced plans to sell his $1.2 billion CAD stake in the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, with all proceeds going to private charitable foundations established by Li including the Li Ka Shing Foundation in Hong Kong and the Li Ka Shing (Canada) Foundation based in Toronto.

Li has some real estate interest in Vancouver, specifically in connection with Concord Pacific Developments that developed the old Expo '86 lands in Yaletown[citation needed], as well as Concord Park Place and CityPlace, Toronto in Toronto.

His two sons, who work with him, are Canadian citizens:

His two sons, Victor Li and Richard Li, are also prominent figures in the Hong Kong business scene. Victor Li works directly with his father as managing director and vice-chairman of Cheung Kong (Holdings) Limited, while Richard Li is the head of PCCW, the largest telecom company in Hong Kong. They are both Canadian citizens.
[Source: Wikipedia]

There is already some dramatic background regarding his son Victor Li who was kidnapped by "crime king "Big Spender" Cheung Tze-keung 17 years ago [in 1996]." Ka-Shing paid a ransom to have his son released, who is now a Canadian citizen (and from what I can find out, Ka-Shing, father, has dual Canadian and Chinese citizenship).

And here is a Canadian intelligence investigation on Li Ka-Shing:

Victor Li, the Chinese-Canadian businessman who wants to take control of much of Air Canada, has a family name that is well known to investigators in the Canadian Security and Information Service (CSIS) and the RCMP, who were very interested in his father, Li Ka-shing, in the late 1990s.

Li Ka-shing was the focus of a special joint CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Services) and RCMP (The Royal Canadian Mounted Police) probe, called Project Sidewinder. The report, called "Chinese Intelligence Services and Triads Financial Links in Canada," which was not widely distributed here, shows that Li Ka-shing is closely associated with the Chinese government.

"The companies belonging to Mr. Li (one of the 10 richest men in the world) are not simply businesses that performed better than our own companies in a particular sector," explained one of the main authors of the report, Michel Juneau-Katsuya, during an interview yesterday.

For years, Mr. Juneau-Katsuya headed the strategic investigation office for CSIS in the Asia-Pacific area. He retired in 2000 and now directs an international intelligence organization, the Northgate Group, in Ottawa. "No American company has links with the political centres in Washington that are as close as the ones the Li family has with Beijing," he said. "At the time of the investigations, Mr. Li was increasing his holdings in Canada. This raised a national security issue: to what extent can foreign companies be allowed to own important economic entities in Canada?"

[...]

Seven years ago, according to information that has never been confirmed, Li Ka-shing apparently handed over $125 million to men who kidnapped his son, Victor Li, in Hong Kong. According to reports, Mr. Ka-shing asked then Chinese President Jiang Zemin for assistance directly (when Hong Kong was still separate from China). [Source: Prime Time Crime: November 11, 2003]

This is the name that a hospital wishes to associate itself with. So, it is no surprise that St. Michael's has to go.

And even sadder, and more uncanny, is something which I just found out while trying to link to the hospital's benefactor, Patrick Keenan:

Patrick J. Keenan, 1932-2014
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of one of St. Michael’s best friends and most generous benefactors, Patrick (Pat) J. Keenan. His affiliation with the hospital spans nearly 30 years, including important roles as hospital board chair, dedicated volunteer and advocate, philanthropist and friend.

Here is more from the St. Michael's website, with an announcement written on Friday May 2, 2014:

St. Michael’s Hospital was today mourning the loss of Patrick (Pat) J. Keenan, a longtime supporter, board member, benefactor and friend. Keenan, 82, died Thursday night.

I was in the hospital, being given a clean bill of health on that very day, Thursday May 1, that Mr. Keenan died.

It is no surprose that I am getting all kinds of premonitions. We, those who get these because of our attention to our cultural changes, need to keep a vigilant eye, and are responsible for conveying our knowledge. I will continue to do so.


Pat and Barbara Keenan stand outside
the former Annex buildings, now the
site of the Keenan Research Centre, in 2005
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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat
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