Letters to The Province, May 26, 2022: Thank you, Vancouver, for proclaiming Komagata Maru Day of Remembrance


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I am the grandson of one of the passengers on the Komagata Maru. I represent the Descendants of the Komagata Maru Society, in which there are 15 families all over Canada who are direct descendants of the passengers (children, grandchildren, or great grandchildren). We are the ones who deeply shared the pain of our parents, grandparents, or great grandparents being rejected by Canada in 1914.

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I would like to say thank you to Mayor Kennedy Stewart and City of Vancouver councilors for proclaiming May 23, 2022, as the “Komagata Maru Day of Remembrance.” It’s a great tribute to those who suffered a lot during the tragedy.

We can’t undo the past, but we can move forward and leave a legacy for future generations by educating them about the past.

Raj Singh Toor, vice-president, Descendants of the Komagata Maru Society

Bike lanes turning area into travesty

We just went down to the Vancouver seawall on the weekend and the bike lanes have turned a once beautiful area into a travesty. What makes absolutely no sense is that the original bike path is still functioning, yet they have closed off streets to put in a second additional bike lane, which for a certain stretch runs exactly parallel to the original bike path (Beach Avenue area), making this utterly unnecessary.

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Only one bike path is needed in that whole stretch. In fact, there is one area where the two bike paths come within 10 feet of each other — they almost run into each other.

The fact that our region sees so much rain makes bike lanes unusable. Bike lanes that replaced city streets and replaced much-needed parking have to go … along with the mayor who put them there.

Ray Harms, Surrey

Fighting high food prices

With rapidly rising food prices — surely global warming will only compound the problem — perhaps we should consider, as we did in England in the Second World War, turning some part of our lawns into gardens. That way we may not need to import more than we export.

David Gibbs, Surrey

Free transit not the solution

Free transit may seem like a solution to high gas prices, but some people — because of logistics — cannot use transit to get to work, and need their car.

It is all well and good if you live near where you work and do not work shifts or have multiple jobs as some people do. Free transit reflects lost revenue and is unsustainable for the government and TransLink.

That lost tax revenue will have to be found elsewhere.

Brian BarnesRichmond


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