A person makes their way past the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Feb. 13.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Forest for the trees
Re “Jasper fires show public policy shouldn’t be solely driven by public sentiment” (July 30): As a retired forester, I take exception to this opinion.
Historically, the mountain pine beetle was endemic within our dry forest ecosystems and kept in balance by cold winters. They have become epidemic largely because of balmy winter temperatures in Canada these days, the consequence of climate change.
In addition, decades of fire suppression have created dense forests that can encourage insects and disease and increase fuel loading. We should adjust this approach and the use of prescribed fire to ensure forest health, productivity and resilience. Parks Canada has been a leader in this paradigm shift.
The maintenance of ecosystem health and fuel management are expensive and often complex, and therefore government, land managers and the forest industry have been slow to enact change. As wildfires start more easily and spread more rapidly as a result of climate change, maybe public sentiment will move us to implement better forest management.
Norbert Greinacher Vancouver
Sub in
Re “Back to the future: Canada’s plan to buy 12 submarines is straight out of 1987″ (Opinion, July 27): I remember the 1987 white paper on defence, and the announcement to buy Trafalgar class attack submarines from Britain.
At the time, I was writing my honours thesis on the future of Canada’s Fleet Pacific. My thesis supervisor was the late Rear-Admiral S. M. Davis, who was responsible for the preliminary study of nuclear submarine acquisition in the 1960s. Indeed, he wrote a fine article in 1987 titled “It Has All Happened Before: The RCN, Nuclear Propulsion and Submarines.”
As was the case in 1987, it is being suggested there is some connection between nuclear-powered submarines and nuclear-armed submarines. The two are entirely separate matters.
A conventional submarine could just as easily carry nuclear weapons, and a nuclear sub could be armed with conventional weapons. Suggesting any nexus between how a vessel is propelled and the weapons it is armed with would simply be fearmongering.
Thomas Flavin Edmonton
What to say?
Re “Let’s talk about it: How do you solve a problem like Alice Munro?” (Arts & Books, July 27): The debate about how to evaluate Alice Munro’s literary work is one thing. However, why no discussion about the wall of silence from associates and longtime friends who may have known about the 2005 conviction of Gerald Fremlin for indecent assault?
I believe those who were complicit in keeping this a secret from the general public were part of the betrayal her daughter experienced. Andrea Skinner should not have been denied a voice until now.
Katrine Sutherland North Vancouver
Perhaps Alice Munro is so well regarded because her characters provide such a clear window into the darkness of our humanity, as revealed in the seemingly inconsequential decisions of everyday life. If we do not understand that darkness, we are naïvely innocent and will pay the price in things done or not done.
If a “hero” is needed, it should be her daughter who, in telling the whole story, has made Ms. Munro her own “greatest” character.
Bill Jennings Kingston
Push for peace
Re “Can protesting the Giller Prize really help end the Gaza war?” (Opinion, July 27): Nobody thinks that boycotting a literary prize is going to end the genocide in Gaza. None of us who are part of the Canlit Responds campaign are making this point.
Boycotting a literary award now named after a bank that is heavily invested in Elbit Systems, an Israeli weapons firm, is precisely what we have called it: an act of peaceful protest. We are also expressing our opposition to the funding of the Israeli military and illegal settlements in the West Bank. Some of those who support the Giller Prize do both these things.
Canadian writers are refusing to be used as colour to artwash the occupation of Palestine.
Avik Jain Chatlani Author, This Country is No Longer Yours Ottawa
Bigger picture
Re “Safekeeping” (Letters, July 27): A letter-writer reminds us that were Indigenous artifacts not carefully curated by the Vatican, they would have been lost to history, an “inconvenient fact” overlooked when demanding their return to their “communities of origin” lacking foresight to establish museums.
While we ponder “inconvenient facts,” remember that the Roman Catholic church worked closely with Canadian governments to destroy customs, languages and family units of those “communities of origin.”
The Vatican took many, many things more precious than artifacts from Indigenous people in Canada. Returning a few artifacts should be seen as a token admission and apology.
Mike Firth Toronto
Can’t stay here
Re “Gay bars are closing, but queer nightlife is still thriving” (Opinion, July 27): One of the most important contributing factors to the demise of gay clubs: the internet and the ubiquity of gay dating apps.
While the whiteness of club culture is a factor, I don’t believe it’s the biggest nail in the coffin of gay clubs.
Ralph Carl Wushke Toronto
Canadian connection
Re “Bugs Bunny makes his official debut” (Moment in Time, July 27): Charles Thorson, one of Canada’s greatest cartoonists, created Bugs Bunny and completed the original drawings.
Mr. Thorson was the character designer for so many beloved icons of animation including Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, Punkinhead and Elmer the Safety Elephant. He was also instrumental in the development of Snow White while at Disney. There are scores of his additional creations, too numerous to list.
Mr. Thorson’s work gave 20th-century animation a look and feel beyond measure. He was also my great-uncle.
James Lahey Toronto
Meet the letter-writers
Throughout the late spring and summer, The Globe will feature personal insights and missives from some of our most frequent contributors every Sunday in Letters to the Editor. Survey responses were collected as a part of the research behind A Nation’s Paper: The Globe and Mail in the Life of Canada, a collection of history essays from Globe writers past and present, coming this fall from Signal/McClelland & Stewart.
(The following responses were received by The Globe after a call for submissions in May, 2023.)
I started submitting letters in the run-up to the election of Donald Trump in 2016.
I am interested in North American politics, particularly the shift toward extreme “populist” right-wing movements. I don’t think it’s good enough to be a “letter-writer curmudgeon” and complain. There has to be some insight or analysis.
When I returned to Canada after living overseas for 25 years, I was “shocked and appalled” at the extent to which Canadian society had become entitled and lacking in respect for people, institutions and rules. I asserted in a published letter that this shift was directly linked to right-wing movements, as well as other undesirable societal trends.
I confess to a competitive streak – hoping to “score” with a letter each time. Obviously it has to be good, but I try to focus on keeping it short and pithy. I try to guess the letter themes for the next morning.
J. David Murphy Barrie, Ont.
I am currently a senior fellow at the Wellesley Institute and adjunct professor at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto. I have written and lectured extensively on health, mental health and housing policy issues, including addressing them as the subjects of my many letters.
I think letters provide readers with opportunities to address or debate the issues of the day, as well as comment on The Globe’s editorial stances when warranted. While not all my missives are published, I do appreciate The Globe allowing me to engage in public discussion of health and mental-health issues.
When I am not writing letters or engaged in those areas (I was named to the Order of Canada for my contributions as a leader, scholar and advocate), I have been playing drums in a 1960s to 1980s rock cover band for more than 40 years.
Steve Lurie Toronto
I have no reasonable explanation of why I do this, write letters, other than for the happy satisfaction of getting published, and being heard. It’s a genuine pleasure to add my voice to a discussion, or just to add a comment.
In the “book” where I’ve collected my letters, I wrote this: “I will write on just about anything that moves me or makes me laugh; sometimes I am angry, occasionally funny, and once or twice a tad too pompous for my own liking. I have quoted poets a few times, and even had a limerick published.”
They say letter-writing is a dying art, but your letters pages is proof that it is not.
Nigel Brachi Edmonton
Letters to the Editor should be exclusive to The Globe and Mail. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. Keep letters to 150 words or fewer. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. To submit a letter by e-mail, click here: letters@globeandmail.com