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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All the Pikangikums
You say that The Real Problem In Pikangikum (editorial, July 26) is that its residents "can't find work" because "there is no viable economy to support them." Seen from our Western worldview, you may be correct, but consider that Indigenous people flourished here 10,000 years before Europeans arrived on Turtle Island.
It is worth remembering that the deeper "real problem" is the confinement of Canada's Indigenous peoples to marginal land on reservations, reinforced by a paternalistic welfare model of forced dependence on a colonizer power, created more 150 years ago. Maybe we should ask Indigenous peoples what "the real problem" is and what solutions they propose from the wealth of their own wisdom, as first peoples of this place.
Michael A. Tukatsch, Toronto
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You say that the question that needs asking is: "How do you reconcile the right of Indigenous people to live on their ancestral lands with the undeniable fact that, in some remote, fly-in communities, there is no viable economy to support them?"
The ancestral lands of the Pikangikum community are not the Pikangikum reserve. Before 1875, their ancestral lands were anywhere the Pikangikum people chose to move in their nomadic culture to obtain the best conditions for their livelihood.
The real problem is the frozen-in-time situation across Canada with an insistence on maintaining the hopelessly obsolete reserve system, which continues to trap Indigenous people into remote locations with no chance of economic or social viability.
The situation remains frozen because of the utter dependency of most First Nations leadership on the status-quo financial benefits and power that flow to them under the Indian Act.
Until that reality is confronted, we will face an endless stream of Pikangikums, treated with Band-Aid crisis responses with no hope of long-term success.
It is quite true that Indigenous people have the right to live on reserves, but it is also true that those same people have the right to demand that their leadership be true to their ancestral culture of moving them to where their lives would be better.
Bob Liddle, Calgary
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You correctly point out that the economy of Pikangikum cannot sustain the population and hint that the economy never will support it. You also correctly point out that more health-care workers and more welfare are not the answer. In my view, your suggestion that there may be some hope in getting these untrained young people to work the forest for their livelihood isn't feasible.
You, like the government, do not want to point out that the only solution is to integrate these young people into a sustainable society. In other words, move them out. They need to be housed and trained out of the community or they have zero hope of a decent life.
Colin Reid, Toronto
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Trump's true talent
Re Don't Mess With Boy Scouts (July 26): What Donald Trump knows, what he deeply understands, is what people watch on TV. Boy Scouts are boys. They, even at their young age, are very aware of porn, rich guys and most of all, opponents. Their culture of super heroes, rock stars, TV sitcoms, and a constant diet of movies that blow everything sky high, far outweighs the culture of quality the Scouts organization tries to teach. Mr. Trump knows exactly who his audiences are. That is his true talent.
Barbara Klunder, Toronto
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Canada's gas warfare
Re Let's Not Forget Canada's Legacy Of Gas Warfare (July 22): It is an outrage to suggest that Canada bears guilt for the use of gas in warfare. Our use of gas in the First World War was precipitated by Germany, which introduced it to combat. It is particularly outrageous not to mention the extraordinary bravery of Canadian soldiers in the face of the first large-scale, mass gas attack, by the Germans at the Second Battle of Ypres in April, 1915.
Outnumbered, outgunned, with nothing but wet cloth for gas masks, Canadians held off the Germans for days, preventing a potentially catastrophic encirclement of the entire British and Canadian position.
It is an insult to the memory of these extraordinary men to point the finger at Canada for the use of gas in warfare, when so many were victims of the real culprits. Canadian soldiers felt they had no choice but to use gas once the Germans let the genie out of the bottle, or go into the battle disadvantaged.
Ted Cape, Toronto
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Butterfly facts
Re The Monarchs Are Back (So Are The Bees) (July 25): At the risk of being labelled an "hysterical environmentalist" by Margaret Wente, perhaps she could consider that the return of bee populations might be due to government regulatory action to reduce the use of neonicotinoid pesticides, something environmental groups worked hard to achieve with scientific facts.
Whether glyphosate is affecting monarchs directly, or indirectly by destroying milkweed, a major food source, the result is the same. It's nice to think nature is resilient, however, the assaults on nature and human health from increasing chemical use cannot be shrugged off so easily.
A respected and expert group of scientists last year issued a Statement of Concern about glyphosate herbicides, the most widely and heavily used herbicides on crops genetically engineered to be herbicide-tolerant, noting that current tolerable daily intakes are based on outdated science. Would these scientists be considered "hysterical" also?
Barbara McElgunn, Toronto
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Toilet travails
Re When You Gotta Go, But There's No Public Toilet In Sight (July 25): This week, we had the wonderful opportunity to hike the James Callaghan Trail to the peak of Gros Morne Mountain in Newfoundland. The beauty of Gros Morne National Park is spectacular, the terrain is outstanding. What a travesty that the "facilities" on the trail are absolutely appalling. These poorly constructed and maintained facilities result in hikers using alternative areas nearby, leaving paper and their bodily detritus scattered about. Proven technology is available for clean, functional latrines in poorly accessible places. Why isn't it being used?
Peter Darbishire, Exeter, Ont.
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Hmm …
Paul Burns, CEO of the Canadian Gaming Association, says that "almost 97 per cent of Ontarians who choose to gamble do so without experiencing negative consequences" (Bet On Disagreement, letters, July 26). Oh? So 97 per cent of gamblers don't lose money at casinos and racetracks? Then the Ontario gaming industry must be in very bad shape indeed. It's a wonder that the likes of Mr. Burns even have a job.
Charles Magill, Ottawa