Giving the thumbs-up
Regarding the complaint about a VicPD officer caught on camera giving a thumbs-up signal at the Saturday protest, some background is needed.
My family yelled “thanks for your service,” and in response, the officer put his thumb up.
I was dismayed to see some expert from Vancouver attacking the integrity of Police Chief Dal Manak over this.
Derek Sanderson
Victoria
Thumbs up to the police officers
In regard to the police officer issuing a thumbs-up, it indicated to me that there is harmony in the community.
We too easily forget the police are our neighbours, not our adversaries.
A happy relaxed crowd acting within the law are in unity with the police. Thumbs up to all at the rally for good behaviour and a special thumbs up to the police as members of that community.
Tony Brogan
Salt Spring
Who is paying for these protests?
As a retired police officer with several years experience working abroad for the UN, I find the idea of this so-called “Freedom Convoy” to be laughable.
In some of the countries where I have worked, a similar gathering would have been met with gunfire, fatalities and mass arrests.
Canadians have more freedoms than most in the world, but what seems to elude the protesters is that we also have social responsibilities.
In order for our fairly complex society to function we all have a set of duties that we must abide by. Obeying traffic laws is a simple example of how our actions could, if not moderated, have deadly consequences for our fellow citizens.
It would seem that wearing a mask and getting vaccinated is too big a price to pay to live in a free and democratic country like Canada, so I would be happy to suggest some countries where the rule of law is completely broken down and protesters can go there and live a life unfettered by social responsibility.
I also wonder who has been funding this protest? If I was the suspicious type I might look at the various foreign actors who would benefit from a breakdown in Western societal cohesion and unity.
Did any of that money perchance come in rubles?
Len Dafoe
Nanoose Bay
Clarity is needed on museum’s future
Re: “A new, modern Royal B.C. Museum is long overdue,” commentary, Jan. 29.
One sentence stands out in Melanie Mark’s commentary: “I also want it to be very clear, not one of our histories will be erased or destroyed.”
Except it hasn’t been very clear at all. It has been the opposite of clear. I notice she says histories rather than displays. So displays might be erased or destroyed, but histories will not. We’ll see.
Anne Hopkinson
Victoria
Where is the plan for what comes next?
Re: “A new, modern Royal B.C. Museum is long overdue,” commentary, Jan. 29.
Melanie Mark’s opinion piece was obviously designed to answer all the questions and diatribes that the closings have engendered.
It fails to even address the basic question of why any museum management, and this includes her hand at the wheel, would close an entire floor of much-loved and -admired exhibits for five years before even having a plan about what to do next.
Ludicrous. I extend my call to fire the entire board and management to her resignation as well.
I shake my head is absolute incredulous disbelief.
Martin Golder
Victoria
Seismic and asbestos are red herrings
I’m afraid that the seismic and asbestos issues at the Royal B.C. Museum are red herrings.
The asbestos and seismic concerns have been discussed between the museum and the provincial government since 1990, to my personal knowledge through my involvement with the previous caretakers of the asset, B.C. Building Corp.
Previous governments have repeatedly denied allocation of funding to deal with these issues, other than minor projects in particularly sensitive areas. This government should be commended for stepping up to at least set up the framework to deal with these concerns.
I suspect that with the backlash of the poorly thought-out “decolonization” project, an obvious attempt to climb on the current sensitivity to Indigenous peoples’ history, that a quick backroom spin was brought forward to justify the project.
The museum needs the upgrade, and I’m not sure removing complete exhibits is the right move as it erases the mistakes made.
In 20 years, the accurate portrayal of how the Indigenous where treated will be transformed into a celebration of their culture and any trace of the reason that we should feel guilty for the past will become something you read about in books rather then a graphic display.
I would much rather see the exhibit reworked to show a more accurate picture of the times for all people, than to selectively remove sections and celebrate others.
The exhibit as it stands represents a view of the times. The problem is that it only shows one side of the equation, whereas adding the stories and graphic exhibits of the other side would be a much better teaching tool.
Tony J. Maude
Salt Spring Island
Note: The museum has other floors
With regard to the Royal B.C. Museum’s third-floor renovation, it is now revealed to be motivated by a need for asbestos removal and earthquake upgrades — but has been needlessly dressed up as a display of reconciliation with First Nations.
Dare we ask if the second floor and even the first floor might be similarly afflicted? What if the folks who designed and built the third floor might just possibly have also designed and built the rest of the building?
That’s just a wild guess, I know, but shouldn’t someone look into that?
Martin Hykin
Victoria
The comedy skills of Coun. Ben Isitt
I thank Victoria Coun. Isitt for the little giggle I had over my morning coffee. This gentleman can deploy Ricky Gervais-grade irony at will.
“It brings the worst elements of all of our communities out of the woodwork and gives them the platforms to articulate reprehensible views.”
He’s clearly mocking those politicians who are so breathtakingly pompous, so certain of their infallibility, so blissfully confident that they speak for people who haven’t given them their endorsement, so lavish with funds as long as they match prevailing ideological idiocies, that they will brook no opposition.
In their tiny, fevered brains, no one is worthy to oppose them. That would be “reprehensible.”
Comedy gold! How did he say it with a straight face?
Maybe he was serious?
Jerry Neudorf
Saanich
The sleeping dog might be awake
A referendum on the topic of Victoria’s reconciliation grant would be “an extremely bad idea … It brings the worst elements of our communities out of the woodwork and gives them the platforms to articulate reprehensible views that do harm to individuals.”
Is this quote from the Feb. 1 edition accurate and properly attributed to Coun. Ben Isitt?
Wow. Could this arrogant and anti-democratic statement be the prod that finally awakens the sleeping dog that is the majority of Greater Victoria residents who don’t vote in municipal elections?
If not, then I fear we are doomed to continue wagging as ardently and impotently as the tail dictates.
Glen Percy
Victoria
Reconciliation grant is a tangible gesture
I wholeheartedly support this grant and I knew even before reading the article who voted against it — old white men.
This grant is a tangible gesture, not just empty words. Now more than ever before, we need to respect and listen to our Indigenous communities and include them in future decisions about our precious environment.
Rosemary Garnet
Victoria
How Victoria might spend its surplus
So Victoria council has found a $200,000 surplus in the budget. I wonder if it ever occurred to them to use that “found” money to provide the services they were elected to provide.
You know, like policing, road maintenance (have you driven Gorge Road lately?), recreation facilities and the list goes on.
To me, it also begs the question: Is this the only surplus they have? And if there is a surplus, why do they have to raise taxes?
Ron Sleen
Victoria
Lorne Whyte’s important support for Deuce Days
Back in the 1970s Lorne Whyte worked for the Victorian newspaper.
The Hampton Park Hustlers had the idea of promoting an inner tube race on the Gorge and a Tubers Ball in the Esquimalt Arena the night before.
After a short meeting with Lorne, everything was in place for the Victorian to be the major media sponsor.
Years later, a group approached City Hall about hosting Deuce Days in the Inner Harbour. The mayor and council were quick to vote it down.
A week later, after a long meeting at the Strathcona discussing the hotel room nights, food and beverage sales and retail business the event would bring to Greater Victoria, Lorne met with the mayor, and the rest is history.
R.I.P. my friend.
Bob Painton
Esquimalt
Lorne Whyte helped start UVic program
There have been many well-deserved accolades for Lorne Whyte and I would like to share another.
In 1991, Lorne, as CEO of Tourism Victoria, was instrumental in establishing the tourism and hospitality program in UVic’s new School of Business. For many years, he was a guest speaker in that program, hired co-op students (and encouraged others to do so), and helped students launch careers in the industry.
He encouraged our business faculty to be engaged in the local community and encouraged the local community to engage deeply with what is now the Gustavson School of Business.
Thirty years later, there are numerous relationships between Gustavson and business leaders in Victoria and on Vancouver Island that help develop future leaders and strengthen many aspects of our communities.
But among the first of these was the partnership between Tourism Victoria and Gustavson faculty (first Dr. Peter Murphy, and then myself) where we developed and implemented the Tourism Victoria Visitor Exit Survey.
UVic students learned market research skills (data collection and data analysis) and Tourism Victoria’s membership received valuable information to help them make strategic decisions.
For almost 17 years, while Lorne was CEO of Tourism Victoria, this partnership provided quarterly and annual reports that tracked where visitors came from, where they stayed, what they did, what they thought, how much they spent and what they spent their money on.
This information was extremely valuable in building out our local tourism ecosystem. Lorne’s commitment to the university and our students was greatly appreciated. I will miss his passion for tourism and hospitality, and for the betterment of all aspects of life in Victoria.
Brock Smith
Gustavson School of Business
University of Victoria
Yes, Canada has a role in international affairs
I was profoundly saddened to read some recent letters to the editor advising the Canadian government not to get involved in the dispute between Russia and Ukraine.
I understand that the impetus might have been based on the belief that there are too many domestic topics that we need to address before “interfering” in disputes halfway around the world.
While it is true that we have many profound issues that need concerted attention, that sort of “isolationist policy” can only reap a whirlwind in the future.
We are, in fact, a “multicultural” member nation of the global community. Because of this, we share roots with many countries; in fact Canada is home to the third-largest population claiming Ukrainian heritage in the world (behind Ukraine itself and Russia).
On Dec. 2, 1991, Canada became the first western country to recognize Ukraine’s independence. Canada and Ukraine have since enjoyed a close relationship. Our bilateral relationship is strengthened by warm people-to-people ties, rooted in the Ukrainian-Canadian community of 1.4 million people.
I am not part of the global Ukrainian diaspora, but five years ago I was sent by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to be a keynote speaker at two conferences in Odessa, on the Black Sea.
The Crimean peninsula, immediately to the east, had been annexed by Russia just two years before and “anti-Soviet” feelings were palpable. Even then, that distrust fostered the belief that the Russian leader’s quest for more territory was not finished.
For me this feeling was elevated when I saw old planes, abandoned by the runways of Odessa International Airport, still with bullet holes in them!
I returned to my homeland with a much better understanding of the geopolitical tensions that abound in Ukraine’s orbit. I was also firmly convinced that Canada does have a part to play as such tensions escalate around the globe.
Our role is not that of a “super-power” but rather, we should aspire to act as an advocate/intermediary whose voice speaks firmly to that which is right — both home and away.
Chris Coleman
Victoria
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