Gay activists not finished yet!

Thanks so much for the lovely obituary in last week's Mirror ["A farewell to arms", Feb. 5]. We appreciated it, but two small points need clarification.

The first concerns the "outing threat" back in '93. During a press conference, a journalist asked what we'd do if the Bourassa government refused our demand for public hearings into violence and discrimination against homosexuals. We responded that, if our demand was denied, then there must be no discrimination so we had better tell all those folks hiding in the closet. Therefore we would rent the Olympic Stadium, have a party, and invite all homosexuals in Québec, starting with judges, ministers and politicians. (We never mentioned businesspersons.)

Second, as for our "burn out." We are not dead. We have simply withdrawn from all our official roles and we know we won't be invited to any more government-paid cocktail parties. But since the Bouchard government is telling us that we already have all the "equality" we'll get, perhaps we should at least celebrate all the crumbs they threw in the name of "freedom." So we are thinking about renting the Palais des Congrès and inviting all the gay and lesbian members of the PQ to toast our place in Lulu's Québec. And guess who will be on the invitation list!

­Michael Hendricks For the ex-members of the ex-Comité sur la violence contre les gais et lesbiennes

Immigrant lives, yellow journalism

Kristian Gravenor's brand of journalism is as jaundiced as the newspaper for which he writes. His article "Living in fear" [Cover story, Feb. 5] is incredibly skewed in favour of maintaining a sense of futility and apprehension to which immigrants are subjected on a seemingly perpetual basis. Worthy of consideration, as well, is why none of the policy makers from Immigration Canada were interviewed. Would obtaining their perspective have made "the more contentious recommendations" seem reasonable? Why should the language requirement be disputed? Is there something terribly misguided in requiring that a country's citizens speak its language? Perhaps this would make immigrants less susceptible to the "unscrupulous lawyers" who take advantage of them.

It should be stressed that these underground workers, aka helpless victims, in Gravenor's piece are, by working illegally and hence breaking the law, taking advantage of our country. Their reasons for doing so may be noble indeed. However, I believe there are as many charlatans within this group as there are decent folks within the "upper class of masters" whom Gravenor portrays in such a puerile Marxist fashion.

­Ericson Martin

Groundhogs aren't insects, they're beautiful rodents

Insects in yer eye! Didn't think you'd have somebody from the Wiarton area here, did 'ya ["Angels & Insects," Feb. 5]? I'm obligated to defend the damn rodent.

So, Groundhog Day is a big hullabaloo in a town of just over 2,000 and whose economy is lagging. Sure the whole affair is overblown, outdated, mystic and sentimentally Canadian. And the Wiarton's sign may say something about it being the groundhog capital. And yeah, there are special envelopes rubber-stamped at the post offices with a cute caricature of Willie.

But it's fun for the kids! There was a parade this year and there are paw prints all over town, and if you follow them to the harbour there's this massive phallic limestone Willie. It's largely a retirement community. The post-high school youth have fled to the orange-skied cities. But this day, however silly your urban rigidity makes it seem, the town is one united, exuberant mess.

I take your metro to school, and most of the commuters look so stale... Do you need a Groundhog Day?

­Angela Gunn

Health cuts a disgrace

As a nursing aide working in one of Montreal's nursing homes, I have personally witnessed the effects of health care cutbacks over the years, but I have yet to see just how dismal things have deteriorated until last Friday. It was then that we discovered that one of our residents had fallen on the floor, and by the looks of things and the excruciating pain of his experience, seemed to have fractured his hip.

We immediately phoned Urgence Santé, since we could not properly look after him in the nursing home-he needed to be taken to emergency. It took more than two hours for Urgence Santé to eventually come and take him to the Jewish General. They allowed a disabled senior citizen to suffer needlessly even though they were notified of the gravity of the situation. Their reply was that they had no ambulance available at that time. This, to me, is nothing short of negligence on the part of our health care system and government who oversees it. What a disgrace.

­Joseph Erban