Regarding residential schools, what happened to those poor children and families is tragic. To have your children taken away from you without your consent is barbaric and oppressive. No one should ever have had to go through that [“Events held in remembrance,” June 1].
It was the way of the times. It happened to the Doukhobors; their children were also taken away forcibly for the purpose of education. Was it right, no!
The Acadians were driven from their lands, separating families, never to be reunited. Many of them died during the expulsion. That was the way of the times. Those times were cruel, humanity was cruel, still is in some places.
We also know modern media can be unreliable. I do not know what to believe anymore. We should make sure we know the whole truth before we pass judgement.
Everybody should know that the first step to true reconciliation is repentance and forgiveness. You can’t blame what happened 100 years ago or even the last generation onto this generation. I am not responsible for the sins of my father or grandfather.
An eye for an eye only leads to revenge and more violence. Let’s stop the cycle, let’s move on in acceptance and love. Let’s forgive but not forget. We don’t want to repeat history.
What will changing the name of Powell River do to bring about reconciliation? You will only upset a different group of people.
This generation was born and lived in Powell River, not a name from over 100 years ago.
Israel Powell was a man of his time. I’m sure he was mandated to do what he did.
Leave our city name as is. Nobody alive today ever lived in Tis’kwat. We still live in a democracy, so to suggest we change the name without a referendum is dictatorship.
Some people want to change history; we can’t. We can remove Israel Powell as the city’s namesake. Rename it after a different Powell name/family.
Not too many people knew about Israel Powell until this whole idea of changing the name came about.
Forgiveness is the first step, not millions of dollars.
Don Bourcier,
Ontario Avenue
