People participate in the Every Child Matters march to mark the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Montreal on Sept. 30, 2021. Earlier in the week, Catholic bishops apologized for the trauma, past and ongoing, inflicted at residential schools.ANDREJ IVANOV/AFP/Getty Images
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Catholic ways
Re How The Church Was Freed From Obligation To School Survivors (Oct. 4): I am a former practising Catholic who is disillusioned and disgusted, and now donates her weekly church collection to a local Indigenous organization. Time is running out for the Catholic Church to fully acknowledge and live up to its obligations to residential-school survivors.
If delays and obfuscation continue, soon the church may literally only be preaching to the choir.
Dorothy McCabe Waterloo, Ont.
The Catholic Church just finished a $128-million renovation of its Toronto cathedral. As Tom Waits sings: “God’s away on business.” Indeed.
Mike Firth Toronto
Sept. 30
Re Day To Reflect And Remember (Oct. 1): I was teaching grades 1 and 2 online when the first 215 residential-school graves were discovered in British Columbia. At first I didn’t know how to approach this topic with such young children. I said nothing for two days.
Then I showed a video of a powwow to open a discussion about Indigenous people. Right away, at least half the students talked about the abuses and deaths at residential schools. The other half began learning that day.
On the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, I saw various schoolyards full of students wearing orange T-shirts. I also attended a women’s group where half the members wore orange.
Education is happening. I am hopeful.
Katrina Hall Toronto
Trudeau truths
Re Tofino Trip May Only Hasten Trudeau’s Departure (Oct. 4): The Prime Minister is entitled to be with his family as needed. What utter rubbish to make a scandal out of this. Had he gone to an event, he would have been accused of politicizing history. Given that many photos would have been taken, he would also get the usual “selfie” criticism.
The tragic history of First Nations has finally been recognized. Now we should deal with education and racism, not politics.
Depriving the Trudeau family of a holiday will not make up for past crimes and indifference. I believe such petty criticism, on the other hand, deflects from the real issues.
Irene Tomaszewski Ottawa
Re The Uncanny Parallels Between Justin Trudeau And Lester B. Pearson (Opinion, Oct. 2): Contributor Andrew Cohen’s meditation on the possibility of Justin Trudeau turning into a transformational leader in the mode of Lester B. Pearson, “the greatest prime minister of the postwar era,” put me in mind of the final line of Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises: “Isn’t it pretty to think so?”
Adam Singer Calgary
I am glad that contributor Andrew Cohen gets to the fact that Justin Trudeau has before him a historic opportunity to “dance” with other progressive parties, just as Lester B. Pearson did to win a place in history.
It comes late in Mr. Cohen’s piece, so I want to amplify it here: The NDP “will support him on pharmacare, national child care, pandemic relief, vaccination mandates, firearm bans and fighting climate change.” I am hopeful when I hear thoughtful voices aligning. Mr. Cohen’s opinion is evidence to me of a growing consensus asking Mr. Trudeau to seize the day, in earnest.
Valerie Endicott Toronto
Health cares
Re Health Care Conversation (Letters, Oct. 4): A letter-writer refers positively to higher health care spending as a percentage of GDP in the United States compared to Canada.
In the U.S., physician salaries are much higher; medicine spending is significantly higher; diagnostic imaging is (rightly or wrongly) utilized more; administration costs are inflated. The difference in health care spending as a percentage of GDP should not be seen as a difference of utilization, but one of cost.
GDP percentage should not be the measure of an effective and just health care system.
Miles Tompkins Antigonish, N.S.
Those who defend the exclusively public funding of our health system view health care as a human right, not an economic commodity. As such, it must ensure that all Canadians, regardless of personal wealth, get thorough and timely care. No one should receive faster or better treatment because they can afford private insurance.
A letter-writer marvels that health care funding did not become an election issue. Why would it have? Most Canadians remain determined to ensure that the better off do not go to the front of the line because they can afford to pay more. Any party that championed private funding would have been trounced.
Those who can afford private insurance could also pay a little more in taxes, to ensure funding of the health care system enables it to meet demand.
John Firth Toronto
The sports section
Re Go Leafs Go (Letters, Oct. 4): I was a Canadiens fan growing up in Alberta in the 1940s, when Hockey Night in Canada felt in reality like Hockey Night in Toronto. I discovered that Maple Leafs games broadcast on radio by Foster Hewitt were not the same games shown on television.
In the spring of 1957, I observed my first TV-radio simulcast of a game announced by Mr. Hewitt, who seemed to forget that people could actually now see the game. What we saw on TV was very different from what he told us we were seeing. I discovered that “the Leafs player fell down” was actually a bodycheck, and that goalies other than Turk Broda were capable of making sensational saves.
Believe none of what one hears and half of what one sees.
Robert Day Ottawa
Re Baseball And The Jays Gave Me Hope (First Person, Oct. 1): Helen Antoniades’s essay on becoming a baseball convert in 2015 brought back great memories.
My son was about the same age as hers and playing baseball at his downtown Toronto school. But this was back in 1992, when the Blue Jays went on to win the World Series – and, unbelievably, the next year too. I had never been interested in professional sports until then, and was surprised as anyone when Joe Carter, Roberto Alomar and Dave Winfield became household names for all of us.
The lead-up to the World Series had me playing catch every day after school with Chris. One day, after weeks of practice, he paused and looked at me solemnly to announce that my throw was improving and much less “like a girl.” Feminist instincts aside, it was a proud moment for me.
Thanks to the Blue Jays for spurring us on so many years ago.
Heather MacAndrew Victoria
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