Afraid of the police? Ask yourself why
Re: “ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ orders Victoria school board to create better safety plan,” Sept. 18.
I really had to laugh after reading the story. The only people who are afraid of police officers are the ones who have a reason to be because they plan on doing something wrong or have done something wrong.
Tina Leith
Victoria
Empower students to make schools safer
ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½’s directive to Greater Victoria School District trustees to develop a new school safety plan is a gift, a wonderful opportunity to develop a plan that empowers the students who fear the police by helping them overcome their fears.
Including police liaison officers in their new school safety plan, and supporting those students to heal from the pain that triggers their negative response, is a far wiser and more compassionate course of action than reinforcing students living with their fears and keeping them internalized.
I will envision the school board trustees taking advantage of this wonderful opportunity to help and empower students by creating a forward-looking policy for student safety that involves police liaison officers in the schools.
We are in a time of great healing, and I believe Indigenous cultures around the world carry wisdom that can help each of us heal from past trauma, big or small. In my personal experience, healing from trauma can be challenging and painful. But we all know you end up a stronger, wiser, better person. All of society benefits enormously from such an approach.
Linda Baker
Victoria
ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ needs a healthier future for aging
The National Association of Federal Retirees is calling on the province’s next government to ensure a secure, healthy and dignified future for British Columbians.
Earlier this year, Toronto Metropolitan University reported on the 15 urban centres in ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ with the largest number of adults aged 65 and older.
Six ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ cities made the list. Parksville topped the list, with 46 per cent of its population aged 65 or older.
Sidney was second on the list but surpassed Parksville when it came to the percentage of people aged 80 or over — 14 per cent.
We need British Columbia’s next government to ensure incomes keep up with cost-of-living increases by protecting and encouraging more defined benefit pension plans and prioritizing investments that specifically support access to housing for older Canadians.
British Columbia’s next government must invest in tools and programs to enable older adults to age in place and ensure the work of caregivers is recognized and supported. And British Columbia’s next government must improve access to care, by investing in the continuum of care, from primary to home to long-term care, and address wait times in the public health-care system.
The National Association of Federal Retirees is the largest advocacy organization representing active and retired members of the federal public service, Canadian Armed Forces, Royal Canadian Mounted Police and retired federally appointed judges, as well as their spouses and survivors.
With more than 170,000 members nationally — including 25,000 in British Columbia — the association has advocated for improvements to the financial security, health and well-being of our members and all Canadians since 1963.
Our members need a plan for older adults in British Columbia. British Columbia needs a plan to create a healthier future for aging.
James Goodwin
Sooke
Try to avoid disposable cups
I was happy to see that Victoria is doing something to try to address the ridiculous volume of single-use disposable cups that are thrown in the garbage, many of which are used in-store then dumped when leaving.
I hope that it will have an impact.
I also think there are significant things that all coffee shops should be doing.
• Have ceramic cups for use in-store.
• Always ask customers if they want their coffee “to go or for here.”
• Offer, and clearly publicize, a discount of some sort for bringing a reusable cup, as they won’t have to either cover the cost of providing and disposing of a single-use cup or wash up a ceramic cup.
• Provide adequate recycling for the plastic lid and cardboard sleeve
It’s in everyone’s interest to deal with this avoidable waste.
Graham Tarling
Esquimalt
Reserve dental benefits for those who need help
Although I believe that those less fortunate among most of us older Canadians should, at long last, be given support towards their dental costs, I am stupefied about the base income proposed by the federal Liberals, led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Trudeau seems to be under the impression that $90,000 per year is the poverty line, as far as paying for your own dental costs is concerned.
Unfortunately, I have already heard through personal contacts of many persons who are financially stable and who have mortgage-free homes and who have been fortunate enough during their working lives to be able to make significant investments, making them much further ahead than so many others, who have chosen to apply for this new dental coverage. Shame on them.
I grew up in the 1960s in a one-income family, that one income not including a dental plan. Money was put aside so that my sister and I could go to the dentist.
As an adult, I’ve never made anywhere near $90,000 a year, and if I did, I’d consider myself rich. Even when I was at a job without benefits, I managed to pay for my own dental bills.
What I would like to see right now, if this dental coverage is to continue, is that there will be some sort of oversight, meaning that someone will be monitoring who is applying for coverage that they do not need, and by doing so, are taking away from those who do need.
So here, I’ve thrown the gauntlet.
Lesley House
Saanich
Saanich’s urban forest faces challenges
Saanich plans to plant 54,000 trees to increase the urban forest from 43% to 44%, an increase of one percentage point by 2064. That is, if they all survive.
And more than half of them need to be planted on private land.
My neighbour is on his second set of boulevard tree; the first ones died. The second set are also dying. I suspect not enough water in the winter months.
The new development a block from me also had to replant their boulevard trees. They all look stressed and some are definitely dying.
A much better strategy to fight heat domes and improve livability of dense neighbourhoods would be to protect the well-established trees already standing.
In the district of Saanich you don’t even have to plant bylaw-required replacement trees on your property. You can just shoot Saanich some money, and the replacement trees become Saanich’s problem.
So the Shelbourne valley, for example, lost a significant amount of well-established mature trees because the underground services are at capacity and needed to be upgraded to be able to service all the new apartment buildings being built.
In this day and age, nobody has figured out how to protect mature trees in urban areas when replacing underground services?
If the current trend is allowed to continue, by 2064, the Shelbourne valley will have significantly fewer trees than a few years ago and significantly more pavement and concrete.
Andrea Gleichauf
Saanich
Lighthouses help mariners navigate
Lighthouses are aids to navigation for mariners. Automated or manned, they will continue to show their light, blow their horn, collect and transmit weather observations and do all the other things that they are designed to do. Automated systems are in use worldwide.
They are not safety resources for hikers, ramblers, dog walkers and mushroom hunters. Anybody venturing into remote areas needs to be properly prepared and equipped, with appropriate safety gear including one of the many affordable emergency communication options.
Martin Hill
lifelong mariner and hiker
Sooke
Look for the best ideas, not time spent here
Re: “Get more information on these candidates,” letter, Sept. 17.
Agree 100%, we all have the right to know how long someone has lived in the Capital Regional District so that we might best decide whether to vote for them.
In fact, I believe that patents of nobility stretching back at least seven generations should be provided before candidates are allowed to enter the jousting arena … sorry, I meant run for city council.
What?
Since when is “length of time lived in a place” a legitimate prerequisite for running for city council?
If someone comes forward with practicable, well-researched ideas, a sense of conviction that problems are meant to be solved, combined with the ability to function effectively as part of a team, I don’t care if they’re Fresh Off the Ferry, they’d have my vote.
Michael Wright
Victoria
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