The RT app is seen on a smartphone in front of the RT and Sputnik logos in this illustration taken on Feb. 28.DADO RUVIC/Reuters
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Must-see TV?
Re Russia’s RT Television Channel Illegal In Canada, CRTC Rules (Report on Business, March 17): I’m a Canadian Mennonite descended from grandparents who fled the horrors of Ukraine and Russia during the Second World War. It’s clear to me that RT is a Russian propaganda tool. What isn’t clear to me is why the Canadian government should restrict my access to the television channel.
It feels insulting to be told what I can and can’t hear. My family has historical and personal connections to the land being invaded. I’d like to know as much as possible about what Vladimir Putin is pumping into the world.
Christopher Paetkau North Vancouver
I am disappointed that the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has decided it is not safe for me to be exposed to Russian news sources.
Since the invasion began, I have begun each day by checking the latest news from Canadian sources, U.S. sources, the BBC and Russian media including TASS, RT and the opposition Moscow Times. I get a broad range of viewpoints.
Perhaps the best part was that by reading TASS and RT, I could anticipate what happened next. TASS recently published a major “interview” with a gentleman from Odesa who, tearfully, described how his city was in fact a Russian one, how Ukraine was destroying its Russian roots, how everyone there would welcome Russian liberators. Sure enough, the major southern push started two days later.
Having Russian media available to Canadians should be considered a good thing, but apparently we cannot be trusted to exercise proper judgment.
Tom Curran Prince Edward County, Ont.
Endgame
Re How Does The War In Ukraine End? (Editorial, March 16): As The Globe and Mail’s editorial suggests, the war will most likely end by negotiated settlement.
Ukraine’s concessions might be to accept guaranteed neutrality and some form of autonomy for the eastern districts that Russia recognizes as independent. Russia’s “concession” would be to withdraw its forces.
But what if Vladimir Putin adds a condition that all sanctions against Russia and its citizens must be lifted? Could the West accept that in order to relieve Ukraine?
Rod Phillips Ottawa
Re Ukraine Must Accept It Won’t Join NATO, Zelensky Says (March 16): What a visionary Volodymyr Zelensky would have been had he spoken those words weeks ago.
What destruction would have been spared. What carnage might the world be further spared if we all acknowledge a truth: no NATO expansion. Break these chains of militarism and death.
Larry Hannant Victoria
Stay or go?
Re Are Russian Cultural Boycotts Effective Or Just Punitive? (March 14) and The West Is Turning To Xenophobia Against Individual Russians (Opinion, March 12): An air of unreality, indeed magical thinking, hangs over discussions of whether Russian artists should be allowed to perform here after the invasion of Ukraine. As the argument against banning them appears to rest on the idea that they are but ambassadors to us of their country and culture, it seems the only way performers can now represent Russia is to murder the music they play.
This discussion should not fall into the trap of hairsplitting between the Russian government and its citizens, or parsing the views of individual artists. The debate should be about morality.
Unless a Russian artist has made the moral decision to oppose the Russian regime, our only moral response should be to boycott them.
James Rusk Toronto
Vancouver and Montreal concerts by Russian pianist Alexander Malofeev have been cancelled, despite his criticism of the war in Ukraine. But why stop at living Russians?
I would encourage libraries and bookstores across Canada to purge and burn all works by Dostoevsky and Tolstoy. That should show Vladimir Putin where we stand.
John Edmond Ottawa
Only in Canada do we agonize over whether to cancel concerts by Russian pianist Alexander Malofeev.
Why should his concerts go on in Canada or elsewhere when Russians have been banned from many sports competitions, including the Paralympics? In the face of destruction in Ukraine, Russians should get the message that life will not go on as usual for them inside and outside their country.
Let Mr. Malofeev return to Russia and carry the truth of what is happening in Ukraine to his people.
Catherine Atkinson Belleville, Ont.
Bravo to those taking a stand against business as usual. Cultural sanctions are a vital tool of our arts community to put pressure on Russia to stop the war.
One Russian pianist may have lost a few concerts, but Ukrainian artists are losing a lot more, including their country. When Vladimir Putin stops the war, I will be the first to welcome this brave pianist back to Canada.
George Melnyk Calgary
Canadians take pride in our tolerance and compassion, but it takes vigilance to maintain those values.
Columnist Robyn Urback wisely writes that “it is wrong to punish individual Russians for the actions of a regime over which they have no control.” We should all have a duty to protect the 600,000-plus Canadians of Russian heritage from intolerance and anti-Russian discrimination.
It is critical to the survival of Ukraine, and to democratic values at home, that we remain united against the tyranny of the Putin regime’s war machine.
Jim Montgomery Ottawa
Whether one feels that Alexander Malofeev should be allowed to play in Canada or not, I can’t imagine any enjoyment from an audience watching a pianist who represents a country that is brutalizing Ukraine.
May I suggest finding a Ukrainian pianist among the more than three million Ukrainian refugees and inviting them to play? That would be a concert to attend, and would sell out in minutes.
Orest Soltykevych Edmonton
Toronto plays itself
Re The 20 Greatest Toronto Movies Ever Made (Arts & Pursuits, March 12): I would include at least one, if not all three, of Outrageous (1977), Nobody Waved Goodbye (1964) and Mouthpiece (2018).
David Balcon Toronto
There is Black Christmas (1974), the original and not the remakes. Scenes were shot in the Avenue Road and St. Clair Avenue neighbourhood, with distinctive Toronto architecture used for scenes in a campus dormitory.
There is also the scene where I was an extra, shot at the University of Toronto with landmarks in full view.
Joseph Shulman Maynooth, Ont.
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