Letters, July 18

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/07/2024 (447 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Changing spots

Re: Republicans must reckon with their own rhetoric (Editorial, July 17)

Your editorial regarding the violent rhetoric of Republicans and the assassination attempt against former U.S. president Donald Trump ended with a call for change, reading:

“That change can start right at the top, with Trump himself, the man in the best position to call for a better way forward.”

I almost did a classic spit take.

Thank you for helping me start my day with a hearty guffaw, but once the laughter faded, I felt disappointed to have read a sentence this disingenuous in an editorial. The Free Press editors haven’t been in a coma for the past eight years, so why on Earth would you write something so absurdly improbable?

You’re perfectly aware that the chance of Trump engaging in self-reflection and calling for his followers and fellow MAGA politicians to temper their rhetoric is as likely as him reading a book, spending the day with his grandchildren, or going an hour straight without lying.

Please, be honest and stop pretending he’s a reasonable candidate like any other. It smacks of the false balance news media have frequently been guilty of in recent years.

Cheryl Moore

Winnipeg

Media to blame

So, it turns out that years of mainstream media’s hysterical and irrational amplification of invidious comparisons between former U.S. president Donald Trump and someone as eminently shootable as Adolf Hitler have consequences.

An assassin finally got up enough nerve, turned his heart to stone, flushed his brain down the toilet, and attempted to murder the leading U.S. presidential candidate.

Don’t hold the second amendment to the U.S. constitution responsible for this. Guns are not the problem.

Don’t hold the first amendment responsible for this. Free speech is not the problem.

Hold responsible for this all the people who hate America and want Trump to fail in his mission to restore its manufacturing base, the integrity of its borders, and its frontier promise by expanding American ingenuity and industry into outer space.

I could list 30 reasons why Trump is the best leader for the United States. It’s the people who ignore those reasons, and cultivate a toxic swamp of mindless hate against a great American patriot, many of whom are now celebrating his near-murder, who are the ghouls who spiritually pulled Thomas Matthew Crook’s trigger.

Fortunately, God had other plans.

Never surrender, Mr. Trump! Would that we had leaders in Canada as defiant, brave, and sensible as you.

Gregory Unger

Cooks Creek

Many facets

Re: Champion of Métis culture a master outdoorsman (July 6)

My partner Edward Jerome and I knew Paul Desrosiers quite well as we worked with him and other Métis elders to save and protect a Metis cemetery from farming in Pembina, North Dakota.

This aspect of Desrosier’s involvement in the Métis community was not mentioned in your article on him.

We worked for 10 years, from 1992 to 2002, to identify the location of the Métis graves and then to argue for 10 acres to be protected from farming.

We did a lot of historical research to prove the location, which was authenticated by a geologist who confirmed that there were 500 to 600 anomalies or possible graves in 3.5 acres tested by ground-penetrating radar, a new technique at the time for finding graves.

We were researching a history of the Pembina Métis at the time.

The cemetery is about half a mile from the Canadian border. Many of these graves are the ancestors of Manitoba Métis. Desrosiers and Claudette Ek were Métis elders who gave us their support for several years.

Desrosiers personally constructed about 40 wooden crosses and Claudette painted them with names from the church register. We did our historical research for free to help the community.

Desrosiers and Ek organized a bus trip to the site to install these crosses over two summers to identify the cemetery as a sacred site. It had been farmed over by a white family for over 80 years.

I believe the involvement of these Manitoba Métis elders was very important in helping North Dakota politicians to protect the site in 2002. We remember them with respect and appreciation.

Ruth Swan

Winnipeg

The fading Village

It saddens me to know Osborne Village is suffering a slow continuous death, as another store moves off the street.

It used to be such a funky, vibrant area, with so many stores that carried usual merchandise not found anywhere else in the city, as well as great restaurants.

A long time ago, I spent most Saturday afternoons browsing through the stores and eating at Basil’s Restaurant.

The Village has always been in a high density area, and the major problem has always been the lack of parking. Although the city recently provided increased security, it would never have gotten to that point if there were lots of people on the street.

For the life of me, I can’t understand why the city closed and tried to sell the one paid parking lot on the corner of Stradbrook and Osborne. In my view, that was fait accompli, the last nail in the coffin.

Naomi Finkelstein

Winnipeg

Strong story, hard message

Re: From northern Manitoba to a foxhole in Ukraine (July 12)

I write concerning Melissa Martin’s article.

This may be the most touching article/story that I have ever read.

Melissa has done amazing research and sensitive interviews with family and those who became close friends with the fighter with the call sign “Native ” in combat situations.

It hurts to think about the war in Ukraine — all due to one man, Vladimir Putin deciding he wants their land and country.

This was the attitude and determination of another man in 1939; Adolf Hitler, when he chose to invade Poland, and from there he continued invading other sovereign countries for five years.

Putin will do the same if he isn’t stopped soon. Martin’s story about the young Indigenous man from the Opaskwayak Cree Nation, Austin Lathlin-Bercier demonstrates the horrors of war and senseless loss of young people’s lives and all that they may have contributed to the world had they continued living a normal life.

In a way, I suppose, this story could be replicated 100,000 times or more considering all the other volunteers, enlisted soldiers from other countries, and the Ukrainian soldiers that have perished because of Putin’s aggression, not to mention the many, many young Russian men who also have perished in this terrible event.

It makes me and many others wonder what will happen come November with the U.S. presidential election, where one of the candidates has stated Russia “can do whatever the hell they want.”

Never before have we ever heard such a declaration from someone who could become the most powerful voice in the world, giving approval to the continued aggression of a nation led by a tyrant.

My condolences to the Lathlin-Bercier family.

Ted Scoles

Winnipeg

Another exceptional article by Melissa Martin. We are so lucky to have a writer of this calibre at the Free Press.

My thoughts are with Lucy Lathlin, Adam Bercier and their family.

Ken Starkell

Winnipeg