Tongues and troops

Does prejudice exist in Montreal? Certainly it does. As said Chris in his letter to the editor of April 15.

Today I was waiting at the Verdun metro for a bus. Across the street was the Canadian Legion Branch #4. There was a sign in the window. Both in English and French. Announcing a coming do for their 75th anniversary. Lettering in different colouring and one language twice the size of the other. Guess which one.

Seems strange to me why this should be so. More of us from the English community went to fight the foe in both wars on foreign shores, I recall. I remember those days. At least I remember WWII. You would think all the lettering would be the same size and colouring, wouldn't you? More troops came out of Verdun than any other part of the Empire. Would the same be true today?

Need you ask?

» John C. Underwood

Negative reflection

It's always a pleasure reading Rear-View Mirror every week. However I did notice a small mistake in last week's column [April 15].

The cover photo (April 15, 1988) featured singer/actor Dutch Robinson, the star of the musical Marvin - The Dream of a Lifetime, and not Marvin Gaye as stated. It was an original shot by Benoit Aquin.

Also the column mentioned that a negative was used for the cover. In fact, there are two copies of that issue in the bound volumes - one cover features a positive shot, the other a negative one.

Copies with the positive image were the ones distributed to the public whereas copies featuring the negative were placed only in the bound volumes to serve as a reminder of what printers can do when instructions aren't followed properly.

» Martin Siberok,
Former Editor, Montreal Mirror

Defending immigrants

This is in response to "Invasive Immigrants" [Letters, April 8]. First of all I would like to commend the Mirror for printing that letter because it shows exactly why we have to constantly hear about racism. I'm sure that a lot of people have called Mr./Mrs. Ala Morales (most likely a pseudonym) names, so there is no point in repeating them. Here is my reply to Ala Morales and the many other people who feel as he/she does.

In Montreal, non-whites only make up 13 per cent of the population. How is it that 13 per cent are responsible for this city's ills? You are an unfortunate victim of the media that trumps up crimes perpetrated by non-whites. Just do some fact checking and you'll see that majority of people robbing, throwing garbage and causing disruptions and demonstrations in "your" neighbourhood and in "your" streets are white. Maybe crime is (gasp) a human problem related to other factors.

How can you write that Montreal is the only place where immigrants can live without prejudice and write a letter like this? If all business people thought like you, all immigrants would be forced to live in ghettos. On that topic, people immigrate to Canada so they can have a better life, not so they can assimilate. If their home country wasn't repressive, impoverished and lacking in opportunity, I'm sure they would have stayed home. Before you think that it's because these people can't govern a country, keep in mind that white empires such as the USA and Britain did their best to install corrupt governments everywhere. Even our home country of Canada did little to help Romeo Dallaire stop the genocide in Rwanda, which can be connected to Belgian imperialism. It's nice to tell immigrants to stay away while you bleed their home countries dry of natural resources and support corrupt governments.

"Invaded our properties"? What kind of garbage is that? Every legal immigrant to Canada has the right to live where they want. Unless your descendants are of native origin, your ancestors were immigrants too. You know this. This isn't a white country, it's an immigrant country.

To all you people who have prejudiced thoughts along the lines of Ala Morales and I mean all thoughts from "Jews run the world" to "Blacks can't run their own countries," e-mail me at gemini_strike@yahoo.com so I can at least attempt to change your mind. Prejudice and racism are useless thoughts that do not benefit us and rot our society from within.

» Rob D

Crooked justice

A New York woman has been sentenced to three years in jail for setting fire to her boyfriend's shirt ("Man Bites Dog,") with his consent. In Montreal, a driver going 150 kilometres per hour in a 50-kph zone causes the death of another and is sentenced to 18 months.

So much for the punishment fitting the crime.

» Murray Levine

Corrections:

Aqua Terra (285 Mont-Royal E.) serves "global cuisine" and the $11 table d'hôte is only available on Sundays [Resto, April 1]. The photo of Lin Snelling [Artsweek, April 15] was taken by André Tremblay, and the four-handed massage photo ["Quadruple body bliss," April 15] was taken at Aqua Cité (666 Sherbrooke W.).

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