Jack Letts, dubbed "Jihadi Jack" in Syria in 2014.handout
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Canada’s ‘Jihadi Jack’?
Re Parents Of Accused Terrorist Weigh Move To Canada (Aug. 21): There should be no dithering, no hiding behind talking points for our political leaders when it comes to the question of whether to allow alleged IS terrorist Jack Letts – a.k.a. “Jihadi Jack” – to return to Canada, a country in which he has never lived. The answer should be a resounding “No.”
The legal fiction of dual nationality enables too many people to be “Canadians by convenience.” I am one voter who hopes that whichever party forms the government after the fall election will amend the law that permits it.
Canadian citizenship is a privilege; it’s high time it was regarded as such. To paraphrase the tired line I hear some politicians utter far too often nowadays, “It’s time to stand up for Canada.”
Ken Cuthbertson, Kingston
Under current circumstances, revoking Jack Letts’s Canadian citizenship would render him stateless, and would put Canada in the position of abrogating its obligations under international conventions to which Canada is a party. It would be a step backward for our prized democracy.
Terrorist groups would like nothing better than to dismantle Western civilization, piece by piece. Western governments have acquiesced by altering our way of life, and our collective ethos, by condoning state actions that were previously unthinkable: extraordinary renditions, torture, blanket surveillance of citizens, intrusive security inspections, and collateral murder, to name a few.
We need to think carefully before handing terrorist groups these kinds of victories. We have seen the enemy: Let it not be us.
Geoffrey Milos, Toronto
Democracy, Hong Kong
Re Why Beijing Fears Protests In Hong Kong (editorial, Aug 20): It’s disingenuous to suggest crushing Hong Kong might start a new Cold War. Tiananmen didn’t. Uyghur “re-education” camps haven’t. One of the highest per capita rates of citizen execution hasn’t.
That horse left the barn decades ago when we began to trade with China. Now we need China more than it needs us. So: Hong Kong massacre? If it happens, pish-tush. Just a little more collateral damage on the way to more money in the bank all round.
Peter Ferguson, Kimberley, Ont.
Re Hong Kong Protesters Defend Tactics As Unity Splinters (Aug. 21): What is amazing is that there has been so little violence in protests where millions have gathered to demonstrate. Protestors have been attacked by goons, but the crowds have mostly been peaceful – noisy, but in the main, peaceful. This should be the takeaway from these protests for all of us, but especially for the Chinese government. Violence is not necessary if enough of the population is engaged in wanting change.
David Bell, Toronto
Climate, politicized
Re Election Ads On Climate Change Won’t Threaten Charity Status, CRA Says (Aug. 21): Sometimes, it appears, legislation drafted with good intentions results in bizarre, unintended interpretations. That appears to be the message that environment groups took from a recent briefing by Elections Canada.
In Harper v. Canada (Attorney-General), the Supreme Court ruled in 2004 that reasonable limits on advertising expenditures by third parties – that is, organizations other than registered political parties – are constitutional. In effect, the court said that the restrictions on third parties are reasonable in a democratic society, in part because they are intended to preserve fairness in the electoral process, and to protect spending limits on parties and candidates.
As a limit on the public statements that environmental groups can make on climate change, the interpretation of the Elections Act’s provisions, in conjunction with limitations on the activities of charities, clearly produces a result that is not reasonable. The hypothetical case put forward by Elections Canada limited issue-advertising in ways not intended by the drafters, who were concerned primarily with bogus issue-ads that were, in fact, partisan. Elections Canada should think again – or perhaps consult some other legal experts.
(Full disclosure: I was a witness for the attorney-general in the Harper case on the effects of advertising and spending in election campaigns.)
Fred Fletcher, Toronto
Sex-ed success
Re Ontario To Allow Parents To Remove Kids From Sex-Ed Classes (Aug. 21): Tanya Granic Allen can, if necessary, feel the Conservative government failed because it didn’t repeal the 2015 sex-ed curriculum. Talk to many others, however, and you’ll hear that the government’s decision was a balanced success. We who are queer and/or allied have reassurance that our children will learn about LGBTQ+ realities, and that those who refuse to acknowledge that we are equal to anyone straight won’t have their children in class while such discussions are going on. Seems like success if you ask me and many of my peers.
Amy Soule, Hamilton
Rating SNC conduct
Re S&P Cuts SNC-Lavalin Debt Rating To Junk Status (Aug. 20): There can be little doubt that the failure of the Director of Public Prosecutions to negotiate a deferred prosecution agreement, and the refusal of former attorney-general Jody Wilson-Raybould to direct the utilization of such an agreement, have been the primary cause of the decline of a once-great Canadian company.
While the employees and executives of SNC-Lavalin who participated in the alleged bribery are long gone, and SNC has made changes designed to prevent future misconduct, its employees, shareholders and debt-holders have suffered, and will continue to suffer, as this company moves toward insolvency.
There is no good reason to fault the PM and members of his government in their attempt to prevent this outcome. Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer’s conduct in calling for a criminal investigation of such effort is an example of politics at its worst.
Ronald Carr, North Vancouver
Re Trudeau Admits Errors in SNC-Lavalin Case (Aug. 20): The only thing that Justin Trudeau wishes had been “done differently” is getting caught out in this end-justifying-any-means process.
K.J. Thomas, Nepean, Ont.
More vagina truths
Re Vagina Truths (letters, Aug. 20): I waited until the humorous letters about putting parsley in the vagina to bring on a period started rolling in. In fact, there is a historic association between parsley and abortion in the form of one of the volatile oils of parsley, called “apiol.” It can be distilled from parsley, and was ingested orally, not taken vaginally. We can be thankful that the era of apiol abortions is over, without forgetting that, once, parsley was a deadly serious matter for women.
Edward Shorter, Jason A. Hannah Professor of the History of Medicine, University of Toronto
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