A sad, sad, sad day
Our hearts ache at the loss of the athlete who died yesterday ( Georgian Luger Dead After Training Crash - online, Feb. 12). What a horrid, horrid accident. Could it have been prevented? Was everything done to make that track as safe as it could be? Why wasn't there "netting or straw bales as in other sports, such as alpine skiing"? Or if not that, some other kind of barrier?
Nodar Kumaritashvili's family deserves answers to these questions. As the host of the Games, Canada has a responsibility to the athletes to look out for their safety. Did we do everything we could? Did we?
What a sad, sad, sad day.
M. K. Roberts, Vancouver
Kahnawake conundrum
Jeffrey Simpson ( Suppose There Was A Place In Canada Where The Charter Of Rights Didn't Apply - Feb. 12) states that Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff "got it right" in stating his position regarding the proposed eviction of non-Mohawks from Kahnawake. However, stating one's disagreement with the decision (which Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl did as well) is the easy part.
If the outcome of the evictions - i.e. separation of families - is "unacceptable" to Mr. Ignatieff, what action would he be prepared to take as prime minister to ensure it could not be repeated? As usual, the articulate Mr. Ignatieff left that unsaid.
Peter Stone, Burlington, Ont.
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Troubled as I am by the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake's decision to expel some non-Mohawk residents from the reserve, I do not have the power to intervene.
It is important to understand that the membership law, which forms the basis of the proposed expulsion, is not a residency by-law made pursuant to the federal Indian Act. The membership law was passed a number of years ago pursuant to the community's own customary ratification practices. Only the courts can determine the validity of the leadership's actions - my powers are restricted to actions under the Indian Act. It is up to the individuals who are affected to decide whether they wish to challenge the council's decision in court.
Chuck Strahl, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
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First Nations have had to live within Canada's laws, which they did not create and which continue to marginalize them. If they choose to keep their reservations for their people (and there are good reasons for this that have nothing to do with discrimination and everything to do with maximizing limited health care and education funding), we should remember who set up this system.
Discrimination and human rights work both ways.
Pamela Gough, Toronto
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Indian status and band membership were separated because communities feared population increases resulting from Bill C-31. Given a limited land base, housing, and funding, communities had difficulty servicing existing members. No new government funding led to policy challenges and the resulting separation of status and band membership.
Communities continue to face servicing challenges today, creating a need for limiting structures, such as restricting non-members. Individual bands make decisions in this matrix, sometimes leading to harsh membership rules, synonymous with old Indian Act mentalities.
I agree with Quebec Native Women's President Ellen Gabriel's statement that the decision to evict non-native residents does not represent Mohawk customs and tradition but "the degree of colonization embedded in the mindset amongst some Indigenous peoples." I would add the fiscal constraints that undermine inclusion.
I encourage readers to recognize that the problems of today's aboriginal communities, characterized as weaknesses of culture or individual fortitude, are directly related to actions or inactions of government. I don't support the recent decision by the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake, but criticism needs to place blame appropriately. Governments need to change restrictive funding provisions so aboriginal communities have a chance to achieve their potential.
Susan DeLisle, Kingston, Ont.
Who gets targeted, who doesn't
First, we discover that the intelligence (or lack of it) establishment was spying on Tommy Douglas, one of our greatest Canadians ( Ottawa Blocks Tommy Douglas Files In Bid To Protect Current Spies - Feb. 11). Then, we read a perceptive, but puzzled letter to the editor (The Mounties, The Man - Feb. 12), decrying the waste of effort this was in pursuit of an obviously decent and compassionate human being and politician.
But it isn't just Tommy Douglas who was subjected to this. If we look at the history of secret surveillance here and in the United States, the terrible fact emerges that to be a fighter for social and economic justice is to be suspected of being an enemy of one's own country. Tommy Douglas in Canada and Martin Luther King in the United States are only two examples. How many hundreds/thousands of others were treated in this disgraceful way?
Patricia Bruckman, Tecumseh, Ont.
High, higher, highest, sold
Another way to curb artificial increases in house prices caused by bidding wars would be to tax home buyers the full amount of the difference between the purchase price, and a weighted average of the neighborhood's average price and the list price - while allowing for reasonable price appreciation ( Real-Estate Roulette - letters, Feb. 12).
This would not punish someone purchasing a house that was appreciating at a reasonable rate, but it would target those situations where a sale price diverges excessively from trends in a particular neighbourhood.
It's not the seller's fault prices in some areas are spiralling out of control. A steady price increase year over year makes sense, but to see house after house go for 10 per cent and more above asking - a price that isn't picked randomly to begin with - screams of irresponsibility.
Copperfield Jean-Louis, Kanata, Ont.
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One of the changes that was discussed during talks with Competition Commissioner Melanie Aitken would have allowed homeowners to list on MLS but handle offers without the help of an agent ( Watchdog's Tough Stand On MLS Puts Others On Notice - Feb. 10).
This is a huge mistake: While most real-estate agents are skilled negotiators, the average consumer is not. The end result will have thousands of consumers ill-prepared to negotiate a "top dollar" for their property, with the buyer's agent wielding every weapon they've got to secure that home for the lowest price possible.
Ironically, the amount sellers will lose out on will probably far exceed savings from a flat-fee listing cost.
Michael Appleton, Toronto
Kyiv and not Kiev
Timothy Garton Ash has written an excellent essay on the way in which the European Union and the West can help support Ukraine's democratic movement ( Not Yet Lost To Europe - Feb. 11).
May we suggest one way is to begin spelling Ukrainian cities using Ukrainian transliteration rather than Russian: Kyiv and not Kiev; Chornobyl, instead of Chernobyl. This would bolster Ukraine's attempts to distance itself from its recent past by helping to reinforce Ukrainian as the state language, thus denying Viktor Yanukovich's intent to install Russian as the other state language.
Bohdan Zaputovich, Maria Hrycaiko Zaputovich, Toronto
What kids like
Rick Groen made it clear he didn't like Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief ( Not So Much As A Spark, Let Alone A Bolt - Review, Feb. 12). I suspect this won't faze the film's intended audience: They've already read Rick Riordan's entertaining and well-written book, so Mr. Groen's plot summary isn't required.
As for the jibe about the film being "a Harry Potter knock-off": Earth to reviewer, kids like that kind of thing.
Jean Mills, Guelph, Ont.
Been there, read that
I've read Paul Waldie's frustrated depiction of relief efforts before ( When Good Intentions Go Bad - Feb. 10). This time it's Haiti, but the same story of expectations dashed came out during the Asian tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, the Pakistan earthquake and virtually every other disaster in recent memory.
Living as we do in a country with a functioning government, robust institutions and plenty of resources, it's natural to think money and good will are enough to ensure Haiti receives a rapid, well-co-ordinated emergency response.
I wish that were true. Providing water, food, shelter, health care and sanitation to hundreds of thousands of people in a city turned to rubble presents incredible logistical challenges at every step. The UN and the larger humanitarian agencies have made steady progress, saving thousands of lives. But it will take months, not weeks before the situation is stabilized. Sadly, experience tells us it is unreal to expect things to turn around more quickly.
Robert Fox, executive director, Oxfam Canada
Name that ... name
Murtaza Haider is spot on when he advises Miangul Akbar Zeb not to get upset about translations of his name ( What's In A Name, Blush - letters, Feb. 12). There are so many living languages on Earth that everyone's name must mean something odd somewhere. I am, for example, a bird's beak, an invoice, and a piece of proposed legislation - and that's without the hazards of translation. Mr. Zeb can relax, knowing that at least he is much better off than Monty Python's Biggus Dickus.
Bill Atkinson, Toronto