sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½

Let’s work together to fix the big picture

Re: “A well-intentioned experiment gone bad,” commentary, May 3.

Thank you, Natexa Verbrugge, for your excellent and timely analysis of the cluster of disheartening trends that have bedevilled us not just here on Vancouver Island but around the world.

The breadth of the analysis is its most important feature. For far too long, well-intentioned people have come together around pet strategies to resolve individual pieces of a puzzling problem and found, to their dismay, that matters kept getting worse.

Cartesian logic (silo thinking) can also claim credit for our collective mismanagement of climate change.

Let’s spend more time (and column inches) on how our challenges are interconnected and measure our effectiveness improving the big pictures.

John Nicol

Langford

We have intelligence, let’s take logical action

Re: “A well-intentioned experiment gone bad,” commentary, May 3.

This article is evidence that there are rational, intelligent, caring people among us. Now, all that is required is to find a like species, in a government position, to implement the logical and purposeful ideas.

Dawn Devereaux

Victoria

Train right people to offer help

Re: “A well-intentioned experiment gone bad,” commentary, May 3.

Patients going off their meds definitely results in mentally ill individuals living on the street, and criminals unquestionably lure many into addiction to alcohol and other drugs as well as abusing them financially and sexually.

But the commentary loses track of who are the criminals and who are mentally ill people off their meds because they find the side-effects so debilitating.

Proper treatment for individuals who cannot tolerate the medications they are prescribed is not to lock them up and throw away the key; and provision of a safe, healthy environment for someone who suffers intolerable side-effects must include properly resourced help to weed through the voluminous catalog of available medications to find one, if possible, s/he is able to tolerate.

Sweeping disorderly people out of sight and out of mind for the benefit of a public that does not want to encounter them — or pay properly trained, resourced, and remunerated others to care for them properly — is not a solution to these problems.

Mentally disturbed individuals who are unable to tolerate particular medications or are otherwise deprived of proper treatment are not criminals.

What is criminal is not properly training personnel, and staffing and equipping facilities to provide the care that mentally ill people need.

Bill Appledorf

Victoria

Time to face facts for the Island Corridor

The decision in March by the federal and provincial governments to return a portion of the Island rail corridor lands to the Snaw-Naw-As First Nation is likely the decisive blow to the concept of rail returning to the E&N corridor.

This may finally precipitate some action regarding use of the corridor, which has sat idle since the train stopped running in 2011.

The dream of modern rail on this route never really made sense anyway. High cost, slow speed, low population density, too many road crossings, and the Victorian-era design of the railway were all limitations.

The priority should be to re-establish the corridor as an actively used transportation route. Yes, a bus route or even light rail on some sections of the corridor might be possible one day.

For now however, the simplest and most affordable use of the corridor is for multi-use trails, similar to the Galloping Goose and Lochside Trails.

This would establish the corridor as a public transportation route, rather than for residential or commercial development. The type of transportation on the corridor may change over time, as population grows and transportation technology evolves.

The E&N corridor bisects eight separate First Nation reserves between Victoria and Courtenay.

First Nations should be given the time to decide what to do with the sections of the corridor that run through their lands. For the rest of the corridor, the fundamental goal must be to firmly establish public active transportation as the ­primary use of the corridor.

This should be done as soon as possible.

Blaise Salmon

Former Cowichan Valley Regional ­District director and “member representative” to the Island Corridor Foundation from 2019 to 2022.

Shawnigan Lake

Give us the reason for the poor access to Paxlovid

COVID is spreading like wildfire in Victoria. I am 71 years old with several underlying conditions including type 2 diabetes. I have just tested positive for COVID. I had very worrying breathing problems last night and almost went to hospital emergency.

Why can I not get my hands on Paxlovid to reduce the chances of winding up in hospital?

sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ has a large and growing stockpile of this drug but has impossibly restrictive access. Dr. Bonnie Henry has offered no rational explanation for sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ having the most restrictive policy in sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½.

She must explain the need for this policy or immediately allow for less restrictive access like every other province.

James Duncan McDonald

Victoria

We must pay attention to our climate targets

Re: “A friendly wager in favour of ­bikeways,” letter, April 29.

More and better bike and roll routes improve safety, livability, public health, and even economic performance. All these things are important and justify a leisurely shift away from our automobile dominated past on their own.

However, there is an urgent reason for making much more space for walking, rolling, public transit and cycling that was not mentioned in this commentary – the climate emergency.

We don’t have time for a leisurely approach, and the provincial government’s 2021 climate plan update recognized this with an ambitious target to have 25 per cent less traffic on our roads by 2030. Our provincial Vehicle Kilometres Travelled (VKT) reduction target is one of the strongest in the world, and our efforts to meet it regionally should be in the news every week.

This target should be the context for every article about highway expansion projects like the Keating flyover, bus lanes, pedestrian areas like Government Street, or bike and roll routes.

If we pretend that our climate targets don’t exist, it is a safe bet that we will fail dismally to meet them.

Finnegan Howes

Gabriola Island

Dheensaw would be first in a sportswriter draft

I had never heard of Dontae Bull until Wednesday’s front-page article, so thank you for prominently featuring this local young man’s wonderful success story.

He is an example of what can be achieved by setting personal goals, working hard and benefitting from skilled coaches and knowing mentors. I will follow his career in the CFL as a proud Victorian.

The article also highlights another local star at the top of his game, the author of the article, Cleve Dheensaw.

I regularly read all the so-called leading sports writers in sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ and the U.S.. As the current article demonstrates, Dheensaw is a master of bringing a story to life through extensive interviews and quotes and he unfailingly references and pays tributes to local high school connections in his coverage.

Plus, in a world of sports specialists, Dheensaw covers them all. If there was a draft today for North American sportswriters, Dheensaw would surely be selected first overall.

Tim McGee

Victoria

Small act of kindness for two teens buying food

Thank you to the Country Grocer Esquimalt employee who, on April 29, very kindly told two teenagers buying groceries for their family that they didn’t need to worry when the boys realized that they didn’t have quite enough money.

That small, thoughtful act saved them a lot of embarrassment, and allowed them to take their groceries home.

Jan Henry

Victoria

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