sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½

Enjoy our museum in its entirety

I’ve just returned from Edmonton and visited the relatively new museum there. It has wonderful information on settlers etc., very interesting First Nations exhibits, fascinating early life and dinosaurs and so on … thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Why the Royal sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Museum needs to change things that do not need changing is beyond me. We learn from the past and move on!

As a child of immigrants to sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ for a better life (away from many wartorn areas of Europe) the concept of immigrants and settlers seems to be distasteful.

The Old Town, cannery etc. and HMS Discovery exhibits were always interesting and enjoyed. And, I always loved the huge First Nations exhibit. Then on to the Woolly Mammoth area and more enjoyment.

If, for seismic reasons, we need a new museum, then that’s a big issue to definitely be discussed. But for now, let us enjoy the museum in its entirety!

Anne Burns

Museum must tell the entire truth

The next phase of the Royal sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Museum’s community engagement is to focus on “location, Indigenous reconciliation, diversity and representation, and inclusion and accessibility.”

While these are laudable goals we should remember that our province’s main museum should also serve to educate all of us, including children, about all of sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ including for instance our fauna, flora, history, geography, geology, immigration and how our primary industries are changing from logging, mining and fishing to digital technologies and tourism.

The move to “decolonize” exhibits is an attempt to whitewash our past and hide an important piece of our history from future generations. The truth should be told no matter how harmful to some.

Martin Bache

Saanich

Limits on drug use have lots of support

While health experts are calling on Ottawa to forever ban cigarette sales to anyone born after 2008, our judiciary is defending drug users’ apparent right to shoot up in our public parks, beaches, and sports fields (to name a few).

To the sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ government’s credit, it appears to be making good on its commitment to monitor, evaluate, and make adjustments to the three-year drug decriminalization trial.

With many municipalities struggling to cope with new open drug use, and drug overdoses the leading cause of death for sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ youth, it is surely not unreasonable to limit drug use in certain outdoor spaces.

It’s been that way with tobacco for years.

Unfortunately, for some advocates of decriminalization, much of the way forward is more types of permitted drugs, higher quantities for possession, and more permitted spaces for use.

For a chief justice to acquiesce to these voices and grant an injunction against the common sense policies endorsed by our elected officials (and I’d get, a plurality of citizens) is inexcusable.

If our government can’t regulate where drugs may not be consumed on constitutional grounds, where does it end? Other provinces and the federal government should be concerned.

This decision demands a strong rebuke.

Shaun Cembella

Saanich

Smokers, drinkers are under different rules

Re: “Mayors behind law against public drug use despite court injunction,” Dec. 30.

I read with dismay of the ruling by the sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Supreme Court to allow drug addicts to self-harm anywhere they chose to do so.

Is an alcoholic by their very nature not addicted to alcohol? But yet they cannot drive while drinking and cannot consume alcohol in public places. Laws were put into place to prevent that.

Are smokers not addicted to nicotine? But yet they are confined to limited areas where they can engage in their addiction. Laws were put into place to prevent them from smoking wherever they choose.

Yet a person who is addicted to street drugs can shoot up/smoke/snort anywhere and everywhere they choose, including a park or school ground.

And if they are smoking crystal meth, or heroin, who cares who else breathes that in? Really?

I cannot fathom why the government is permitted to take away/restrict the rights of smokers and drinkers, yet it cannot do the same with “the rights” of drug addicts. It is shameful the government allows so many people to continue to harm themselves and others under their watch.

Marianne Conley

Saanichton

We need a politician who will crack down

We strictly control the production and consumption of alcohol and tobacco but a judge decides that the government cannot control the public use of deadly, addictive drugs. What reality are we living in? Where is the protection of our grandchildren, children and society?

Premier David Eby and the NDP government made this mess. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau needs to step in and rescind the federal approval to decriminalize hard drugs, or else soon-to-be prime minister Pierre Poilievre will.

Alan Humphries

Victoria

Trouble measuring? Use a laser measure

Gagan Singh of the United Truckers Association has commented about the difficulty of accurately measuring the height of oversize loads using a measuring tape.

A pocket laser measure, several of which are available from hardware stores for less than $70, is accurate to within three millimetres.

These lasers have plenty of range for this application, are commonly used in construction projects, and are easy to use.

Dave Baron

Victoria

No room for violence and destruction here

If the folks carrying the Palestinian flags, who are protesting the Hamas-Israeli war are unable to distinguish between the policies of the Israeli government and the Jewish people who live in Victoria, it’s a sorry state of affairs.

In recent times, we have felt outrage that the Japanese residents of sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ were relocated to inland camps during the Second World War.

These people, in the same way, bore no responsibility for the war policies of the Japanese government. It behooves all of us to educate ourselves on the politics of the Middle East.

Anger and unwillingness to dialogue are not helping anyone. Violent and destructive acts are only mimicking those of the real belligerents.

Annie Weeks

Victoria

Political change needed to fix health care

Socialized Canadian healthcare is great — until you need help for a serious ailment and there no doctor to be found. There was a 10-hour wait at the Victoria General Hospital emergency ward, filled with people from all ages and nationalities, looking for desperate help.

Housing and development to increase the population here is not the crisis! No health care and no doctors anywhere is a crisis!

Many have fancy cars or trucks and houses. sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ is spending untold millions on new ferries and so on. But sooner or later, you will discover if you can’t get proper health care, you really have nothing at all.

A country/province which cannot help people in an ER as they die or suffer in agony sounds more like a struggling Third World. Not a country at all.

We desperately need political change to address this disheartening health care crisis.

David R. Carlos

Victoria

Direct homeowners to develop vacant space

Everywhere we hear calls for more housing and, understandably, for less bureaucracy from inspector offices.

What has been missing from the discussions is the abundant shelters which would require marginal financial output.

I refer specifically to the 2,000-square-foot homes that might be occupied by a single renter or owner. I assume that the building plans for these homes are available at the city halls which oversaw the original build-out.

Without changing the footprint of the sparsely occupied homes, I suggest that the cities properly assess all homes where vacant space sits ready for development.

Specifically, these homeowners could simply be directed to add one or more apartment-size living accommodations.

The construction has largely been finalized, it simply requires modest alterations such as normally expected for occupancy.

The municipality would benefit through higher assessment and taxation.

The owner would hold a more expensive home from which it would derive an income stream.

The renter would be able to shop for lodgings that best suits their purpose.

In all, a win-win-win. Who would argue against this elementary and practical outcome?

Eric J. Ronse

Shawnigan Lake

Lower the voting age to deal with the climate

Should 16-year-olds be allowed to vote?

Not enough is being done to truly tackle climate change. Despite scientists warning long ago that action was imperative, the world drags its heels in favour of what?

We are leaving a tortuous inheritance for younger generations. Allowing youth a greater say in the matter of their world might spur on change, give politicians a firm kick in the pants and promote more drastic action to ensure climate stability.

Let 16-year-olds vote. Immature, maybe, but wiser and more aware of an environmental they would find tolerable enough to live in.

Nicola Ferdinando

Victoria

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