A hospital room in Toronto on Aug. 13, 2019.Tijana Martin/The Canadian Press
Friend of mine
Re “Warship’s visit to Cuba was intended to deter Russia, says minister” (June 18): Someone in the Defence Minister’s office maintains that Cuba is not an “ally” of Canada. That may be true in a narrow definition of the term.
Revolutionary Cuba is certainly a good friend of Ottawa, as 65 years of interrupted diplomatic relations can attest. This bilateral relationship allows Canada to regularly tout a trade surplus, is home to significant Canadian direct investment and displays an outstanding people-to-people dynamic.
Moreover, Canada courted Cuba in the early 1990s when Havana was on the United Nations Security Council and the Gulf War was about to break out. More recently, Canada tried to use its “good offices” to get Cuba to distance itself from Nicolás Maduro’s Venezuela. And I haven’t even mentioned Cuba’s value in underscoring an “independent” Canadian foreign policy.
I don’t know, but Cuba sounds like a friendly ally to me.
Peter McKenna, professor, department of political science, University of Prince Edward Island Charlottetown
Bad spin
Re “When Glencore spins off Teck’s dirty coal, it also spins off the cleanup to taxpayers” (June 18): And so it goes, ‘twas ever thus: If a huge liability occurs after a period of lengthy profit, spin the operation off into a shell company that is likely to go bankrupt at cleanup time.
Who did we think was going to be liable? A supply of naïve voters seems ever available when the pro-business right wing keeps coming back to power, probably next election.
Historians call this a pattern. I’m tempted to call it a sickness.
Ronald Kelly Surrey, B.C.
On MAID
Re “Family sues after B.C. Catholic hospital denies MAID request on religious grounds” (June 18): It is tragic to see the suffering of one’s child, or anyone, in the final stages of their life. My heart goes out to the family.
I suspected years ago, when medical assistance in death was first debated, that the lack of unanimity in the medical community would be a given, and it was. Not so much now. But for some individuals and institutions, it remains a bridge too far.
Should a doctor, on moral or religious grounds, lose their medical licence or be heavily fined if they do not wish to participate? I do not believe the Charter compels an individual or institution to go against their freedom of conscience or religion. I suspect a serious breakdown in communication or misunderstanding is to blame for this family’s terrible trauma.
Perhaps, as a society, the challenge is a pharmaceutical one and need not become a final moral imperative.
Joan McNamee Kamloops, B.C.
On antisemitism
Re “As B.C. prepares to teach Holocaust curriculum, concerns arise over divisions in teachers’ union” (June 15): If BC Teachers Against Antisemitism genuinely believe that “Zionism is simply the right to self-determination in our Indigenous homeland,” when are its members going to contact the nearest B.C First Nation and give up their private property? Or do they think that white European settlers are the only ones who have a “right of return” to their homelands?
It appears to me that Zionists have no problem enjoying stolen lands from Indigenous folk here in North America, but are quick to defend Israel’s right to seize lands from others.
Craig Charbonneau Fontaine Sagkeeng First Nation, Man.
Re “Stop hate” (Letters, June 15): A letter-writer decries anti-Jewish hate in Canadian society, but then proceeds to oppose one of the most powerful tools to combat it.
The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism, which has been adopted by multiple provinces and dozens of countries, including Canada, recognizes that in today’s environment, anti-Jewish sentiment often masquerades as being “anti-Zionist.”
The IHRA definition is non-binding, but offers an important – nay, essential – understanding that overt Jew-hatred, even today, remains impolite in modern Canadian society, and the same sentiments can fester while cloaking themselves in respectable “anti-Zionist” rhetoric.
The IHRA definition, if adopted and used as a guidepost, can help decision-makers see through the clever rhetoric often used by antisemites and see them for who they are.
Mike Fegelman, executive director, HonestReporting Canada Toronto
Different identities
Re “The LGBTQ community has Pride, but it also has prejudice” (June 17): Every gay man of colour has likely experienced firsthand the irony of the LGBTQ community.
“It’s just a preference,” they would say. “I’m not being racist.”
How can we expect to receive equality and acceptance when we can’t even offer these values to ourselves?
Ernest Lam Toronto
Next generation
Re “What managers are getting wrong about early career Gen Z talent” (Report on Business, June 18): Gen X are apathetic. Teenagers can’t write any more. Gen Z are addicted to technology. Boomers are out of touch. Millennials are entitled.
Clichés are convenient ways of confirming our biases by putting people in boxes. I find them lazy and harmful.
Every group has incredible diversity to it.
Peter Shier Toronto
Old as time
Re “Washington State tribe gets approval for grey whale hunt” (June 14): While of course the Makah Tribe and their traditions should be respected, their right to hunt whales should be weighed against a whale’s right to live, the right of most of us to treasure and protect their lives and the right of society to impose animal welfare standards, which it seems unlikely the traditional hunt can meet.
The Makah can let their traditions evolve, which would mean finding a different way to celebrate or commemorate their history of hunting whales.
Karen Dawn, founder and director, DawnWatch Santa Barbara, Calif.
The world has been fighting to save whales from extinction for decades. So to see a hunt proposed is simply inconceivable to me.
What are we fighting for exactly? Numbers sufficient so we can safely hunt them again? Will a population ever be big enough to make killing a mother in front of her calf okay? The calf’s fate is also sealed, as they need a mother for protection and to teach them how to navigate the waters that whales have called home for millions of years.
Does knowing there are 19,200 Eastern North Pacific grey whales make any of this acceptable? I say no, it doesn’t.
Thank you for giving voice to the Animal Welfare Institute’s stance that whale hunts cannot be done humanely, and should therefore not be done at all.
Jennifer Dunn Chatsworth, Ont.
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