Work it out among聽themselves
Twenty band councils have approved the northern B.C. LNG pipeline. The hereditary chiefs disagree with their decision.
Put them together, like the lumber workers and the forest-harvesting companies, and work it out.
Bring in Vince Ready if necessary.
But please get these demonstrating people off my roads in Victoria. Wrong target. Wrong venue.
T.P. Doyle
Victoria
When protesting, respect our protectors
Protests should be a lawful way of showing signs of your displeasure at, or about something that you believe to be a wrongdoing, to yourself or humanity as a whole.
They should always be a demonstration of the freedom we have inherited from those who have gone before us to peacefully demonstrate our displeasure at decisions made by our elected officials.
At no time should this freedom allow any individual to abuse our first responders or anyone else by jostling, pushing and in one case yelling in an officer鈥檚 face, when in fact that individual might even be in complete agreement with the protester鈥檚 cause.
Protest if you must 鈥� it beats having to work, I suppose 鈥� but show respect for our protectors, someday you may need them.
Tom Burns
Sidney
No more protests, give聽us solutions
If the purpose of the pipeline protesters is to irritate, inconvenience and alienate average 91原创s with their disruptive antics, then congratulations, folks: job well done.
Now that we all know what you don鈥檛 want (carbon-based energy), perhaps someone with actual solutions could step forward from your pack of Luddites and offer us some ideas regarding how we will keep a global population of almost eight billion people fed, housed, clothed and healthy.
Please, we are all listening.
Len Dafoe
Nanoose Bay
Where are stories about elected chiefs?
The past few issues of the Times 91原创 have given prominence to the protests in B.C. put on by the Wet鈥檚uwet鈥檈n anti-pipeline supporters. The TC articles have done an exemplary job of highlighting the protest demands. The same goes for all the anti-fossil fuel/pipeline protests across Canada.
But where are the feature articles on the democratically elected chiefs and the effects on their communities? Many of the elected chiefs are speaking out for their people, but media for the most part are ignoring them.
We have the blockades by the protesters detailed, but no mention of how taxpaying citizens and companies in places across Canada have been affected dramatically by them (missed appointments, loss of income, travel inconvenience, etc.).
Also, where鈥檚 the outrage from the public about how their daily lives have been hijacked by the few and how the police and courts have relinquished their duty to serve and protect?
Nana Spence
Victoria
Colonial-style governance on display
Colonial-style governance is truly on display today in the unceded territory of the Wet鈥檚uwet鈥檈n First Nation in northern B.C.
To see what colonizers look like, one has only to study the faces of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Liberal cabinet, the Coastal GasLink employees on site, and the members of the RCMP and 91原创 military who are weighed down by weapons and tools of war as they terrorize and violate the rights and people of the sovereign Wet鈥檚uwet鈥檈n First Nation 鈥� on traditional land that the Wet鈥檚uwet鈥檈n have occupied unbroken for thousands of years.
Unseen, however, are the corporate faces controlling the 91原创 government.
Donald Lovegrove
Victoria
Governments need to respect First Nations
I watched live video in Victoria of people protesting the Coastal GasLink pipeline. I support them.
The government of B.C. should respect their demands to not allow this pipeline to go through Wet鈥檚uwet鈥檈n territory. The injustices to First Nations form a long list. It is long overdue for colonial governments to respect them and truly reconcile.
Globally, the majority of scientists agree that we only have 10 years to clean up our act and achieve carbon neutrality. If we don鈥檛, the climate disasters we are seeing now will seem like a walk in the park.
My son, just days ago, told me he and his wife are expecting their second child. I should be elated, but instead I am terrified for this child; this child, all the children in the world, the iconic polar bears, the magnificent orcas, the amazing salmon, the cedars, the fir, and all life on this beautiful blue planet.
Permitting this pipeline to facilitate fossil fuels is simply criminal.
Please put the government鈥檚 resources into renewable energy.
Diana Hardacker
Chemainus
Victoria art director collected seven Oscars
Re: 鈥淚slander鈥檚 roles at Hope-less, host-less Oscars,鈥� Jack Knox, Feb. 9.
Jack Knox referred to several Victorians connected to the Oscars, but he missed the most accomplished and successful Victoria Oscar winner of all time 鈥� my great-uncle, Richard Welsted Day.
Richard Day was one of the most talented art directors Hollywood has ever seen. He was one of seven children of Robert Scott Day and Patience Day, early Victoria pioneers from Cork, Ireland, whose lovely home at the head of Derreen Place in Rockland still stands.
He was born in Victoria in 1896, and attended Victoria High and University School. In 1920, after being discharged from the 91原创 army, he went to Hollywood with $100 in his pocket.
He went on to win seven Oscars for art direction for Dark Angel, Dodsworth, How Green Was My Valley, This Above All, My Gal Sal and Streetcar Named Desire. At the height of his career, in 1954, he won his seventh Oscar for the Marlon Brando classic On the Waterfront.
He was also nominated for 13 other Oscars, in art direction, including Blood and Sand, The Greatest Story Ever Told, Tora Tora Tora and Exodus.
Elizabeth (Day) Gibson
Victoria
Victoria does not need highrise buildings
Modest low-rise apartments are being replaced with expensive new highrise condos and apartments. These new buildings do not provide affordable housing to many who live and work here. They accommodate people who move here from outside Victoria.
More than 60 per cent of Victoria residents are renters, many of them with wages that can鈥檛 keep up with the cost of living or retirees on a fixed income.
Rent increases, renovictions and demolishing existing apartments lead to dire consequences for these folks. Home ownership is beyond the means of most families.
City council could work with B.C. Housing to build more co-op housing. Also tie rent increases to the unit, not the tenant. Now landlords can jack up the rent as much as they want after a tenant leaves, artificially increasing the market value for all rentals.
The plan to demolish Harris Green, a charming shopping area on Yates, is a mistake. The makeover will聽include five highrise towers, from 15聽to 25 storeys! 1,500 units!
The towers will greatly increase density, resulting in more traffic, angry drivers, more pollution and basically more lines for everything. Our medical infrastructure can鈥檛 support our current needs. Instead of highrises, gentle density is the way to go.
Growth is not always good. Victoria鈥檚 charming character and courteous culture will disappear and it will become like any other densely populated, polluted city with gridlock.
Victoria could be a model city with a heart whose priority is the needs of its residents.
Anita Colman
Victoria
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鈥� Mail: Letters to the editor, Times 91原创, 2621聽Douglas St., Victoria, B.C. V8T 4M2.
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