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w at er lo oc hr on ic le .c a W at er lo o C hr on ic le | T hu rs da y, Ju ly 2, 20 20 | 4 ABOUT US This newspaper, published every Thursday, is a division of the Metroland Media Group Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Torstar Corporation. The Metroland family of newspapers is comprised of more than 80 community publications across Ontario. This newspaper is a member of the National NewsMedia Council. Complainants are urged to bring their concerns to the attention of the news- paper and, if not satisfied, write The National NewsMedia Council, Suite 200, 890 Yonge St., Toronto, ON M4W 2H2. Phone: 416-340-1981 Web: www.mediacouncil.ca editorial@waterloochronicle.ca facebook.com/waterloochronicle @wlchronicle WHO WE ARE VP, Regional Publisher Kelly Montague Regional General Manager Nelson Parreira nparreira@metroland.com Regional Director of Media Heather Dunbar hdunbar@starmetrolandmedia.com Advertising Representatives Cassandra Dellow, Jan Bodanka, Matt Miller, Lisa Humphreys, Sheri-Lyn Blair, Chris Rego Managing Editor Robyn Wilkinson Online Editor Adam Jackson Reporters Bill Jackson Namish Modi CONTACT US Waterloo Chronicle 475 Thompson Dr. Cambridge, ON N1T 2K8 Phone: 519-886-2830 Fax: 519-623-9155 Web: www.waterloochronicle.ca Letters to the editor All letters must be fewer than 320 words and include your name and telephone number for verification purposes. We reserve the right to edit, condense or reject letters. Published letters will appear in print and/or online at waterloochronicle.ca Delivery For all delivery inquiries, e-mail customerservice@metroland.com or call 519-894-3000 OPINION TO LEARN HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR OWN CONTENT VISIT WATERLOOCHRONICLE.CA LETTERS & COMMENTARY MANDATORY MASK-WEARING WILL PREVENT LATER PROBLEMS We are all in the same foxhole, yet we've decided to go the path of least grit and not make masks man- datory. Nice dodge. That decision is going to be hard to get off our shoes later when the second wave of the pandemic comes and the idea of students going back to school is compro- mised. A friend of mine went into an appliance store this week and said no one was wearing a mask, not even the employees. That's just wrong-headed. I mean if they are comfortable, so be it. But I'm not. They are po- tential spreaders. Two other businesses have shown exemplary re- sponses. They greet you at the door with sanitizer. Employees wear masks and use physical distanc- ing. From what I can see, it hasn't affected their vol- ume of customers. Arguments that it is dif- ficult to enforce a mask- wearing rule can't be the reason for not doing the right thing. We have many more chapters to this CO- VID-19 story yet unpub- lished. Do we want to be late in our initiatives? Or do we want to be leaders and show a little grit? ROB KENNEDY, KITCHENER POOR COUNTRIES NEED AID TO MANAGE COVID-19 How long do you want to keep physically distanc- ing? This pandemic has stopped us all in our tracks for the last three months. We're slowly starting to get back to some normal activ- ities, but COVID-19 is still raging across most of the world. The pandemic won't really be over until the whole world is safe again. Canada and other West- ern countries are rich enough to take care of themselves, but what about countries in Africa? Where someone is born should not determine if they live. Just because someone was born in an Af- rican country shouldn't de- termine if COVID-19 kills more of their family mem- bers. Death and sickness can affect us all, but if Can- ada invests just one per cent of our COVID-19 spending to help hospitals and communities in Afri- ca, we can help save hun- dreds of thousands of lives. We saw during this pan- demic how important quick and decisive action is in sav- ing lives. The Prime Minis- ter and Minister of Finance Bill Morneau must step up and think about this pan- demic on a global scale. We can afford to invest one per cent to help make the world safe again. ANNET SHANTZ, ELMIRA How can anyone cele- brate Canada Day? How does anyone cele- brate residential schools, the 60s scoop, Millennium Scoop, systemic racism, missing murdered Indige- nous women, girls and trans women, continuous police assaults and mur- ders, non-consensual forced sterilization of In- digenous women, inter- generational affects of the attempted genocide, the over representation of chil- dren in foster care and In- digenous people in prison? I can not celebrate my op- pressors or their anthem. As an Indigenous person I can only celebrate the peo- ple that are willing to walk with us and to live with us and those who promise to do no harm to my community or creation. How can anyone cele- brate the loss of culture, lan- guage, land and the crimi- nalization of ceremony? In- digenous people live on .2 per cent of the land while Canada enjoys control over 99.8 per cent and almost 100 per cent of resource extrac- tion. While reserves live in Third World conditions without clean drinking wa- ter or safe and affordable housing. How can anyone cele- brate the Indian Act? With it there was the creation of the North West Mounted Police later named the Roy- al Canadian Mounted Po- lice, which was said to have been created "to assert sov- ereignty over Indigenous people and their lands." How can anyone cele- brate the treaties that held no promise to the Indige- nous people? They are not Indian treaties; we did not ask for them. They are not ours and yet they are not honored. The visitors kept asking for more land and promised to live peacefully along side the Indigenous communities as it says in the Two Row Wampum, Dish with One Spoon, the Covenant Chain and there are more agreements. How does anyone cele- brate the imprisonment of countless nations of Indig- enous people, who were herded to a land thought to be uninhabitable, later to be called Reserves? If an In- dian were to leave this place without expressed permission from the gov- ernment's Indian agent they were shot on sight or whatever punitive action the agent deemed worthy of the offence. The Indigenous way of being has allowed many people refuge from famine, disease and oppression as they travelled to the new land. We had only one re- quest: to respect us, our ways, and our mother the earth. To walk beside us and enjoy life with us as Sacred Parts of Creation. The peo- ple can stay, the policies and oppressive systems must go. As Christi Belcourt said in a CBC interview, "I mean this with the greatest re- spect: Indigenous nations want our lands back, we want our sovereignty, we want our self-determina- tion, and our god given right to decide for ourselves -- with our own laws -- how we are going to proceed and govern ourselves." Read the full editorial at muskokaregion.com. Strength Of Two Buffa- lo is Kanien'keháka (Mo- hawk) Turtle Clan from Six Nations of the Grand River Ohsweken. He can be reachet at sdale@met- roland.com. HOW CAN ANYONE CELEBRATE? IT'S A CELEBRATION OF CONVENIENT AMNESIA, SAYS INDIGENOUS ISSUES REPORTER STRENGTH OF TWO BUFFALO DALE STRENGTH OF TWO BUFFALO Column SIGN UP FOR OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER AT WATERLOOCHRONICLE.CA