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Letters: Shut down the hate before it's too late

Readers speak out on shocking Toronto-area synagogue shootings, MPs' 'obscene' pay raises, 'outrageous' behaviour at the CBC, and much more

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‘Toronto could be moments away from a Bondi Beach’

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Re: Jewish leaders demand swift and ‘united’ action after Toronto synagogue shootings — Kenn Oliver, March 8; ‘Bullets are flying’: Two more Toronto-area synagogues hit by gunfire — Stewart Lewis, March 7; Liberals promise $10 million to fortify Jewish spaces after three synagogues shot at — Christopher Nardi, March 11

Letters: Shut down the hate before it's too late Back to video

The recent synagogue shootings should not have been a surprise to anyone — they are but another rung on the ladder in rising violence against Jews.

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A Canadian-based website continues hunting Canadian Jews who have served with the Israeli military, despite my lobbying all government levels for its removal. Protests featuring violent anti-Jewish slogans proceed unchallenged. On an Air Canada flight, I was served by a flight attendant wearing a “river to the sea” symbol, which essentially calls for the elimination of Israel.

These incidents reveal how normalized antisemitism has become in Canada. Each act grows bolder as the Jew is demonized, an unsettling reminder of a time past in 1930s’ Germany.

Toronto could be moments away from a Bondi Beach-style event — where two Muslim gunmen, father and son, killed a total of 15 people including 11 men, three women and a 10-year-old girl in an ISIS-inspired attack in Sydney, Australia. Should that happen here, the blood will stain the hands of Prime Minister Mark Carney, Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow — politicians who possess the power to halt this incitement to hatred.

Our Jewish community needs more than sympathy. We need leaders with the courage to shut down hate before lives are lost.

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Israel Ellis, Toronto

The latest shootings at three Toronto-area synagogues have brought us many news articles, but little in the way of thinking outside the box for solutions. A good solution should be easy to implement and aid in catching the perpetrators, as well as providing deterrence.

The city of Toronto had 150 speed cameras until they were banned by the provincial government and dismantled by the vendor late last fall. If placed in front of every synagogue, Jewish school and Jewish community centre, these cameras (or something similar) could be configured to record the licence plates of all cars passing by, providing police with a legal record of all vehicles in the vicinity when a crime was committed.

Danny Gordon, Toronto

MPs’ $8.8K pay raise ‘obscene’

Re: New Brunswick Conservative MP says he’s refusing ‘distasteful’ $8.8K pay raise — Adam Huras, Feb. 10

We should be shouting from the rooftops.

New Brunswick MP Mike Dawson has announced he will be refusing to accept the annual pay raise given to all MPs — a roughly $9,000 salary increase to take effect on April 1 (no, this isn’t an April Fool’s joke). Canadian politicians are among the highest paid in the world.

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And this isn’t a one-off. Every spring MPs get an obscene pay raise while the rest of us are struggling to get by. As Dawson stated: “It is frankly distasteful that Parliamentarians are set to receive a raise while the working man and woman in this country hasn’t seen a decent raise in decades.”

In one of his columns the late Rex Murphy wrote: “Einstein claimed that nothing could move faster than the speed of light. But Einstein never saw Canadian MPs when they decided to give themselves a raise.”

Dear fellow readers — contact your local MP to demand a moratorium on automatic pay increases for members of Parliament for at least five years.

Pete Brouwer, Diamond City, Alta.

CBC needs restructuring

Re: Finally, proof of what we’ve known all along — CBC is biased against conservatives — Terry Newman, March 10

Kudos to former CBC journalist and host Travis Dhanraj, who is bringing the outrageous behaviour of the CBC into the public domain. As someone who has listened to and watched the CBC for many years, I am appalled that this behaviour has rarely been publicly challenged.

May Dhanraj’s testimony before the House of Commons’ heritage committee — in which he alleged the broadcaster abuses its employees, discriminates based on race and systematically attempts to silence conservative voices — bring about a meaningful restructuring of the CBC.

Paul Kennedy, Cochrane, Alta.

‘We need to prioritize Canadian citizens’

Re: Chief justice says existence of Canada’s border is discrimination — Jamie Sarkonak, March 6

Chief Justice Richard Wagner is basically encouraging migrants to come to Canada whichever they can and, upon arrival, to seek asylum. Even if eventually deported, they will receive free Canadian goodies for years.

In this particular case, Quebec (and presumably other provinces as well) has a huge waiting list for subsidized daycare. When the need is more than the supply, we need to prioritize Canadian citizens. Canadians have been paying taxes for these daycare places (even if still on a wait list) and are worthy of as much humanitarian consideration as world travellers who have not put a nickel into the pot.

We have been raised thinking that Supreme Court of Canada judges are more knowledgeable and capable of better judgment than the rest of us. Now, with this decision which, as Jamie Sarkonak wrote, devalues Canadian citizenship, I do not think so anymore.

André Corriveau, Stittsville, Ont.

Perhaps NDP ‘utopia’ is already here

Re: Can a broke and battered NDP deliver utopia? — Kelly McParland, March 6

Columnist Kelly McParland made only one mistake in his analysis of the NDP. Who says we aren’t already living in an NDP utopia? Look around; they have achieved all their goals. Many, many people in this country already depend on the government for all their needs. Capitalism is on the decline. It is no longer possible to develop our natural resources — oil and gas will stay in the ground. Housing is so expensive we will soon be living in communes.

The only goal not yet fully implemented is antisemitism, but the NDP is hard at work on that file.

It is fitting that the party’s annual convention will be in Winnipeg, which is fast resembling Tolkien’s domain of the Orcs in Lord of the Rings. The city is crumbling under the weight of crime, with arson and drug addiction hastening the demise of this once proud heart of the country.

Barbara Okun, Scarborough, Ont.

‘Canada not as polite as it used to be’

Re: What we’ve lost: Manners — Amy Hamm, March 10

Eighteenth-century writer, philosopher and politician Edmund Burke said, “Manners are of more importance than laws.” It is true that Canada, the so-called nice nation, is not as polite as it used to be. Politeness and carefully controlled manners were always our secret national weapon that made our society livable. Good manners were innate to Canadians. Being nice and displaying good manners that were grounded in respect was never questioned, it was always silently understood.

How we lost our manners is probably a potential PhD thesis for someone, but there are potential suspects: social media, newcomers from countries where politeness is not a priority, and so on. Good manners go beyond social class or wealth or position. Manners are something that must be taught. A polite person is always respected and oftentimes envied. Manners are the glue of any civilized society.

Douglas Cornish, Ottawa

In Amy Hamm’s lament on the loss of civility, the thank you note deserves honourable mention.

A handwritten note may seem primitive now. This gesture of appreciation, whether for a gift, a job interview or simply a good turn come your way, began its decline long before digital supremacy.

At the dollar store, a pack of five thank you cards runs about a toonie, a pittance to show gratitude, not entitlement.

Sometimes, those deserving recognition are strangers with whom we briefly cross paths. Since the pandemic, I keep cards handy to say thanks.

Dorothy Lipovenko, Westmount, Que.

Why all the fuss about Trump wanting a say in picking Iran’s new ruler?

Re: Trump says he should have a role in picking Iran’s next supreme leader — March 6

I’m not sure what all the fuss is about U.S. President Donald Trump insisting he should have a role in picking Iran’s next supreme leader, particularly among Canadians. After all, Trump picked our current prime minister, didn’t he?

Canadian Paediatric Society responds

Re: The Canadian pediatric medicine researchers who ‘made it up’ — Colby Cosh, March 6

Since 1996, the Canadian Paediatric Surveillance Program (CPSP) has conducted more than 89 multi-year studies and 65 one-time surveys on topics such as congenital syphilis, complex regional pain syndrome, anaphylaxis, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, and many more. Through the voluntary participation of approximately 2,700 paediatricians and paediatric subspecialists, the CPSP has demonstrated the importance of timely epidemiological data collection to child and youth health and well-being.

One of the ways that the CPSP translates knowledge gained through its studies and surveys is through short columns called Surveillance Highlights (formerly CPSP Highlights), which are written by CPSP investigators and submitted to the Canadian Paediatric Society’s journal, Paediatrics & Child, for peer review and publication. Surveillance Highlights are intended as teaching tools and feature a clinical vignette describing a fictional case related to a CPSP study or survey. These are not “case reports” as this term is used in medical journals, but are intended to teach paediatric health-care providers and residents about a specific disease or condition.

It recently came to our attention that some readers were unaware that these vignettes are not reports of actual patients. In retrospect, this was an understandable assumption for readers to make, given the columns had no disclaimer to indicate the cases are fictionalized. It was never the intention of CPSP investigators, program staff or journal editors to mislead: CPSP investigators were asked to create fictionalized cases.

To remedy the situation, we have taken action on two fronts: To ensure that all previously published CPS Highlights and Surveillance Highlights are clearly identified as fictionalized, we have added a linked “Society Note” to each column. This will ensure the disclaimer is properly linked with all Surveillance Highlights that have been indexed in searchable databases. We have clarified instructions to authors, and editors and program staff will ensure that any future Surveillance Highlights include the appropriate disclaimer.

We have apologized to authors and readers for any confusion this oversight has caused. Both Paediatrics & Child Health and the Canadian Paediatric Society have many processes in place to uphold the highest standards of scientific ethics and integrity.

Dr. Laura Sauvé, President, Canadian Paediatric Society

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