Esquimalt Lagoon is one of only 54聽migratory-bird sanctuaries in Canada. The decline of varieties and numbers of birds using Esquimalt Lagoon over the past several decades should raise concerns about the future of the lagoon as a bird sanctuary.
In only the past couple of years, I have observed increased numbers of people visiting and using the lagoon to exercise their dogs, remove driftwood and anything else of interest, disrupt birds, trample on flora, dig for clams, set crab traps, leave their garbage and use Ocean Boulevard to parade and race their noisy cars, trucks and motorbikes. Esquimalt Lagoon is increasingly becoming a human zoo and less of a bird sanctuary.
We learned recently that half of all wildlife has disappeared in the past 50聽years. Victoria鈥檚 population is expanding at an unprecedented rate, and so is the trend to turn Esquimalt Lagoon into a human playground, whereby our expanding encroachment and misuses will not only erode the lagoon, but will also convert it to something other than a place of sanctuary for birds and other wildlife.
The Municipality of Colwood and the 91原创 Wildlife Service need to have a long-term vision and plan to preserve Esquimalt Lagoon. The lagoon is at serious risk of becoming just another depleted and overused park dominated by human activity and the environmental degradation that accompanies our presence.
Philip Andrew Schreiber
Victoria
School shooting traumatizes children
Re: 鈥淥ne dead, 8 hurt, 2 arrested in Colorado school shooting,鈥� May 8.
I always enjoy reading my morning paper before going into work. However, Wednesday was a very different day. I was deeply saddened by the news of yet another shooting in a Colorado school.
The terror that students must feel is impossible to comprehend. Then there are officers who can hear the gunshots as they arrive at the school, not knowing what they are heading into.
It is a sad world when young people are able to pick up a gun and think it is OK to kill someone. Why do they have guns, where do they get them from and what motivates these people to murder others? Do they not have the mentality to foresee the consequences of their actions?
I cried when I saw the photo of the lovely young boy, crying as he was helped off the bus and into a recreation centre. What must he have been thinking? Was he wondering where his parents were? Will he ever trust anyone again?
Carol M. Henderson
Colwood
Goal is to have every聽vote count
Re: 鈥淕reens owe victory to first-past-the-post,鈥� letter, May 8.
The letter-writer asks if the Greens would find it peculiar that Paul Manly was elected as MP when 63 per cent of voters did not want him? As well-informed proportional-representation supporters, of course they would.
The truth is I鈥檝e never met a PR supporter who was focused on giving their preference an advantage. The goal is to have every vote count. That鈥檚 democracy.
The real question is how many first-past-the-post supporters will acknowledge the need for PR, when their votes are the ones ending up in the trash?
Mike Buchanan
Victoria
Don鈥檛 do cartwheels over Green victory
Re: 鈥淣anaimo goes Green in federal byelection,鈥� May 7.
May I add a bit of perspective before Green Party Leader Elizabeth May does cartwheels down the halls of Parliament over the recent Green byelection victory?
Consider this: The Green candidate won with 37 per cent of the vote when a disappointing 41 per cent of voters cast ballots, which means about 15 per cent of the electorate voted Green.
Congratulations! But spare us the hyperbolic victory rhetoric, and hold off on any parade, please.
Gord Zawaski
Parksville
A woman is killed every other day
Re: 鈥淢an killed in alleged 鈥榙omestic matter鈥� in Calgary,鈥� May 5.
This story is another devastating example of how intimate-partner violence is a real and damaging issue in our country, regardless of who the victim or perpetrator is. We grieve with every family affected by it.
According to the 91原创 Femicide Observatory (#CallItFemicide, 2018), a woman is killed every other day, with 66 per cent of those women being killed by an intimate partner or family member. The home is the most dangerous place for a woman in Canada 鈥� she is more likely to be killed in her own home by her partner than by any other means.
Intimate-partner violence is a plague in our communities.
Men who abuse and kill their partners need to be called out and held responsible for the incredible damage they are doing to half of our population, not to mention all the children who are affected.
Societal ambivalence to this issue amounts to acceptance and exoneration of abusers. Until there are real consequences for abusers, nothing will change, except that more and more women will be abused and killed, more and more children will experience the trauma and more and more of our community will be affected.
Reporting on an isolated incident of a woman killing her partner might be of interest and have a sensational edge to it 鈥� but it certainly does not tell the story of the hundreds of women killed each year in Canada by the people they should be able to trust the most.
Joanne Linka
Cridge Centre for the Family
Victoria
Change your perception of accents
Re: 鈥淎re our accents sexy? Depends on who you ask, b鈥檡,鈥� column, May 5.
Changing our perception of accents is quite simple. One first has to understand that people do not speak with an accent. People listen with their accent. It is my expectation that you are going to sound like me.
How I speak is the result of what I聽have heard since I was an infant and eventually gave voice to as I mimicked what I heard.
Does listening with my 91原创 accent cause me to pay more attention occasionally? Of course, because what I hear is my problem.
The speaker鈥檚 identity is no less legitimate than my own. Remember, the other person is also listening with their accent, and you sound equally different.
Gerald Pash
Victoria
