Re: Letters: How far back do we go? — a Sooke News Mirror editorial published in the Langley Times, March 13, 2013. Unfortunately, like many people today, the Editor or Editorial Writer for the Sooke News Mirror has no understanding of Asian cultures, where a small amount of money enclosed in an envelope that accompanies an apology, no matter how small the amount is, helps in the forgiveness of a wrong-doing.  As for apologizing for wrong-doings in the past, some wrong-doings then were in contravention of the law of the day or of a treaty that was pertinent to the area in which the wrong-doing was carried out, or in the two cases cited, to the morality of the so-called “Christian” Canadians for the day, but ignored for the sake of political convenience as bigotry seemingly ran amok  — undoubtedly a carry-over from our British cultural background. Unfortunately, people in Canada, before and after Confederation, have chosen to ignore laws and other wrong-doings that they don’t like or that might upset them. And as for our political leaders, it seems that re-election is a greater concern than being morally correct. As our world becomes more culturally diverse, it is wise to address wrong-doings in a way that will make the recipient of the apology feel that the wrong-doer’s descendants realize the error that their ancestors have made and are genuinely apologizing for it. G.E. MacDonell,Abbotsford, B.C

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