Fonyo’s wedding was from the heart
When Steve Fonyo wanted to get married in 2010, Victoria’s lady of flowers, Norma Fitzsimmons, then age 87, responded and reached out to tourism people she knew to donate in-kind services.
She was able to arrange a full wedding for Steve and his bride, who were very appreciative. This act of kindness reflects the generous spirit of Norma and Victorians. Although Fonyo’s life met with tragedy, he touched the hearts of many here.
Janna Ginsberg Bleviss
Oak Bay
Remember Fonyo for his accomplishments
Yes, Steve Fonyo struggled with life for many years after his cross-Canada run, but he should be remembered for raising millions to fight cancer.
I can’t imagine what it was like for Steve and his family when he lost his leg to cancer at the age of 12. The effort that must have gone into training and organizing for his run and being able to complete it should be remembered and respected.
He earned his Order of Canada.
Carol Hale
Victoria
Fonyo persevered time and time again
Steve Fonyo’s rollercoaster life is both a cautionary and a redemptive story that reminds us that we are all works in progress.
His niece, Melody Kruppa, said, “He just persevered.” He certainly did. First, after losing a leg to cancer when he was 12.
Second, in completing his 14-month Journey for Lives marathon across Canada in May 1985, which raised $14 million to fight cancer.
Third, by enduring numerous subsequent, and often self-inflicted, difficulties in his life, including being put into an induced coma after being beaten and stabbed in 2015.
Alan Zweig, who made two documentaries about Fonyo, said he was a complicated person who felt he’d disappointed Canadians. “We hoped, and he hoped, and we feel like Canadians hoped that he would someday escape [his personal] turmoil.”
The arc of Fonyo’s life went from being the youngest person, at 19, to be appointed an officer of the Order of Canada to being stripped of that honour in 2009, but it didn’t end there.
“I don’t think they should have taken away my Order of Canada. I think they should have been more supportive, but it’s a two-way street,” he acknowledged. “I wasn’t really doing anything for myself either.”
Zweig’s documentaries, Hurt and Hope, tell the tale. After viewing the former, Fonyo realized: “I need to better myself.” He resolved to do that, and, with the help of others, he succeeded.
As Kruppa, his niece, said: “What I respected about him was that he had a lot of difficulties, but he kept going.” She wants the federal government to reinstate his Order of Canada.
Fonyo’s honesty enabled him to face up to himself. He’s a very public example of one of life’s most important lessons. That’s an achievement worthy of the restoration of his Order of Canada.
Patrick Wolfe
Victoria
Words to note about Steve Fonyo
Heroes do not have to be perfect.
Bill Carere
Victoria
A lesson in Central Saanich geography
Perhaps there are more important things to discuss in today’s world, but I can’t help but reply to the Central Saanich mayor’s comment that residents near Lochside Drive and Mount Newton Cross Road have to drive into Sidney or further afield to find groceries and other services.
Perhaps he was just trying to make a point that residents of the Marigold area would like to have a nearby grocery store, but I’d like to point out that just around the corner from his office, about two kilometres from the Marigold lands, there is not only a major supermarket, but a drug store, liquor store, hardware store, restaurants and many other businesses.
Sidney, by comparison, is more than seven kilometres away.
Barry Jensen
Brentwood Bay
Capital-gains tax on homes might help
The main problem causing rising home prices appears to be lack of supply. This is partly because we decided not to restrict home ownership to Canadians and landed immigrants.
The fastest way for a politician to get defeated is to suggest capital gains on homes. However I for one would like to know what impact a modified capital gains, perhaps 25% instead of 50%, would be on reducing the obscene increase of domestic home prices.
Existing home owners will not have their asset threatened except any increase in value would be reduced. Modifications to improve the value could be deducted from any tax.
Any ideas out there?
Barry Rolston
Victoria
Fringe element started the convoy
A recent letter was wrong in asserting that the “freedom” convoy was started by normal-sounding people, later exploited by “fringe” elements. The opposite is true.
The convoy was started by anti-government activists using a grievance to gain public support.
The grievances used may predate the convoy, but the convoy as an organized movement was started with these “fringe” elements.
The memorandum of understanding that calls for the overthrow and replacement of the federal government was written before the convoy was organized, and before cross-border trucker vaccination mandates.
It was first presented in October 2021. Pat King is an original key organizer of the convoy to Ottawa. He has been involved with anti-government movements predating the pandemic.
He holds and expresses white-supremecy views, and had called for violence as a solution before the convoy reached Ottawa.
Tamara Lich, a key organizer who ran the GoFundMe fundraising, has been involved with or led various alt-right movements, including the Maverick party, which calls for some western provinces to leave Canada and join a United States led by Donald Trump.
People may strongly disagree with the fringe views of the convoy while supporting opposition to public-health measures and vaccination mandates. Such people should, as the letter-writer has done, repudiate the fringe aspect. But they cannot be claimed to have joined after.
Arthur Taylor
Saanich
Don’t be a hypocrite with these blockades
Many have complained about the trucker protests blocking things, and that’s great. Nobody should be blocking anything, no matter the cause.
However, where were these naysayers when roads and bridges were being blocked by various environmental and other groups on the left, including literally camping out on railroad tracks for months with little to no action by the authorities?
Nobody blocked those other protesters’ — or their donors’ — bank accounts. Nobody invoked the Emergencies Act. The government didn’t accuse them of being funded by foreign agitators.
Anyone who complained about the truckers disrupting people's lives, but didn’t complain about those other protesters disrupting people's lives and even justified those blockades as a moral necessity, is a hypocrite.
The actions of the authorities just make it appear as if protesting is pointless and doesn’t actually work, and that governments will only do what they were inclined to do already.
If they don’t want to do something, they won’t, no matter how many people come out with placards and chants, nor how much attention protesters insist they must get by blocking a road.
April J. Gibson
Duncan
Surgical instruments made a real difference in bladder surgery
Re: “Bladder-cancer survivor praises equipment that made surgery less invasive,” Feb. 18.
Your story about Lional Polard inspired me to contribute to the Victoria Hospitals Foundation and its “Emerge Stronger” campaign. I admire Polard’s candour.
I am also a patient of Dr. Iain McAuley. He’s a superb practitioner and a thoughtful person, excellent qualities for someone who guides patients through procedures that can be unnerving. I am grateful for his skill and care.
That machine they’re raising money for — the ureteroscope — is a real humdinger. If you ever need one, you’ll be grateful they have it, and glad they’re buying more. You may be grateful more than once; recurrence is a risk of bladder cancer.
A general note: There is a strong link between smoking and bladder cancer. Not as strong as between smoking and lung cancer, but strong enough that every surgeon and researcher will tell you about it. I’m lucky that I quit smoking several years before my diagnosis. Had I kept smoking, my circumstances might be more complicated.
If you used to smoke, watch for the warning signs. If you smoke at present, do everything you can to quit, as often as necessary until you succeed. You might consider contributing some of your smoking budget to the Victoria Hospitals Foundation.
Stay well.
George Jamieson
Victoria
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