I have written three letters to the editor in my entire life and all three have been published…the most recent one today in the Vancouver Sun. And for once they didn't edit out anything. Later, I wish I mentioned that the Jericho lands would provide a perfect setting. This is a large tract of extremely valuable land that partly formerly housed the Jericho School for the Deaf and Blind….a residential school where abuse was rampant so that also makes it an appropriate setting. I believe it is currently slated for million dollar condos and multi million dollar houses.
I see First Nations are claiming the land as well so that makes it even more appropriate. Estimates are it's worth around three billion.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/billion+debate+over+Vancouver+Jericho+Lands/9456829/story.html
re: Truth and Reconciliation Commission
The city of Vancouver seems like an ideal location for a memorial museum to the cultural genocide on aboriginal people and to the forced internment of Japanese Canadians during the Second World War and other racist atrocities. Such a project could provide employment for aboriginal youth and volunteer opportunities for non aboriginals. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in New York and the Auschwitz Museum in Poland would provide excellent models. These memorials educate people and provide them with a very deep emotional experience.
Sincerely,
Janice Sexton
Note to my blog readers outside Canada. The Truth and Reconciliation Report has been released:
http://www.trc.ca/websites/trcinstitution/index.php?p=3
and newspapers across Canada have major reportage on this story.
An excellent article in The Globe and Mail by John Ralston Saul:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/truth-and-reconciliation-is-canadas-last-chance-to-get-it-right/article24826036/?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=Referrer%3A+Social+Network+%2F+Media&utm_campaign=Shared+Web+Article+Links&fb_ref=Default
