Point Hope open house was a fantastic event
Congratulations to Ian Maxwell and the Ralmax Group for a fabulous open house at Point Hope Maritime on June 18! It was a well-planned, well-executed, interesting and fun event.
Let’s hope city officials took note. Maintaining industry on the harbour is an important economic diversification. Tourism and government alone will not float the boat for Victoria!
Anne Wraggett
Victoria
News organizations need your support
The Online News Act, recently enacted by the federal government, requires the tech giants to pay for content produced by news outlets. Google (Alphabet) and Facebook (Meta), in particular, have been getting free content for the past two decades.
Advertising revenue has enriched these two mega-corporations while the folks working hard to produce the content are losing ad revenue.
Canadians will now consider whether supporting news organizations (you’re reading one right now) is more important than further empowering the tech giants.
Kip Wood
Nanaimo
Federal government should act — and hire Ken Fyke
Just a brief word of support for Ken Fyke’s recent insightful and empathic view of the crisis in our health-care system from someone who managed to survive in the United States for 37 years before moving to B.C.
That I did survive, and thrive, stands as testimony to privileges accrued by my father and his brother, both whom practised medicine for many decades and served the health care community in Greater Pittsburgh in a variety of leadership capacities.
They had a wide network of pals in that community, and everyone in my extended family had access to extraordinary caretakers.
That was — is — not the case for millions of Americans, particularly those of colour, and particularly, in light of the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling, for women of colour.
Fyke’s insistence that our government assume a leadership position in (re)building our health-care system would not, as one of your readers suggested, result in some sort of deep state “monopoly.”
On the contrary, it would ensure fundamental human rights to all Canadians.
It is, by the way, one thing to celebrate reconciliation; it is quite another to actually make it happen. For example, building a model long house at UBC, where I taught U.S. and African-American History for 30 years, did nothing to address the community health concerns of B.C.’s Indigenous peoples.
Will the Trudeau government have the courage to act — and in the endeavour, to hire Fyke as an expert adviser?
Paul Krause
Victoria
Falling through the cracks with today’s rents
I do not think anyone understands the real story of someone who does not qualify for social housing because their income is too high yet too low for a regular apartment.
If your income is above a certain level you do not qualify for subsidies. Yet you cannot afford market rents so it is a case of falling between the cracks and not being able to pull oneself out of the hole.
Subsidies are counted as income and it seems a nasty notion thought up by someone who despises those on low income.
Why is low income equated with disrespect?
Valerie Bellefleur
Victoria
Physician safety depends on fatigue guidelines
It is astonishing that comprehensive guidelines and regulations, similar to those established by Transport Canada for pilot safety and fatigue management, do not already exist in the medical profession.
Patient safety is undeniably as crucial as passenger safety, making it imperative to address physician fatigue and ensure their well-being through robust measures.
Aviation regulations set clear limits on flight time to prevent pilot fatigue. Likewise, physicians should be subjected to work-hour restrictions to combat exhaustion and minimize the occurrence of medical errors.
Just as pilots require adequate rest periods, mandatory breaks between shifts are necessary for physicians to rejuvenate, fostering mental acuity and optimal performance.
The absence of fatigue guidelines in health care is a cause for concern. Physicians work under immense pressure, making split-second decisions and managing demanding schedules.
Neglecting their well-being jeopardizes patient safety and compromises the quality of care they provide.
It is time to acknowledge the importance of physician safety and establish comprehensive guidelines and regulations to manage fatigue effectively.
By implementing these measures, health-care systems can mitigate the risks of exhaustion, reduce burnout rates, and ultimately improve patient outcomes.
Patient safety should never be compromised, and ensuring physician well-being is fundamental to achieving this goal.
The medical profession must take immediate action, learning from the aviation industry’s successful practices, and instituting guidelines that prioritize physician safety and fatigue management.
It is truly remarkable that such regulations have not been implemented, given the equal importance of patient and passenger safety.
Let us bridge this gap and create a health-care environment that safeguards both patients and physicians.
J. Charles Lamb
Saanich
Education, dialogue make us more informed
Re: “Larger school districts are dropping police,” letter, June 15.
A letter writer from the University of Toronto affiliated with the Centre for Criminology and Socio-legal Studies somehow thinks throwing out numbers and statistics means anything to my personal experiences and observances.
Statistics and comparisons are manipulated and used in misleading ways, often in an attempt to gain support for opinions. A lot of meaningless research was done to refute my one-sentence submission, which was merely offering one reason why anyone would be “traumatized and harmed” at the mere sight of a police liaison officer.
When I was young I had my own personal experience of trauma with police and it had nothing to do with the shoes, the uniform or the gun, but everything to do with what I was told by adults about police that influenced my perception. Thankfully, education and dialogue allowed me to make a more informed opinion.
The fact we’ve gone from straps to guns as a deterrent to bad behaviour in schools, and the authority teachers and principals used to have has been handed freely over to the students, leaves little to wonder how society has gotten to this point. Everything changes, unfortunately not always for the better.
Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is insanity. Call it madness or any other synonymous word if you don’t like the word insanity.
Lack of knowledge is ignorance. We need to ask “why” more often.
Penny Linders
Victoria
Ask more questions to get to the answers
Re: “Change young males to reduce police killings,” letter, June 16.
In replying to a previous letter stating that Indigenous people are 10 times more likely to be shot and killed by police than a white person, the writer suggests that the wrong questions are being asked.
Since it’s young males — especially those in gangs or from Indigenous groups — who commit a disproportionately high number of crimes, it’s not the police who need to change, it’s young males, according to the letter.
There is an old saying that to get to the truth, you have to ask questions … but that every answer merely produces a new question that also requires an answer.
It’s depressingly true that Indigenous people are overrepresented in prisons.
It’s also true that young males of every background are responsible for their own criminal behaviour, and the writer is correct in pointing out that to keep themselves from being killed or imprisoned by police, young males need to change their behaviour.
But how? What is causing the behaviour? (And no, neither “being Indigenous” nor “being young and male” is a legitimate answer.)
What makes gang membership so attractive to certain young males but not to others in the same cohort? What is causing the vacuum in their lives that is so readily filled by gangs, drugs and/or guns?
And what can the rest of us, Indigenous or otherwise, do to change this dynamic? What, if anything, are we doing right and what are we doing wrong? What actually works?
For any complex and intractable problem, neither x or y or z is the ultimate answer. There are always more questions that need to be asked.
Carol Hall
Denman Island
Humans will be wiped out, will AI machines survive?
Re: “Artificial intelligence: A sword with two edges,” editorial, June 16.
It looks like the Anthropocene Age is near its end. According to some of the world’s most intelligent AI experts, the artificial intelligence asteroid is about to collide with planet Earth and wipe out humankind.
If these experts are correct, the rape and pillage of the planet, along with all of the human-caused existential threats to humanity, will soon end. Environmentalists everywhere should rejoice, today. (Presumably they won’t be around much longer.)
Future historians, probably AI machines, writing about humans and their impact on the planet, will note that the Anthropocene Age was the shortest epoch in the Earth’s geological history, lasting less than a million years.
The real test for AI machines will be whether they last longer. It sounds as if we’ll never know.
Ken Dwernychuk
Esquimalt
With today’s health care, it’s best to stay well
Re: “New ER reality: A drop in standards of care,” commentary, June 3.
Thumbs up to exposing the true state of emergency hospital care. Thanks to Dr. Christopher Rumball for 47 years of service.
Here is my take on why we have crept into the untenable scenario he described.
Back in the day, GPs admitted, managed care, discharged and followed their patients in the community. About 20 years ago came the slow drip of medicentres, general practitioners and family practioners opting out of hospital care and creating the need for hospitalists.
The hospitalists and medicentre physicians come from the same GP/FP pool as your family doctor, as do most ER specialists.
The Ministry of Health in multiple governments have failed to recognize the lack of total physicians trained to fill these positions.
Recruiting is often robbing Peter to pay Paul. Funding is always under negotiation.
The issue of GP/FP supply and the money allocated for hospitalist programs make recruitment and retention of hospitalists difficult. As mentioned, the new GP/FP funding agreement won’t help retain hospitalists.
Stay well!
Dr. Phil Luke
Retired ER physician
Comox
View Royal is doing its share of housing development
Re: “View Royal council rejects mayor’s motion for development pause,” June 8.
View Royal has been in the news for the past few days. Our mayor put a motion for a six-month moratorium on rezoning applications before council.
His intention was to create a pause in the breakneck development that View Royal is experiencing. The pause would allow View Royal to apply its very limited resources to diligently plan for yet more development.
To be clear, in the last census period (2016 -2021), View Royal added 20.4 per cent to our housing stock, 4.08 per cent per year. B.C. as a whole developed housing at only 1.44 per cent per year.
View Royal is a community of only 11,575 people or 0.22 per cent of the provincial population, yet we built 0.6 per cent of all the new housing in B.C. in those five census years. Construction is underway on 881 new housing units and applications are in for more than 600 more. Our growth rate is soaring higher yet.
The provincial government has targeted View Royal as one of 47 municipalities to be bullied into compliance with some magical housing formula they have not shown us.
View Royal council did not pass the mayor’s motion to pause rezoning applications. They openly stated that fear of the provincial government was the reason.
Municipalities should not be forced to make decisions based on how much they fear the provincial government.
Premier David Eby owes View Royal an apology. He owes B.C. a less antagonistic way forward.
Doug Wilson
View Royal
Before trust, we need transformation
Debates over policing will continue as long as core issues remain unaddressed. Communities want public safety and law enforcement services that protect the vulnerable while addressing crime in a thoughtful, effective and compassionate way.
When senseless acts of violence such as the horrific police killings of Chantel Moore, Hudson Brooks, Chris Amyotte, Jared (Jay) Lowndes and others continue to happen, it is only logical that for many people interactions with police will remain defined by fear and mistrust.
The rhetoric of referring to people as “pro” or “anti” police is a polarizing distraction from the work that urgently needs to be done.
Likewise, the issue is not about individuals. The police officers who conduct their work with integrity, professionalism and care will always have a future in providing public safety and law enforcement services, regardless of how such agencies (or their alternatives) are structured.
Rather, the real issue is the need for fundamental reforms to public safety and law enforcement services at the institutional level. Trust can only emerge with meaningful transformation beyond the status quo.
Jeffrey Wynne
Oak Bay
Not Black or Indigenous? Maybe do some Googling
There have been many letters about police liaison officers in schools. Most pooh-pooh Black and Indigenous children’s discomfort.
So I Googled “B.C. police use of force by race.”
Top article was a link to a June 2021 House of Commons report titled “Systemic Racism in Policing in Canada: Report of the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security. Hon. John McKay, Chair.”
Next was a Nov. 24, 2021, Vancouver Sun article titled “ ‘Disturbing’ pattern of discrimination alleged among B.C. police services”; subtitle: “A report funded by B.C.’s Human Rights Commissioner found a ‘disturbing’ pattern of discrimination among police services in the province.”
Readers who are not Black or Indigenous, have fond memories of police liaison offices in the schools they attended as children and are interested in racialized minorities’ experience of policing in Canada are welcome to follow these links.
Bill Appledorf
Victoria
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