As I write this column, I don't know what the letters to the editor on our op-ed page are about and what the writers say. I usually see them for the first time when they are published in the paper. Ted Murphy, our editor, runs letters that he believes will interest our readership and tries to maintain a balance of views on controversial issues.
So letters to the editor are in no way a reflection of this newspaper's opinions. How could they be when we run letters with opposite arguments - often in the same edition? But a recent letter to the editor of the Nanaimo Daily News entitled "No groups in Canada should get special status" drew condemnation from those who think special status for First Nations should not be questioned. I don't plan to discuss the merits of the special
status pro or con. What bothers me is people, who probably never read the letter, calling the Nanaimo Daily News racist because it ran a letter they don't agree with.
(Full disclosure: The Nanaimo Daily News is owned by the Delta Optimist's parent company and for a period of time I was a director with the managing editor of NDN in a group of regional business publications that he founded. So I know the individuals involved and rankle to see them slurred by those who disapprove of the fundamental rights of this country.) Paragraph 15 (1) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms states: "Every individual is equal before and under the law." It is, in my opinion, valid to question deviation from the principle of equality. As George Orwell wrote in Animal Farm, "All animals are created equal but some are more equal than others." If some are more equal, there must be those who are treated as less equal. How do we as a society rectify that problem? Whatever your position on the question, it is one of vital importance to our country and surely one worthy of rational debate. The road forward need not only be a maintenance of the status quo, which I'm sure most people would agree has not been a resounding success.
Paragraph 2b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms states that one of the fundamental freedoms is "freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication." Obviously there are some who don't agree with the Constitution and that is their privilege.
Those who disagree with the Constitution are free to try and change it. Good luck with that. In the meantime, they could find a literate member of their protest group to respond to the points raised by the letter writer in a rational manner, rather than playing the "race" card. I am sure the NDN would print a rebuttle.
Anyone who writes an opinion piece by way of editorial, column or letter to the editor expects there will be people who disagree with them on occasion or even most of the time. Heck, I even disagree with myself some times. Rational counter points will always go further than gratuitous insults. Of course, that would require reading the piece in the first place.
