A letter-writer says it’s time for boomers to make some sacrifices for the next generation.Evan Buhler/The Canadian Press
Troubled water
Re “B.C. Premier says he could back new pipeline if tanker ban remains in place” (Dec. 1): Large oil tankers should not travel the Hecate Strait on British Columbia’s North Coast. This is a tricky piece of water with strong winds, powerful tides, numerous storms and shallow areas.
Last summer while travelling to Haida Gwaii on BC Ferries, a retired fisherman from there told me he always breathes a sigh of relief when he finally gets across the strait, regardless of the size of the boat. He simply cannot take this body of water for granted when he knows firsthand its ability to sink vessels and take lives.
Charles Claus Terrace, B.C.
Mind the gap
Re “Give and take” (Letters, Nov. 30): A letter-writer proposes that we not worry about young people and homeownership because they will inherit tax-free wealth. This would only be acceptable if we tolerate the kind of intergenerational hereditary inequality that plagues Britain and the United States.
The choices of parents are always a determinant, but they now risk entrenching a class system. That is not the Canada I grew up in.
Boomers like me have had a good ride, largely due to the sacrifices of our parents. Now it’s our turn.
Our social cohesion depends on genuine opportunity for all.
Chris Stoate Oakville, Ont.
Paved paradise
Re “Vancouver must go wild – for the good of us all” (Opinion, Nov. 29): Thank you for your timely article regarding the demise of Vancouver’s mature trees.
It is something I think about every day as I pass residential lots that have been clearcut for the construction of a monster house and large laneway house. Adding to this devastation are owners paving over their lots once construction is completed.
In this time of environmental crisis, it should be imperative that the health of our cities becomes a priority. Every citizen should speak up and demand change.
Ignoring the plight of our forests will come with a cost.
Beverley Watt Vancouver
Fight the system
Re “Violence in Canadian schools is reaching a tipping point. What needs to change?” (Opinion, Nov. 29): I have been a substitute teacher in the Toronto District School Board for more than 40 years.
I have been told that I should not get physically involved in breaking up a fight between students, because it could lead to me being charged with assault. So if a child is being pummelled in class, I call the office and that’s it.
I have also been told I am not allowed to enter the boys washroom, even though they might be vaping and doing other illicit things.
I feel powerless to protect my students.
Steven Brinder Toronto
In my 32 years as a guidance counsellor and high-school teacher, ongoing emotional and physical assaults were often treated with leniency, frequently explained away with limited consequence to the bully. As imagined, victims would be left with lingering emotional and physical scars and wondering, “What about me?”
All students and staff should know they reside in a safe, secure and supportive environment where emotional well-being is a central tenet. Those who break this tenet should be removed and treated, and those victimized should be supported.
Emotional and physical violence is an assault and should be treated and punished as such, sometimes severely.
Greg Enright Hamilton
Despite the identification of numerous factors, there seems to be a strange public and institutional attraction to finding a universal explanation for the apparent rise in school violence.
I completed a PhD thesis on the career-life development of Western Canadian veteran secondary school teachers after a student assault. I found that participants often spoke to common themes at the societal, institutional and individual levels.
Many studies show that the emotional labour of both teaching and managing school violence contributes to staff attrition. Disturbingly, studies continue to show a societal disdain toward the teaching profession that seems to facilitate school violence.
At the educational and individual level, a tension between retribution and restorative justice systems, paired with the odd silence and acceptance of violent student behaviour, perpetuates the ongoing problem of school violence.
Salvatore Durante Edmonton
Volunteer boost
Re “Older men struggle to navigate isolation. ‘Social prescribing’ can help ease its burden” (Dec. 1): This continues the important discussion about the growing problem of loneliness in the older population, especially men.
Some commentaries suggest volunteering as a means to assist in dealing with loneliness for individuals. Volunteering usually gets one out their place of residence to meet people and provide a needed service as an additional benefit to others.
I drive for the Canadian Cancer Society’s Wheels of Hope, not to combat loneliness but to give me a sense of purpose one day a week. The CCS is always in need of drivers.
But there are other organizations in need of volunteers that do not require a vehicle or other expenses that might hinder an individual’s ability to help.
Bill Bartle St. Catharines, Ont.
Liquidation
Re “Nova Scotia to sell off stockpile of U.S. booze, plans to donate proceeds to charity” (Dec. 2): What a brilliant idea. This is something Ontario should also be doing.
I am sure the LCBO has warehouses full of U.S. liquor. A sale with proceeds going to charity, especially at this time of year, would brighten up a lot of peoples’ lives.
Alternatively put the money toward our education system, a woefully underfunded line item in Ontario’s budget. Either way, Ontarians would benefit.
Let’s clear out inventory and use the money for a worthy purpose.
Tom Gutfreund Thornhill, Ont.
School of life
Re “Award-winning playwright earned praise on both sides of the Atlantic” (Obituary, Dec. 2): Buried in this tribute to playwright and screenwriter Tom Stoppard was the curious claim that he was “a voracious reader but otherwise remarkably undereducated.” Really?
The only way to claim that Mr. Stoppard was “undereducated” is to dismiss a lifetime of learning, inquiry and brilliance. Yes, he lacked a university education, but he could easily have taught at a university.
How blithely we seem to dismiss the potency of the experiential education offered by just living.
Philip Shepherd Toronto
Down the street
Re “Canada’s memorials reveal who we are as a country” (Opinion, Nov. 29): One of the most important monuments in Ottawa is the one commemorating a true national hero: Terry Fox.
He is one of the finest, most courageous Canadians to ever draw breath. Sadly, this impressive statue has been moved from a place of prominence across from the Peace Tower to what I see as relative obscurity at the far end of Sparks Street. The right thing would have been to move it onto Parliament Hill.
What is wrong with us? What does this reveal about who we are as a country?
Deb Paterson Ottawa
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