New light needed at crosswalk
To the Editor,
Several weeks ago I, and two of my walking buddies, was struck down while using the crosswalk at the corner of Johnston Road and Adelaide Street at approximately 8:15 a.m. One of my buddies was wearing an orange high-visibility jacket with yellow reflective crosses, and three lanes of traffic had stopped for us. The car in the fourth lane didn’t and hit all three of us.
Fortunately for us, we didn’t sustain any life-threatening injuries, but at this point, a whole lot of hurt and lots of bruising. The point of this letter is two-fold.
The first is that although we have crossed this intersection many times and are very careful about crossing it, somehow this accident still occurred. It has pointed out the need to have flashing warning signals posted at all the crosswalks on Johnston Road as well as Gertrude Street between Johnston Road and Roger Street.
These busy four-lane intersections are dangerous for pedestrians because of vehicle speed, poor visibility or driver inattention.
I would suggest that the city, along with the highways department, seriously look into installing low cost solar operated flashing lights at these intersections, like the ones on Redford Street by McDonalds, and 10th Avenue and China Creek Road. The traffic on the Johnston Road corridor is so busy now and the average speed is 60 kilometres per hour, that it warrants such installations before someone is killed.
The second point is to acknowledge and thank all those people who came to our aid: from the people that called 911, those that helped us until the first responders arrived, the first responders, the ambulance crews, the RCMP, the emergency hospital staff and the general nursing staff. The care and attention that was given us by all these people was phenomenal, and we cannot thank them enough. We are often forgetful how lucky we are to have them when we need them.
Dave “Satch” Willis,
Port Alberni
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Airbus deal, new search planes unrelated
To the Editor,
Mayor Mike Ruttan’s inflated economic benefits coming to Port Alberni because of Airbus Defence and Space’s announcement on the C295W planes for Search and Rescue in Comox are misrepresented. The Coulson Aviation MOU with Airbus has nothing to do with the Airbus C295Ws for Search and Rescue in Comox.
The government issued a request for proposals in 2015, followed by a two-step bid evaluation and the RFP closed earlier this year followed by a bid evaluation process. The first phase of the deal covers 11 years with options to extend maintenance and support services for an additional 15 years, bumping the total value of the contract to $4.7 billion. I fail to see how Coulson’s is in a prime position to pick up the maintenance contract from this announcement, per Ruttan, who said he was in Ottawa in October lobbying for “the” Airbus deal.
Contracts for the fixed wing search and rescue aircraft (FWSAR) are in place. Every C295 is powered by Pratt & Whitney Canada engines, the electro-optical systems for FWSAR will be provided by L3 Wescam of Burlington, ON. In-service support “for the life of the program” will be provided by AirPro, a joint venture between Airbus Defence and Space and PAL Aerospace of St. John’s, Newfoundland and the Airbus Canada FWSAR team page doesn’t mention Coulson as a team member.
The arrangements between Coulson and Airbus to supply tanking kits have been public since 2015 and that memorandum of understanding for the provision of aerial firefighting systems is a separate arrangement.
It is in no way related to the fixed wing search and rescue aircraft purchase announced this week.
Stacey Gaiga,
Port Alberni
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Retaining aboriginal voice is vital
To the Editor,
It’s encouraging to finally witness a federal government obviously committed to decolonializing government policies and procedures as part of their pledge to reconcile relations with Canada’s First Nations Peoples.
Most importantly, kudos to them for proposing an Indigenous Languages Act as part of a commitment to the preservation of First Nations languages.
Hopefully the Act will mandate that First Nations language instruction be made available in all Canadian school curriculums, but particularly in First Nations-predominant communities like Port Alberni which have been so damaged by residential school history.
Aboriginal Peoples were speaking Canada’s “first languages” long before colonialists introduced them to the horrors of residential school in a genocidal effort to completely strip them of their identity by forbidding them to practice their culture or speak their languages.
Canada could take an example from Hawaii which is a lovely example of how native and non-native students may begin learning Hawaiian language and culture in kindergarten and be completely fluent by the time they graduate from high school.
In Canada, high school French is useful for those employed by the civil-service and Spanish for those habitually vacationing in Mexico.
But First Nations’ languages are connected to the very basis of indigenous personal identity as individuals.
For youth, learning their own First Nations language encourages a sense of self-actualization: vitally important, as any educator should know, to today’s suicidal-prone teenagers.
Naysayers have already complained about the cost of more First Nations language and cultural instruction in school curriculums, but the results of such inclusion will be priceless.
Liz Stonard,
Port Alberni
