Supreme Court ruling allowed those tent cities
Maybe it’s just me.
But a recent tragedy made me ponder, again, Judge Carol Ross’s 2008 Supreme Court ruling. The Ross ruling basically established the right for tenters to homestead in public parks, directly affecting the public’s capacity to enjoy the public space their tax dollars pay for.
The ruling was apparently based on Article (7) of Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which basically states that everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
However, the Ross ruling curiously denied the public the same “security of person” protection and full benefit of enjoying their parks: Over time the public has endured threats, local theft and vandalism, and violence from some of the tenters in the ubiquitous encampments.
The ruling no doubt emboldened tenters — rule it, and they will come — it directly resulted in a proliferation of encampments which have required significant civic and police resources to service and manage — again, paid for by whom?
And, I wonder, if Ross had not ruled as she did, if we would today be mourning the unspeakable death of an RCMP officer, murdered while dutifully doing her job addressing the issue of a tenter in a public park.
But maybe it’s just me.
Gordon Zawaski
Parksville
Put yourself in the place of those parents
In her Oct. 23 column on the Indian Day School Class Action Settlement, Charla Huber stated: “Whenever I write about Indigenous issues, particularly residential schools, I receive offensive emails.”
My words are directed at the authors of those emails. Hopefully, what follows will broaden their perspective.
Some readers may recall Allan Gregg, the former pollster who was a member of CBC The National’s At Issue panel for more than a decade, along with Andrew Coyne and Chantal Hebert.
He subsequently became an adviser to Justice Murray Sinclair and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Sixteen months ago, he wrote an article, “Reconciliation will require a paradigm shift,” in which he describes how disrespect and abuse in residential schools led first to trauma, then to intergenerational trauma, and ultimately amounted to attempted cultural genocide. Specifically, he wrote the following words. Read them slowly and with care.
“Put yourself in the place of the parents whose children were taken away from them. What parenting skills would you attempt to hone with no child at home?
“Think more broadly about what it would look like if an entire community did not have children. How motivated and productive would you be knowing that your entire family structure had been ripped asunder — and that the same was true of all your neighbours?
“When the children come home — if they did — they were often broken and traumatized. How likely is it that you would teach them, as I was, that ‘a good education is the key to success,’ when ‘education’ itself was the source of your sorrow?
“Even beyond inadequate housing, health care and undrinkable water, it is this lived experience that is at the root of heartbreaking levels of alcoholism and incarceration, as well as poor graduation rates and shortened life expectancy, in Indigenous communities.”
Patrick Wolfe
Victoria
Eby victory didn’t follow a bruising campaign
Re: “Incoming premier likely to shuffle cabinet and craft ‘activist’ budget, experts say,” Oct. 25.
I read through the story about David Eby’s presumed agenda with small stirrings of hope. Yes, I agree that political transitions are difficult.
According to one NDP stalwart who works for an American PR firm, “That’s especially true for David Eby right now coming after a bruising leadership campaign …”
“Bruising”? I had to laugh. Yep, that was one heck of a tough campaign with no opponent, no debates, no chance for party members to consider or vote on alternate ideas.
Maybe the PR man meant it was a “cruising” campaign, on cruise control from day one. Darn those typos.
Eby did make some encouraging promises. I wish him well. I especially wish his promises well as I recall the sad fate of promises under the previous regime.
Now that the B.C. NDP has thousands of members who have been certified as fraudulent thugs by the party brass, perhaps Eby will turn off the cruise control and start driving for real.
Martin Hykin
Victoria
Seniors, get advice to maximize returns
Re: “Seniors squeezed by higher living costs, lost savings,” letter, Oct. 25.
While seniors with no savings are being squeezed ever harder, so are young people who also have not yet had the time to generate savings. The writer, however, specifies seniors with savings.
Any senior now with savings and little or no debt has the opportunity to increase their savings. Rapidly rising interest rates are a bonanza to invest in risk-free income producing financial products like guaranteed income certificates.
They can pay out interest monthly even if the principal is not redeemable for a longer period. For those with homes, deferring property taxes is another way to increase cash flow, with the taxes being paid when the house is sold. Considering how much real estate market values have risen, there is even minimal impact on legacy.
Speak to one’s accountant, financial adviser and even one’s doctor if they have a chronic disease or disability to find out if they qualify for potential tax savings such as disability tax credits.
Being fully informed is always advantageous to minimize loss.
Hillerie Denning
Sidney
Don’t deride people who are leery of dogs
Last week, there was a letter from a dog owner about how no one seems to care about the “canine prison zone” on Dallas Road. The writer also referred to “weak humans.”
I care. I am one of those people who is afraid of dogs and would prefer not to have a strange animal come up to me.
I have been afraid of dogs since I was a toddler, and I don’t think those who are uncomfortable with dogs should be derided as weak or irrational.
There are good reasons to be wary of dogs, and even if a dog is good with people, it might not like other dogs. I know this from experience.
Emma Dingman
Victoria
Blame the Trudeaus for Alberta’s anger
Re: “Two premiers are seeking to divide our country,” editorial, Oct. 21.
The claim that the new premier of Alberta is divisive and undeserving of office is rich, and depressingly shows little knowledge of recent Canadian history.
As a citizen of B.C., how would you feel if the feds had enacted something called the National Fishing, Logging and Mining Program, and through that regulated prices you could sell these products outside B.C.’s borders, including the rest of Canada, mandated paying B.C. less than world price for their products, conficasted billions of dollars in royalties, and utterly flattened B.C.’s economy for a decade?
How would you like it if the current prime minister said fishing, logging and mining was to be phased out in B.C., all of this happening after B.C. had contributed tens of billions of dollars through equalization payments, primarily to Quebec.
Yeah, you don’t like oil and gas, and I’m guessing because of that you don’t use any of it — none at all! You clearly don’t understand the level of alienation Alberta feels toward Ottawa, and justifiably so.
Pierre Trudeau and his son are universally viewed as the most divisive PMs this country has had, but yet you single out Danielle Smith for such criticism.
Shame on you.
Terry Sturgeon
Victoria
Spread the density around the capital region
Statistics Canada has used 2021 census data to create a list ranking the 10 highest population densities among municipalities in Canada with 5,000 residents or more.
Victoria is number seven on that list. Vancouver is number one and Toronto number eight. No other municipalities in Greater Victoria are on the list.
Let’s give the other municipalities in the Capital Regional District a chance to catch up with Victoria’s level of density and then see where we go from there.
David Maxwell, former chair
Fernwood Community Association Land Use Committee
Victoria
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