Letters to the editor

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Re: “Corn subsidies do matter”

Dear Editor,

Elliot Sims’ article “Corn subsidies do matter” (Jan. 31) was a well written and argued counter to my earlier article dealing with corn subsidies. Unfortunately, Sims seems to have missed the point of my satire — the mixed priorities of the Harper government and industrialized governments in general. My article was not arguing against the lowering of trade barriers, or the Canadian attack on illegal American subsidies.

However, my point is that there are certain challenges Canada faces as we move forward into the 21st century. I simply used the issue of corn subsidization to satirize the Harper government’s silence on issues like Afghanistan, federalism, and most of all, climate change. My point was that while the Harper government was attacking corn subsidies, they were also ignoring the greatest subsidization of all — governments and corporations measuring economic growth without factoring its negative consequences and externalities into their bottom lines.

Michael Silicz
Faculty of Law, University of Manitoba.

Re: “More than a brush with the law”

The funny thing about Jonnie Manson’s article (Jan. 31) is that he claims native people who distrust police have misconceptions regarding the police’s role in our society, yet he clearly has no idea as to the role of police in our society.

Manson seems to think that strained aboriginal/police relations conveniently boil down to a simple cultural misunderstanding. Yes, culture plays its part, and many aboriginal people are beaten and murdered by racist police, but there are other very important aspects to consider.

Ever since European invaders came to North America, they have engaged in a program of land appropriation combined with the marginalization of aboriginals on every level: economically, socially and culturally. This is to assert the power and legitimacy of the imperialist occupiers.

Manson cites the murder of Dudley George at Ipperwash to back up his claims, failing to understand that George was protesting Canada’s theft of his people’s land. Maybe culture played its part in the situation to some degree, but it also had a lot to do with the fact that people have to have land to live on. By the same logic, Germany invaded France during the Second World War because of a cultural misunderstanding.

Was the Oka standoff of 1990 a cultural misunderstanding? Hardly. The Quebec Provincial Police invaded disputed land when the Mohawk occupation threatened the expansion of a golf course. The Mohawks of Kanesehtake disrupted the system so much that it brought into question the system’s power and legitimacy. The police are there to protect the system with the use of violence.

Yeah, they serve and protect. But who do they serve and protect? The ruling class and elite who need to build golf courses and drill for oil on land that First Nations inconveniently occupy.

Daniel Hartnet