Remembering these men, every day of my life
In the early 1960s I was employed as a nursing orderly at Shaughnessy Military Hospital in Vancouver. I worked on a ward full of First World War veterans with one or two Boer War vets. It was a large common room with about 30 vets sharing.
Most had been enlisted men, with the exception of Lt.-Col. Andrew Leslie Coote who, although eligible for a private room, stayed with “the men.”
Many were still suffering the effects of war; lost limbs, scars from wounds and gas attacks. They had served all over the world.
Many had been what we would now consider “homeless” or had come to Shaughnessy Hospital from small, single room occupancy rooms in Vancouver’s Eastside. A few had gone into the woods during the 1930s and lived a simple life until old age drove them out to seek help.
They became my friends and I dressed them, washed them, played cards, and walked them, and, each month, especially during the winters, they passed away.
I need no poppies or special day to cause me to remember them. They are woven into the fabric of my life.
Ken Johnson
Colwood
An ordeal not right for any Canadian
Re: “Too late for me, but track health through your doctor,” commentary, Nov. 2.
I am a retired orthopedic surgeon who practised in B.C. for 31 years.
After reading Margaret Jestico’s commentary on the advance of her cancer, I am compelled to express my utter disbelief, and dismay, that she should have fallen through the cracks concerning her management to the point that her tumour is now inoperable and incurable.
No one in a country as well-endowed and as rich as Canada should have to go through such an ordeal. The “pandemic” is no excuse. I cannot imagine the disappointment, frustration, worry and raw fear that she must have endured, and continues to endure.
I don’t know how close she is to loved ones but sometimes telepathy works and I would wish this kind soul to understand that I have her in my mind every day. I couldn’t forget her if I tried.
James Dunlop
Duncan
To solve the MD crisis, offer financial deals
My guess is that are as many as 100,000 people without a family doctor in Victoria. Every time another GP throws in the towel, about 1,700 people, from newborns to ages of 100 or more, are out on the street with no GP and no access to a clinic either.
I’ve been in that position since August 2020 and I’m about to turn 80. This is surely going to lead to a very expensive health crisis.
Here is a simple, inexpensive and immediate start to the solution:
1. Provide an interest-free loan to all medical students in B.C. to pay for all their tuition fees, provided they practise for a minimum of 10 years as a GP in B.C. following graduation, with the loan being repayable over the 10 years.
The government gets all its money back and the only cost is administration and the absence of interest payments.
2. Provide an interest-free loan to all medical graduates and GPs from outside B.C., to join/purchase an existing GP practice here, providing they practise as a GP in B.C. for a minimum of 10 years, with the loan repayable over the 10 years. Once again, the government gets its money back, with minimal cost.
3. Start paying GPs a proper income. New GPs can’t even afford to buy a house and the retiring ones can’t sell their practices, or even give them away.
Bob Wheaton
Victoria
Setting the stage for more conflict
Re: “Victoria council mulls giving annual grant to First Nations, based on tax revenue,” Nov 6.
This annual grant proposed by the “City Family Reconciliation Committee” would begin the funnelling of year-over-year increases of Victoria tax dollars to the Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations.
Let’s all be clear. This committee includes the Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations and councillors (but not us), and this “grant idea” will be presented to the chiefs and councils of both First Nations.
Clearly the leadership of both First Nations already know about this “grant idea” and one can only surmise that they already support this. How do you spell Done Deal?
Victoria council is quoted as mulling over this “grant idea” and we as citizens of Victoria are playing second fiddle to this committee.
But we will be consulted and can have input into this and some 50 other items as part of the budget process. But wait, this grant is now part of the city’s budget process, clearly, they are well past mulling. How do you spell Done Deal?
This grant, as with so many of this council’s directions and decisions, is so far out of their lane of responsibility that it is simply mind-boggling.
Simply put, city taxes are for city services, not for ongoing financial compensation for anyone or any group including First Nations. Period.
Sadly, we continue to see the city family and city council proffering ideas that continue to separate and divide our community.
Reconciliation must be a two-way street. This council is setting the stage for conflict, not reconciliation.
Steve and Peg Orcherton
Victoria
Elect our councils for shorter terms
I have a small commercial building that fronts Fort and Meares. Over recent years we have been hit with bike lanes and road closures on Vancouver.
My property taxes went up 25 per cent this year. The street people routinely trash and defecate on our parking lot that faces Meares.
We have no police force we can turn to for help, so I am having to spend about $40,000 to fence off the property for the safety of the businesses here.
And in what might be the final blow, we have a 50-unit B.C. Housing structure being built right opposite us.
Well, we thought it was the final blow, but we underestimated how indifferent this council is to the businesses whose taxes pay for this city, and they are now propose to give away a whopping percentage of those taxes in the name of “sharing the wealth”!
If council spent time sharing our pain, they might not talk such rubbish as sharing the wealth.
When council has fixed the roads, properly funded the police and other core necessities, and reduced the crippling tax burden on businesses, then let them talk about sharing the wealth.
This council has proved that four-year terms are too long. There is no recall legislation to remove a council that strays so far from its core mandate, and four years gives them too much time to do harm before the electorate can remove them.
Bring back three-year terms!
Jason Austin
Victoria
It’s time for real change to fight climate crisis
Now that we know that COP26, the recent climate conference in Glasgow, was a failure, it is time for the rest of us to drive the agenda in the new direction the politicians have shown themselves unwilling to go.
Our elected representatives have neither heard nor understood what everyone else has been saying about climate change.
The time for “pretend” legislation, the worst kind of betrayal by governments too timid or corrupt to contemplate serious change, is over. So what can Canadians do to effectively take up arms against the sea of troubles facing us? We cannot rely solely on the Greta Thunbergs, David Suzukis and Elizabeth Mays of this world to carry the flag alone.
Whether acting individually or through new and existing non-governmental organizations, we must begin to act on our own behalf and at the same time speak out. We must make clear to our elected representatives at every level that what they have pretended to do to this point has been wholly, shamefully inadequate.
Let’s have effective regulatory changes that will bring about real change. Timetables must be tightened to make up for foot-dragging extending over decades. Sacrifices must be demanded and made on the part of everyone and every entity in Canadian society.
We can do these things both for our own benefit and to stand as an example to others. No one anywhere in the world will be able to say we did not understand the existential threat facing us, nor were we afraid to take the necessary measures to halt climate degradation, protect our natural environment and ensure the future of humanity.
Tom Masters
Chemainus
A pair of dichotomies from the climate gabfest
The enigmatic teenager Greta Thunberg is a dichotomy, in what she represents to different groups of people.
To many the young Swede is nothing less than a Greenie reincarnation of Mother Teresa, while to others she’s nothing more than another irritating, self-promoting influencer from Instagram and Twitter.
Greta’s brand of lip service is seen by supporters as dedicated or even cute, to others she’s a loudmouth rudely sneering at older generations, while over-simplifying complex economic, geopolitical and scientific concerns in energy industries.
Greta may be correct in declaring COP26 a failure, labelling it a “global greenwashing festival,” and all global taxpayers should consider the cost of this gigantic environmental bun-fest attended by nearly 40,000 delegates from almost 200 countries.
Some contingents are huge, with Ottawa’s official delegation numbering 277, including numerous elected officials and bureaucrats, 17 press aides, official videographers, photographers and speechwriters, along with four CBC reporters.
Representatives from ministries of environment, agriculture and natural resources, and at least one private citizen, strode Glasgow’s red carpets. That would be Catherine McKenna, who recently retired as MP after less than six years; the first four as environment minister, a tenure largely regarded as a dismal failure.
Cynics may wonder if McKenna was invited to Glasgow for expertise in expense accounts, as three of her Environment Canada bureaucrats racked up a huge food and drinks bill exceeding $12,000 at COP21 in Paris. Her last delegation to COP25 in Madrid contained 156 persons, costing taxpayers close to $700,000 before the entertainment tabs were added.
Other countries have large delegations, too, and another dichotomy should not be lost on global taxpayers footing bills for these repeated international bun-feats — that there’s a lot of emissions to fly around the globe to discuss the catastrophic consequences of jet fuel emissions.
To many it’s mere lip service.
Bernie Smith
Parksville
An inclusive, equitable vision for the museum
In the rush to deplore the imagined destruction of the Old Town portion of the Royal B.C. Museum, many of the letter-writers have called for its preservation.
But the key issue that the museum is seeking to address is how to re-imagine British Columbia heritage and culture for a 21st-century audience conscious of the impact of settler-colonial incursion into what is now B.C., representing a relatively brief history compared to the thousands of years during which First Nations occupied this territory.
Museums around the world are involved in parallel efforts, and the goal is not to erase but to expand historical knowledge and awareness. The museum is to be applauded, too, for taking seriously its own recent internal inquiry, which found anti-Indigenous racism against staff members and located within the museum’s presentation of displays.
A new vision for the museum can be more inclusive and equitable, but it can also be more interesting, if we can resist defensive calls to keep the museum’s displays static and unchanging.
Heidi Tiedemann Darroch
Oak Bay
Get rid of buzz-terms so we can talk together
Re: “Nobody wants the Discovery or Old Town gone,” commentary, Nov 6.
I agree with the writer, especially when he says that “decolonization” is a term that can mean anything to anyone.
This imprecision in language is a major failing of the progressive left. Distilling hugely complicated issues into simplistic buzz-terms that fit into a tweet or other social media post will not help solve the underlying problems.
“Decolonize the museum” means eliminate any reference to European settlement. “Defund the police” means eliminate police services and use that money in some other social program. “Cancel Sir John A. MacDonald” means take an X-Acto knife and cut out every reference in every history book.
Maybe this isn’t what you meant? Or perhaps it is.
It’s one thing when zealous people post this simplistic language on social media, but I would expect more careful communication from a public institution like the RBCM when announcing major changes to a long-standing and well-loved exhibit.
Finding truth and reconciliation with Indigenous peoples is perhaps the most important and complex social issue facing Canada today and I strongly support it.
But it will not occur without a common language we can all understand.
Bruce Pollock
Victoria
Sidney’s pier could be a major attraction
Have our cities and museum management gone bonkers?
Strip our museum of history of Victoria, that has not seen visitors for the past year and a half, just when the U.S. is releasing knowledge-starved individuals with lots of Yankee dollars to recharge our well-needed tourist attractions.
Rip out Beacon Wharf? Sidney is running out of parking; extend the shoreline parking and extend the most valuable asset and drawing card for a successful and vibrant attraction, the pier.
Allowing for families, fishing and viewing of a wonderful active waterfront!
The price of rental boats has become too costly for the average Joe.
Campbell River extended its waterfront pier, and look what that has done for waterfront improvement. Every day of the week, activity, beautiful.
White Rock lost its pier in a raging storm. They rebuilt. That is one of their most valuable drawing cards.
Think of tourist dollars that help subsidize taxes.
Richard (Dick) Coles
Victoria
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