Have your say

Feathered connoisseurs

Re: Finicky falcon steals pork chops but not wiener (May 11). It sounds like Don Marks' barbecue recipe is something he should be sharing, since it is obviously a hit with both humans and birds. However, Manitoba's peregrines are particular; they are interested only in wild meat and insist on hunting for it themselves.

And with four hungry chicks about to enter the world, it's primarily the quick and wily Columba livia (rock dove or pigeon) that is top of the peregrines' takeout menu these days.

By the description of his guest's size and the colour of its breast, it could have been a northern goshawk, though this bird usually prefers rodents.

Both crows and seagulls are among Marks' wild neighbours in the Osborne Village area and both are great connoisseurs of human-prepared food. They certainly would have come back for the leftovers he so generously, and conveniently, offered.

TRACY MACONACHIE

Peregrine Falcon Recovery Project

(Manitoba)

Winnipeg

Treated with care

I was surprised and saddened to read the negative article about Deer Lodge Centre (Widow details husband's woes at Deer Lodge, May 10). My husband lived in Lodge 6 for approximately a year. My family and I spent a considerable amount of time with him. The staff always treated him with respect and compassion.

The other residents were treated the same, even when their families were not there. When there was a concern, we worked with staff to remedy it. My husband also had a few falls in the bathroom. It was his need to be independent and keep his dignity that put him in that situation.

Was everything perfect? No. In a perfect world there wouldn't be a need for personal care homes.

MAY LAVOIE

Winnipeg

Definitely a conflict

Coun. Grant Nordman is quoted in Jen Skerritt's May 10 story City crackdown on Jets freebies as not seeing "anything wrong" with accepting a free ticket from a developer friend to go to a high-priced Jets hockey game. Doesn't Nordman get it?

When folks in the community talk about city councillors having developer friends, it is not a compliment. Nordman is definitely in a conflict of interest if he accepts tickets, meals or gifts.

Even friendship with a developer, who could influence and profit greatly from the councillor's vote on council, should be voluntarily suspended for the duration of a councillor's political career. He should instead focus on listening to the voters in his ward, objective city advisers and those people who present at council committees with the community's broader interests at heart.

Alternatively, he should declare his conflicts and remove himself from voting on (for financial gain) development proposals from his friends.

Meantime, the private and Crown corporations, along with anyone else who has Jets tickets going spare, could turn them back to the Jets office for distribution to fans who are on waiting lists for tickets -- maybe with some proceeds going to community recreation programs. Or gift them as freebies to the many fans who cannot afford to go to a live game.

JUDY BURNS

Winnipeg

Adjusting resources

Parks Canada would like to provide clarification regarding changes to the visitor program at Lower Fort Garry National Historic Site (Historic sites, parks to lose interpreters, May 4).

At Lower Fort Garry, the visitor-service offer and season will be adjusted to more accurately reflect the peak visitation periods at the site.

During May and June, resources will be focused on weekdays to meet the needs of school tours visiting the site. Priority services will continue to be provided to visitors who come to the site on the weekends during this period.

During July and August, the site's peak visitation period, the full traditional costumed program will continue to be offered.

During September, a limited-service offer will be available on weekdays when there are fewer visitors to the site. On weekends, when the visitor demand is more substantial, an expanded service, similar to the summer-program offer, will be available.

Parks Canada is aligning its season, hours of operation, and personal service offer to better meet demand. This is a standard practice in the world of tourism. As we are aligning to visitation patterns, the vast majority of visitors to our sites will not notice a significant difference.

MARILYN K. PECKETT

Parks Canada

Winnipeg

Africa's complicity

The headline on Lloyd Axworthy's May 8 article, An eternity for colonialism's ghosts, is misleading. Axworthy makes a passing reference to the "Europeans and their tribal chieftain partners," but uninformed readers will inevitably gain the impression that European colonists went tramping through the African bush rounding up the natives and shipping them off to the Caribbean and the U.S.

In fact, Ghana and the Ivory Coast were not colonized until the late 19th century and slave trading was outlawed by the British government in 1832.

The Portuguese, Dutch, British and Swedish traders went to what were then known as the Gold Coast and the Ivory Coast. When the demand for slaves developed, the African tribal chiefs were only too happy to raid their neighbours and sell them to the slave traders. Those traders, incidentally, felt completely justified in their efforts since they were assured, by their Christian preachers, that the blacks were subhuman.

As for reparations, the descendants of the enslaved peoples are currently much better off than the descendants of the enslavers. The average citizen of Trinidad is roughly eight times better off than a citizen of Ghana. The descendants of American slaves are slowly gaining equality with whites. One might conclude that the enslavers got their comeuppance.

BILL ROLLS

Emerson

Important distinction

In response to Cal Paul's May 5 letter, Hypocritical howling, putting aside the illegal acts committed by both men, there is an important distinction left out of his comparison between Omar Khadr and Conrad Black.

Khadr is a Canadian citizen, while Mr. Black renounced his citizenship to receive British peerage many years ago. Surely, the fact a non-citizen was able to promptly obtain a temporary permit to remain in Canada should raise some eyebrows.

How many other non-citizens with family in Canada remain on the outside looking in? Black's decision to renounce his citizenship was real and should have real consequences.

DAN LUSSIER

Winnipeg

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 14, 2012 A11