Support the SAWCC
As a South Asian, I would like to respond to the story by Patrick Lejtenyi in your last issue [“Non-profit, no dough,” Aug. 15].

I don’t know what happened to the funding for the day camp at the South Asian Women Community Centre, but the argument made by the Human Resources Development Canada official that the proposal wasn’t good enough was a lousy reason to deprive children of South Asian origin of their summer camp.

In my experience, the SACC is a place where South Asian women and children from feel welcome and comfortable. Instead of giving last minute information that the proposal wasn’t good enough, the HRDC could have given them more time and an outline of their expectations for a proposal. That would have brought about a more constructive approach.

The children of some high income South Asian families can move without the assistance of SAWCC, but the reality is that poorer South Asian women and children need an organization like SAWCC for assistance. Organizations like this can act as a link between the South Asian community and the wider Canadian society, taking them out of their closed lives to integrate with the mainstream culture. In my opinion, if the HRDC have a vision to develop the different communities, empowering an organization like SAWCC is essential.
-Rosemary Kikon

Sick of tongue troopers

In response to supporters of Quebec’s tongue troopers [Letters, Aug.15], it never ceases to amaze me what the “pur-laine” diehards seem to overlook: Montreal is a distinct society within Quebec. Stop fighting it and embrace it.

So sometimes you can’t order a falafel in French, who cares? Get the fleur-de-lis out of your assholes. There’s no greater disincentive to learning and embracing a new language and culture than by being forced to by a xenophobic bureaucracy that has almost no minority representation in its ranks. Tell them they’ll get business tax credits if they learn French rather than a fine if they don’t.
-R. Harris

I am so tired of this English language intolerance. Great North American cities like New York and Chicago were built on allophone businesses (whose owners didn’t speak a word of English). Now that the Canadian and Quebec governments are trying to pick immigrants who already speak French or English, it will make it harder for allophones to do well here.

With situations like this happening in Quebec, you begin to realize that the American constitution has such a positive effect in U.S. society as it keeps individual rights from being stomped upon by the majority.

The language cop supporters say just deal with it, but if everyone had that attitude Canada wouldn’t be the tolerant country that it is.
-Mac Kell

Respect
tai chi

Last week Kristian Gravenor made an off the cuff remark about tai chi being some form of rehabilitation for the art of mime and “the most boring activity ever conducted,” [The Kristian perspective, Aug. 15]. It appears to me that he doesn’t know much about either mime or tai chi.

Gravenor’s comment on tai chi being boring is his own opinion, and while I think he writes in ignorance of the subject, he’s certainly allowed to have it. As to the other point of tai chi being rehabilitation for mime, one has no direct relationship with the other-although a practitioner of one practice could probably benefit from doing the other.

Those who take the time to study tai chi find a variety of health benefits, better balance and martial applications for the postures. I can’t help Kristian Gravenor with mime but he can contact me about tai chi.
-Sui Meing Wong