Toronto Mayor John Tory says ‘repeat gun offenders should not be granted bail in the event of a subsequent gun charge.’Tijana Martin/The Canadian Press
Letters to the Editor should be exclusive to The Globe and Mail. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. Try to keep letters to fewer than 150 words. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. To submit a letter by e-mail, click here: letters@globeandmail.com
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Guns, gangs, gateways
One of the most sensible gateways to curbing gun violence is heeding the call to toughen the law and refuse bail to all repeat gun offenders (Attorney-General Criticizes Federal Bail System, July 6).
I accept that we must address the social determinants of gun violence but this isn’t an either/or proposition. We must do both.
Samantha George, Winnipeg
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Re The Only Way To Stop Gang Violence (editorial, July 6): The Globe and Mail is correct that reducing gang violence requires investments in safe, affordable housing and community services.
In 2013, the Canadian Medical Association (CMA)published a report showing that only 25 per cent of a person’s health status is attributable to access to health care; 50 per cent relates to social determinants of health such as income, early childhood development, food security, employment, housing, race, aboriginal status and community belonging.
The Code Red project, which examined poverty in Hamilton, found a 21-year life-expectancy gap between low- and high-income neighbourhoods.
The CMA called for government action on a poverty-reduction action plan, a guaranteed annual income, affordable and supportive housing, development of a food security program, more investment in early childhood education, including parental support, collaboration between government and industry on a pharmacare program, and a comprehensive strategy for First Nations health.
All levels of government need to make long-term investments in these things if we hope to reduce gang violence and foster healthy communities.
Steve Lurie, Executive Director, Canadian Mental Health Association Toronto
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“Forget the summer of the gun,” you say, and admit that we live in an era of “failed and misguided responses to a serious social issue.” Well, Doug Ford is now Premier of Ontario, so failed and misguided responses are here to stay for at least four years.
Canada is crawling with cheap and readily available guns. About two-thirds of crime guns are domestically sourced, and that means outlier “legal” gun owners are too often selling their little arsenals in “straw sales” or those legal guns are being burglarized. A letter writer urges the middle class to stop buying drugs and creating a market for gangs (Fuelling Gun Violence, July 6). More sensible marijuana legislation may help somewhat with that, but don’t hold your breath.
Ron Charach, Toronto
Buy Canadian
Re Wallet Wars: Majority Of Canadians Say They’ll Fight Back Against Tariffs (July 5): What happens when Americans decide to stop travelling here and buying made-in-Canada? Where does it end?
Sarah Rogers, Edmonton
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The Toronto Transit Commission’s says that 67 of 89 new streetcars delivered by Bombardier will have to be sent to a Bombardier factory to repair substandard welding (Politicians Sour On More Streetcar Orders – July 5) .
Buy Canadian, eh?
Doug Hacking, Sarnia, Ont.
The politics of law
Re U.S. Supreme Court Has Always Been Political (July 5): Law professor Allan Hutchinson is correct that the U.S. Supreme Court has always been political. He implies that this is inevitable and that things in Canada are more or less the same. If, however, we decide that it is best to minimize the politicization of the judiciary, it would be worth casting a broader comparative perspective to see if other institutional models might help to minimize this.
If we look to Germany, we find a federal constitutional court that is widely viewed by the broader public and political scientists as being far less politicized than the U.S. court. And the German Federal Constitutional Court has a far higher level of public support as an institution as a result . The reasons for this are both cultural and institutional and worthy of note. We should not simply accept a politicized judiciary as inevitable.
Mark A. Wolfgram, Department of Political Science, McGill University
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Allan Hutchinson says Canadian judges, like their U.S. counterparts, are political. They have to make value judgments. There is no area of the law where this is more so than aboriginal law. Nine unelected, largely unaccountable judges, without aboriginal ancestry, are making policy decisions affecting aboriginal peoples, their lands and resources. They’re doing so to achieve reconciliation which they’ve interpreted as balancing aboriginal rights against the interests of all Canadians.
Accepting that no rights are absolute and some balancing is necessary, it is still unacceptable that this is done without any real involvement of aboriginal peoples. Justin Trudeau has had two opportunities to appoint an aboriginal lawyer to the court but failed to do so. More fundamentally, it’s time politicians assumed responsibility for political issues and made meaningful change as recommended 20 years ago by a royal commission. Judges have not solved the inequalities faced by Indigenous peoples.
Jim Reynolds, author, Aboriginal Peoples and the Law, Vancouver
What’s really wrong
Re Conservative MP Adds Voice To Discussions On Feminism (July 3): It’s “really wrong,” says MP Rachael Harder, for the Finance Minister to push for more women to enter the STEM fields of science and mathematics, arguing each woman should decide for herself what she wants to do with her life.
Extensive research supports pushing the agenda on women in STEM. A McKinsey and Co. report found that advancing women’s equality in Canada has the potential to add $150-billion in incremental GDP by 2026. It also found that the most important levers for growth are adding more women to high-productivity STEM sectors such as mining and technology.
What’s “really wrong” is that it’s 2018 and we’re still having to convince people of the merits of arming our girls with the necessary skills for future jobs. What’s “really wrong” is that every day, girls who start out eager and interested in STEM face overwhelming societal pressure that they aren’t smart enough, that there is no place in these fields for them.
Over the past 20 years I’ve seen thousands of Canadian girls, who would have opted out of science and technology, change their minds completely once they had the chance to see how exciting and relevant these fields are to their futures. These girls will be our future researchers, computer scientists and innovators. That’s at least a few thousand reasons for the government to keep investing in STEM and in girls.
Jennifer Flanagan, CEO, Actua
Soccer as theatre
Re Could Neymar-Style Acting Become Can-Con? (Sports, July 6): What’s with the shocked response to the embarrassing theatrics of various World Cup soccer players flailing away on a pitch like so many freshly caught fish? A solution? Put the budding thespian on a stretcher, carry them out to the parking lot and let them finish their one-act play in front of cranky fans who couldn’t get in.
Dan Fraser, Victoria