Application for free bus pass too difficult
I am a teacher at S.J. Burnside Alternative Program. I recently met with a mother and her son, who needs a bus pass, and I learned how difficult the online application can be.
This mother is marginalized and living in temporary housing after moving back to Victoria after extensive drug rehabilitation. She takes the bus with her 14-year-old son and her two-year-old daughter. She does not have ID to prove she lives in the city. She has to pay for a $5 day pass each time she or her son rides the bus.
I mentioned the free youth pass and tried to help her apply online. It requires a lot of documentation with picture ID and address verification. It also requires that you have a computer, phone, and possibly a scanner. Many people do not have access to these things or do not have computer skills to complete the application.
This mother didn’t have access to technology and didn’t have her children’s documents.
I applied for passes for my two sons under 19 and it took me at least an hour. Is there not a better system for accessing bus passes?
People who need the buses the most are the elderly, youth, and marginalized citizens. Bus passes should be free for these people and there should a simplified way to apply for them.
Buses should be free for everyone. The wealthy of our communities would never need or want to take the bus but many would happily support a bus system that looks after our community members who struggle financially.
Why can’t transit be free for all, especially in a wealthy community like Greater Victoria?
Sarah Thornber
Junior Academics/Outreach/case manager
S.J. Burnside Alternative Program
Victoria
Those yachts, delivered on cargo ship
As the Canada-United States border is closed to pleasure craft, and looks to remain so until late July, I am curious as to why 17 yachts were unloaded from the Dolfijngracht in Victoria last week.
Assuming that they are not being delivered from Vancouver or Prince Rupert, then they would be foreign.
Do the owners of these yachts know something the rest of us don’t?
I can only guess that they are optimistic that, sooner than later, they will be able to cross the border and climb aboard. In the mean time these vessels should provide some much needed revenue to local marinas.
Jim Reid
Cowichan Bay
Britain passed Slavery Abolition Act in 1833
Re: “ ‘Sport should see no colour’: Pacific FC coach,” June 9.
How lucky we are to have a talented person such as Pa Modou Kah in our community.
The writer made an error in stating that the British abolished slavery in 1807. The British Parliament passed the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833 and slavery in British Colonies ended effectively by 1838.
The date, 1807, the writer is referring to, is the date of the passing of the Transatlantic Slave Trade act, sponsored by William Wilberforce, that effectively stopped transportation of slaves in British ships but did not abolish slavery— just the transportation of new slaves from Africa.
The British transported more slaves than the rest of the world combined starting in the mid sixteenth century.
Before 1833 the slave owners (most of the British aristocracy and other wealthy people) bought rotten boroughs to “elect” members of Parliament to resist abolition. The reform bill of 1832 abolished the rotten boroughs, which opened the way to the Abolition Act of 1833.
The only way the British Government could end slavery was to compensate the slave owners. The government raised 20 million pounds (20 billion in 2020 pounds — $34 billion Cdn) from a consortium of banks to compensate slave owners.
This was equivalent to 40 per cent of the British Treasury’s income at the time. The loan was only paid off in 2015.
Phil Foster
Saanich
Idea to disband VicPD is asinine
I had the good fortune to spend 10 hours overnight one Friday riding along with a Victoria police officer. In that 10 hours just a few of the things I saw officers deal with included:
A thief breaking into and stealing items from cars along Cook Street, a traffic stop that included three young people suspected of driving drunk and/or high, a stabbing victim, a fight outside a downtown Victoria club, a major marina fire in the Inner Harbour which included a belligerent (my word) houseboat occupant angry at being asked to vacate temporarily while the Victoria Fire Department doused the fire.
Two things became very evident to me over that evening.
First, at every single stop the officers were putting their lives at risk — and it’s because of the risks that they take on our behalf that we all can sleep soundly (and safely) at night.
Second, in every circumstance that evening, officers focused intently on de-escalation. They were polite, pleasant, patient and effective.
Finally, they were incredibly impressive.
For a Victoria city councillor to politicize an atrocious event in the United States by musing about disbanding the police is doing a disservice to the wonderful police officers serving our region.
Perhaps there are other more important things during this time of COVID-19 that should be focused on, including the certain and serious financial crisis the City of Victoria is confronting.
Finally, I would like to express my kudos and my thanks to Victoria Police Department and the other departments around the Capital Regional District for jobs well done.
Mark Mawhinney
Victoria
Statues remind us of our history
Worldwide, protesters are advocating the removal of statues, which represent our history. This is what ISIS did. Statues remind us of our history, and of the often-turbulent times they represent. It is quite likely that statues of George Floyd will be erected. And then what?
If some believe the record requires explanation, which is probably always true, then let them put up a plaque. Plaques are cheaper to put up and are easier to take down. Leave our statues alone. And that includes statues of Sir John A. Macdonald.
Mike Wetherley
Victoria
Northern Junk is significant
It is with some distress I learned that the Northern Junk heritage building on Wharf Street is threatened to be overshadowed by a major development.
I’m well into my next book project, Twin Cities: Victoria and San Francisco.
So it was most interesting for me to learn that The Caire and Grancini Warehouse just happened to be built in 1860, by San Francisco-based architect John Wright, while the Fraser Warehouse, built in 1864, was designed by Thomas Trounce, who arrived in Victoria during the Fraser River Gold Rush era.
In essence then, both buildings stand as memorials to Victoria’s early years, when she was overrun with Yanks eager to get off up to the Fraser River gold rush of 1858.
As it was, Victoria was transformed from being a generally quiet Hudson’s Bay Company fur trade outpost into just another American wild west frontier town!
How many in Victoria today are even aware that there was even a Confederate saloon on Government Street in the early 1860s, when the Civil War was underway just across the line?
Or that for a short time, we had a small police detachment made up of all black men who had emigrated from San Francisco in the new town?
Rick James
Royston
Merchants need to be more flexible
Local merchants need to change their ways to fight Amazon. The problem is not just a matter of price, but they often will not try to source what the customer needs or wants.
For example, last year, I went to a local large independent bookstore to buy a recent Canadian book; the clerk would not order the book for me because the publisher was not one they dealt with.
We cannot expect a store to have stock like Amazon, but if they will not source an item, say, in a different size or colour, they may not stay in business.
Kenneth Mintz
Victoria
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