Cargo containers in Bayonne, N.J., on Aug. 7.Spencer Platt/Getty Images
On genocide
Re “Genocide is a process, not an event” (Opinion, Aug. 2): I would like to thank you for giving us one of the clearest explanations of genocide I have ever read. I agree that “Israel is chipping away at life in Gaza.”
Unfortunately, I am afraid the answer to the concluding question – “What will states like Canada do to stop it ?” – is probably “nothing.” Canada was once a great advocate for the duty-of-care principle in international law, which was the basis for collective action to intervene in Kosovo.
Now it seems we just stand by and wring our hands. Tears are not enough.
Tom MacDonald Ottawa
While several genocides are rightly cited as tragic and defining atrocities of the 20th century, the Armenian genocide, widely recognized by historians and many governments, including Canada, deserves acknowledgment in any serious discussion of crimes against humanity.
In coining the term genocide in 1944, Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin identified the mass killing, systematic annihilation and deportation of Armenians as precedent for it in the 20th century.
Future coverage of genocide should include all such crimes to honour those who suffered, and to reinforce our collective commitment to remembering and preventing such horrors in the future.
Marina Vanayan Toronto
Re “Past precedent” (Letters, Aug. 4): In 1982, I worked on a kibbutz at the Dead Sea.
Each lunch break from cutting dates, we would discuss politics. I was aware that situations are rarely black or white; life is often grey. I learned to love the people on both sides of this complex land and history.
Once I asked my father why he didn’t “act out” at the injustice of the Holocaust when he was alive in the 1940s. He replied, sadly, “We just didn’t know.” I can’t say the same thing.
I know and yet feel so helpless. But we should still write, speak and tell our political leaders that we see and we know this violence, and inhumanity must stop. Life is grey, but this genocide is clear to me.
As another contributor suggests, it is a process, not an event, and it must stop. This is indeed the call of tikkun olam.
John Pentland Reverend, Hillhurst United Church; Calgary
Foreign affairs
Re “Gary Anandasangaree must resign as Public Safety Minister” (Opinion, Aug. 2): I find calls for the resignation of Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree over past immigration advocacy to be misguided and dangerous. He is criticized for support letters he wrote years ago for a Tamil woman concerned about her husband’s deportation – routine casework done by MPs.
Canada has recognized the Tamil genocide, yet somehow that context seems ignored here. It revictimizes a community that has already endured so much. In 2017, the European Union’s top court delisted the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam as a terrorist entity, reflecting what I believe is a more honest and nuanced understanding of that conflict.
Mr. Anandasangaree has recused himself from any files involving Tamil organizations to avoid any perception of conflict. That is ethical leadership, yet he is being vilified for showing courage and standing up for human rights.
Canada’s security institutions are not threatened by a minister who fought for a vulnerable family.
Patrick Brown Mayor, Brampton, Ont.
Doesn’t add up
Re “Poilievre says Carney has failed with Trump, urges narrow countertariffs” (Aug. 8): Canadians should not harbour high expectations for a favourable U.S. trade deal.
Although it is frequently argued that the Canada-U.S. relationship is one of the most important trade and security alliances in the world, it no longer appears to be perceived that way by the U.S. government. One would hope Canada is approaching negotiations with the clear knowledge that we face a vindictive, unpredictable and untrustworthy U.S. President who has openly vowed to economically destroy Canada.
Thankfully USMCA-compliant trade is still exempted until 2026, so Canada has one year to increase trade agreements with the rest of the world, and to dramatically decrease trade dependency on the United States.
For many decades, Canada has unwisely allowed trade and security to be increasingly dependent on the U.S. Donald Trump’s animosity toward Canada makes it imperative to rethink this relationship – and look elsewhere to reliable, dependable governments for future trade agreements.
Joan Price Boase Courtenay, B.C.
It doesn’t require a degree in international trade policy to see the yawning credibility gap in Donald Trump’s use of trade deficits as justification for tariffs against Canada.
Simply look around. The U.S. population sits at roughly 342 million compared to Canada’s 41.5 million people. How could a population one-eighth in size consume more products and services than it exports to our elephantine neighbour with its voracious appetite?
Common sense shows there’s no logical justification for this attack on Canada, only flawed, poorly crafted ideology. U.S. voters will likely soon realize that Mr. Trump’s tariffs are essentially a tax on the American people, as U.S. international trade withers on the vine.
Chris Bradshaw Victoria
Shocking stuff
Re “Low power” (Letters, Aug. 2): I usually find two things missing from discussions of electric vehicles: the cost of battery replacement and how “recharging” electricity is being generated.
The current cost of replacing batteries, perhaps after eight to 10 years, seems to be anywhere from 20 to 50 per cent of the cost of a new EV. As to electricity generation, Ontario is about to build a nuclear reactor, creating environmental problems for the future. Here in British Columbia, the new Site C hydro dam in the Peace River is flooding some of the province’s most productive farmland.
Maybe EVs are the answer to our climate woes, but let’s not forget about the side effects.
Geoff Stagg Comox, B.C.
A letter writer advises to drop the electric vehicle sales mandate, readdress trade with China and let the market play out.
Just one problem: EVs are rolling computers. The main issue today is whose artificial intelligence systems will dominate the globe?
Do we want people inadvertently falling into China’s AI surveillance orbit? Methinks not.
Tom Kent Calgary
Evergreen
Re “Philanthropist and former Ontario lieutenant-governor Hilary Weston dies at 83″ (Aug. 4): I have never met Hilary Weston. Yet she, along with Nicole Eaton and photographer Freeman Patterson, had a significant influence on my life. Together they published In A Canadian Garden (1989).
It was all about the beautiful, unique gardens we were creating in Canada, from grand, formal gardens and natural gardens to small spaces wonderfully developed.
It wasn’t Europe or the United States. It was home.
The book, along with Marjorie Harris’s The Canadian Gardener: A Guide to Gardening in Canada (1990), became my “garden club.”
I recently picked up the book again and relived old, wonderful memories. My thanks to Ms. Weston.
Jane Katzman London, Ont.
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