The ceremony was lovely; the steps to get there were not
Published Wednesday October 28th, 2009
Letters to the editor
Re: Safety
The presentations of certificates of citizenship last week at L'Ecole Sainte Anne was a moving experience, watching 93 newcomers become Canadian citizens. But watching several participants stumble on the stairs in that auditorium was a terrible experience.
One woman fell forward, head first to the floor and was shaken up. Within five minutes, a dignitary headed to the stage, stumbled momentarily, and caught himself just before he too stumbled.
A nerve wracking experience it was, watching people trying to negotiate those steps that are two different depths and two different colours.
I would hope someone who knows how, would see the need to make the steps safer and more negotiable before someone is seriously injured.
I watched the whole ceremony with a certain amount of anxiety as the many people descended those steps.
Sharon van Abbema
New Maryland, N.B.
Nice T-shirts, but no time for us
Re: Gen. Rick Hillier
I am a musician and songwriter in the Eddie Coffey Group.
Spring, summer and fall we travel all across Canada in an RV performing at legions and veterans hospitals.
In the past six years we have given away close to 5,000 CDs to veterans. At legions we take donations at the door and have done quite a few of them free of charge.
Our band has been doing a Support our Troops and Veterans Tour across North America.
This past weekend we performed at the legion in Oromocto. We also perform at Wal-Marts all across Canada and donate a quarter of our proceeds to the Children's Miracle Network.
On Saturday at Wal-Mart on Regent Street, Harold O'Connell, my manager, decided we should take an hour off and go see retired General Rick Hillier at the Oromocto Mall where he was selling and autographing his book.
We arrived there at 4:30 and he had two books left on his table. He sold these two books to the last two customers and then we were next.
Gen. Hillier knows of me and my music. He is from Newfoundland, where I am from, and he knows very well of what we are doing by supporting our troops because he met with Harold O'Connell in Toronto.
My manager asked Gen. Hillier if we could have a few minutes to talk with him, but he replied, "I have no time."
All three of us were wearing Support Our Troops T-shirts, to which he said, "Nice T-shirts."
I thought, what a response to get from a man such as this retired general about what we have been doing for the past six years. I always thought, "once a soldier, always a soldier."
For Rick Hillier, a soldier at first, but not a soldier at last.
Eddie Coffey
Placentia Bay, Nfld.
A moral obligation to veterans
Re: Remembrance Day
In a few short weeks, we will be observing Remembrance Day.
We'll pause once again to pay tribute to all those who have worn a Canadian uniform.
We will reflect on their sacrifices and those of their families - citizens of Canada who have already done their duty and who have fulfilled their responsibilities to their nation, this nation, Canada.
MPs, at taxpayers' expense, will again head out across this land and to countries far away and present remembrance wreaths on the graves of many fallen soldiers for both battles won and battles lost.
As a nation, we should be pledging to fulfill our promises and responsibilities to the Canadian veterans and their families who are still alive because Canada's commitment to its veterans is a sacred trust.
Upholding that trust is a moral obligation.
On Remembrance Day, after all the parades, after all the solemn ceremonies and after all the cameras are turned off, all veterans may ask: Does Ottawa really mean it? Will Canada keep its promise, not simply with words, but also with actions? Will Veterans finally get fair treatment?
Suffield, Gagetown, the claw back of veterans' pensions on reaching age 65 and Chalk River among a few incidences, should, under normal circumstances, never have happened, let alone now be an issue, but sadly, they did and they are.
All the veterans and families involved should be taken care of. They should have been taken care of when these issues took place, when the first signs that there were casualties or something going wrong, but they weren't and still haven't been.
On Nov. 11, Canadians need to realize this and need to demand that Ottawa remedy the situation on all veterans' issues.
For my part, I would have liked to present a leafless stick reef with a rainbow-coloured ribbon in Ottawa to commemorate the thousands of soldiers who have already died and for the tens of thousands of veterans still dying because of the Gagetown defoliation tests from 1956 through 1984.
But because Ottawa still hasn't admitted that it ever took place, there is little chance of that ever happening.
Remember Canada, without our military, Canada would not exist. We would surely belong to the USA or still be part of Great Britain.
Be brave Canada, put your soldiers' and veterans' issues first on your to-do list.
Without them you would not have a country.
Cpl. Kenneth H. Young CD (ret)
Nanaimo, B.C.
How will this benefit New Brunswickers?
Re: Changes to Collection Agencies Act
Counselling Services of Atlantic Canada (CCSAC) wasn't one of the stakeholders consulted regarding the recent changes to the provincial Collections Agencies Act.
Last week Justice and Consumer Affairs Minister Mike Murphy announced several changes to regulations under the Collection Agencies Act, including allowing debt collection agencies to contact a debtor's home from 7 a.m. - 9 p.m, compared to the previous time frame of 9 a.m. - 9 p.m. Agencies are also now allowed to contact New Brunswickers on Sundays from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
The minister stated that these new time frames are consistent with those used in other provinces and that the changes will somehow better protect New Brunswickers who are in financial difficulty.
However, the department failed to contact all stakeholders when making this decision.
CCSAC, a registered non-profit organization, has been offering financial counselling to almost 100,000 Atlantic Canadian families and individuals for 15 years.
We work with people suffering from financial difficulty every day.
We know first-hand how some of these collection agencies harass and threaten these people struggling to make ends meet. Now they have a few more extra hours to do it.
How exactly will this benefit the people of New Brunswick? Who asked for this change? And what was wrong with the way the legislation was before?
These are a few questions we would have been glad to ask of the province if we had been consulted in the first place.
John Eisner
President
Credit Counselling Services of Atlantic Canada
Saint John, N.B.
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Comments (2)
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Kudos John Eisner, at least someone is trying to really help people in New Brunswick who are struggling. Apparently the government doesn't care if people are harassed by these bullies outside of the province who will use any tactics they can to get people to agree to outrageous demands and payments that people can't afford.
Keep NB'ers working and pay them a decent wage and people will be more than happy to pay thier debts.