The Ottawa Citizen from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • 15

Letters THE OTTAWA CITIZEN SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1997 A15 useum must include Holocaust Recent letters and articles, commenting on the planned Holocaust Gallery at the Canadian War Museum, have suggested that museum officials are attempting to squash proud military traditions and discredit Second World War veterans. To put this strong reaction by some vocal critics in perspective, let's look at what the Canadian War Museum is trying to do, what its role is and who is involved. The $i2-million expansion project announced in November is not designed to belittle the role played by Canada's soldiers, sailors and airmen in the Second World War. Quite the opposite. It is our priority millennium project to give a new lease on life to this storehouse of knowledge about the battles Canadians have fought and the history they have made by doing so.

With 70 per cent more exhibition space, Canada's remarkable military role in the Second World War will receive more attention. Large artifacts such as tanks will be featured in the new glazed, all-weather courtyard. The Canadian War Museum will be given pride of place as never before. Now hardly visible from the street sandwiched between the National Gallery of Canada and the Royal Canadian Mint the museum will be given a stunning new presence on Sussex Drive by the design proposed by inter national award-winning Canadian architect Jack Diamond. We are certain that the expanded Canadian War Museum, opening in the year 2000, will attract many more visitors than it now does.

Young and old will be able to view a thousand years of military history. To include the Holocaust Gallery in the expanded War Museum is important for several reasons: It is impossible to understand fully the Second World War without realizing the extent of the Nazi regime's evil, which pursued world domination by a "master race." This understanding ennobles the sacrifice of those who gave their lives to defeat the regime. Canadians were directly exposed to the horrors of the concentration camps, a small number of them as prisoners-of-war interned in Buchen-wald. Canadian troops liberated the camp at Westerbork and rushed food and medical help to survivors of Bergen Belsen and others. The post-war awareness of the Holocaust, and the Nuremberg Trials, were a turning point for Canadians' attitudes to the world.

In my view, we can trace our deep commitment in foreign policy to human rights, international co-operation and peacekeeping to that time. Keep museum for war memories As a Second World War veteran of the RCAF, I feel very strongly that the Holocaust gallery should have its own "special" place, not as part of our War Museum. Serving with the RCAF No. 6 Bomber Group in England from 1941-45, my prime reason of military service was to help defeat the Nazis. My brother, a member of the First division, Canadian Army, was killed and is buried in the Canadian War Cemetery in Agira, Sicily.

My cousin is buried in Caserta, Italy. The stories of their efforts are reflected and told in our Canadian War Museum. Let us keep the memories of all our war veterans in the forms of plaques cenotaphs and our War Museum separate from any memorials of genocides or holocausts. This year while selling Legion poppies before Remembrance Day, my wife and I pinned poppies on some young children (10-11). Their response to our "Thank you" was "Thank you for preserving our freedom." That made us feel proud.

Let's not confuse our present and future generations. Keep our War Museum on its own. Walter Weslowsld, Ottawa Last but not least, the museum's visitor surveys show a high level of interest in seeing more about the Holocaust For all of these reasons, the Canadian War Museum has an obligation to include the Holocaust. The museum approached the Jewish community to support this project, not the other way around. It is appropriate for the views of veterans' associations to be heard, along with other views, when the future directions of the War Museum are planned.

They have been sought, through a major national task force report in 1991 and this spring through a national survey. The Friends of the Canadian War Museum will carry out more consultations this winter with national veterans' groups, such as the Royal Canadian Legion, which has given conditional support to the establishment of a Holocaust Gallery at the War Museum. The Canadian War Museum is a memorial and a museum of history. Its mandate explicitly covers war and war-related history, peacekeeping and international security. Now and in the future, the Canadian War Museum is, and must be, a national museum for all Canadians.

Dr. George F. MacDonald, president, Canadian Museum of Civilization Hull IN A FEW WORDS Land-mines treaty points to larger issue Thank you for Randy Boswell's excellent Dec. 2 article, "Mine treaty 'small step' toward disarmament," citing Richard Sanders and the Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade. Certainly, the success of the campaign against land mines is a cause for rejoicing.

Let us hope that it will help Canada to deal with the even larger issue of exporting other military weapons. Canada's military production systems should be converted to producing goods that would benefit people instead of killing them e.g. efficient water pumps, efficient solar collectors, inexpensive hospital equipment If we could move in this direction, the whole world would benefit, and our "defence" workers could find jobs that are more meaningful. Fred Cappuccino, Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Ottawa Let's hope hold-outs will soon bend The signing in Ottawa of the international treaty banning land-mines is a historic achievement. All the celebrations honouring the occasion and those people who helped bring it about are highly deserved.

It is hoped that the hold-outs to signing the treaty will soon bend to the pressure of international opinion. Let us recognize that this success is only one step on the long road to a more humane world: a world in which dealing in weapons of destruction and death has become history. We could pursue this goal by beginning at home in Canada, which ranks as the seventh largest exporter of arms. Eliminating this trade in the tools of organized killing would be a shining example to the world. It could be accomplished with little or no economic pain through a process of conversion, from manufacturing arms to producing goods truly beneficial to society.

W.H. Henry, Ottawa Hypocrisy in arms trading I am very happy with the involvement of our government in getting this treaty signed, but also very weary about our government's stand on the arms trade in general. It is often said that the big corporations involved in the arms trade keep wars and conflicts going. But in general governments, including the Canadian, support these corporations financially with money for research and development and subsidies, and by being too lenient into whose hands those materials end up. That's the hypocrisy.

Ria Heynen, Ottawa Senator struggling Italian loses language place after children ditch culture Outrageous! Italians can boast of being part of one of the world's foremost cultures, yet, when they emigrate, their children are the fastest to ditch their culture and language replaces Italian as Canada's 'third' language" Dec. 3). An Italo-Canadian, I am shocked by the abandonment of centuries of history, of a lingua that is so poetic and beautiful. Does 6ne have to shed one's roots to become a true Canadian? Is an immigrant required to forget Dante, Raffaello, Verdi, Fellini etc. I hope not.

My husband, whose French forebears came to Canada in the 17th century, encourages me constantly to nurture my precious heritage. He stresses that in no way should this prevent me from being a real Canadian, at the same time embracing our two great Canadian cultures. Let's face it. The Chinese have more vision. They are blessed with a magnificent culture and it would appear that immigrant parents are not about to let their offspring cast it aside.

In lv 1988, 1 taught Italian for a few months to second-generation Italo-Canadian youngsters. It was a frustrating experience. In great part due to peer pressure, they appeared not to want to be labelled as immigrants' children by their friends and were not at all motivated. I urge all immigrants, particularly Italians, to preserve and cherish their culture, not to set aside their heritage, never to forget where they came from. Once one's culture is lost, it can never be recovered.

Eleonora Secco-Dufault, Orleans It's not Chinese A person from China may be Chinese, but you cannot, technically, say they speak Chinese, just as you cannot say Canadians speak "Canadian." Chinese people speak different languages and dialects. The most spoken languages among Chinese people in Canada are Cantonese and Mandarin. Jian Wang, Ottawa months." The rules call for patent disputes to be settled prior to the issuance of marketing approval for a generic product and do indeed set a 30-month period for settling such disputes. However, this process occurs during the life of the 20-year patent and so does not extend patent life. Again using Zoloft as an example, Pfizer Canada was informed in January 1997, 31 months prior to the expiration of the patent, of the intention of a generic company to seek approval for a generic product upon patent expiry in August 1999.

Had we chosen to challenge it (we did not), the 30-month clock would have started ticking so that, under the current terms of the regulations, patent questions would be resolved by the time of patent expiry, thus creating no additional period of market exclusivity. Alan Bootes, president, Pfizer Drug patent does not mean 20 years of exclusive sales Players should rally to get Mark Messier (above) on the roster, fan says. Messier omission a disgrace REUTER Canada was embarrassing. If the Canadian players had any guts or pride in Canadian hockey, they would rally around this and threaten to boycott the team if something isn't done to get Messier's name ZAMUNER on the roster. We can say what we want about the Americans, but they know what Team USA is all about, and when one of their stars was to be left off their team, they did claim that difficult choices had to be made.

They stood up for one another, like a team. Dale Patterson Ottawa the article than journalistic integrity. This theory would make sense in light of Solicitor General Bob Runciman's uninformed comments concerning his staff. The lack of support he has shown his employees is appalling and saddens me. Thus, Mr.

Brennan's article can perhaps be seen as serving to further Mr. Runciman's political agenda. Employees of the ministry have received a memo from Mr. Runciman indicating that he was in fact, misrepresented in the article. To my knowledge this information has not been made available to the general public.

The kind of problems Mr. Brennan alludes to in his article are pervasive in our society at large and need to be addressed as such. Furthermore, it is a given that there are bad apples to be found in every walk of life. Perhaps the media could play more of a pro-active role in addressing child pornography and victimization instead of serving to unfairly target specific groups of individuals, like corrections staff. This objective would entail some hard-hitting, solid journalistic skills instead of the kind of sensational fluff seen In Mr.

Brennan's article. Karen Rlcclutl.psychomctrlst Rideau Correctional and Treatment Centre Porn problem in prisons exaggerated with disease Senator Paul Lucier lives in Vancouver because that is the place nearest the Yukon where he can get treatment for his form of bone cancer. As soon as he feels able (after each debilitating treatment), he comes to the Senate. It takes courage and a strong sense of duty to do what he does senator lives in B.C." Dec. 3).

When at the Senate, he is valued for his wisdom. It is because of his valuable contribution that the Senate has not exercised its right under article 33 of the 1867 Constitution to question his residency qualifications. As a former journalist, I am surprised that you relied so much for your article on the views of Reform party members who are trying to make partisan hay out of a fellow human being's struggle with disease. Senator Philippe Deane Gigantes, Ottawa All taxpayers deserve rebate Re: School boards ordered to compensate parents for inconvenience. Why should parents of school-age kids be the sole beneficiaries of the first fruits of education reform created by payroll savings of the striking teachers? To be fair, all property owners, having funded the education resource pool, should be issued a cash tax rebate pro rated to the amount of their contribution to the pooL The approach adopted by the government makes daytime child caring and entertainment the fiscal responsibility of all taxpayers.

I doubt there is a legal basis for this form of taxation. Greg Cyton, Ottawa Speedy parcel On Nov. 22, my wife and I took a trip to Ogdcnsburg, New York, to mail our parcels to England because of the labour dispute at Canada Post. We mailed parcels and cards which, even considering the exchange, cost us less than Canadian postage. The parcels were delivered to various destinations in England, on Thursday morning, the 27th less than four working days.

No way would these parcels have arrived in such a short time through Canada Post. If CUPW thinks they deserve a raise, then we deserve better postal service, at least as good as the American and British systems. Neil C.rkl.c, Stittsvllle I wish to clarify information regarding drug patents that appeared in the Nov. 25 article "Government won't ease rules for no-name drugs." It said Health Minister Allan Rock will not change the 20-year patents on pharmaceutical products but that he is considering some other actions. Regarding the patents, the story repeats that Bill C-91, the patent legislation, "guarantees brand-name firms a 20-year monopoly on their products." Patent protection is granted to any individual or firm that develops a product, be it a large multinational firm such as Pfizer or a small biotechnology firm.

This protection is the same as that granted inventors of other products. In the case of pharmaceuticals, 20-year patents must not be confused with 20 years of market exclusivity, given that it takes many years of testing and regulatory approval to bring a product to market after the patent is issued. The Canadian patent foil the Pfizer anti-depressant Zoloft (serijraline) will expire in August 1999, just, years after it was approved for sale in Canada in January 1992. In the description of the "notice of compliance" or "linkage" regulations, the article said these rules "effectively extend the 20-year patent by 30 Letters to the Editor We welcome letters, which must include full name, an address and phone number for verification. We condense and edit for style.

Cite page and date for articles mentioned. Mail: Letters to the Editor, Ottawa Citizen 1101 Baxter Road, Ottawa, K2C 3M4 E-mail: Touchline: A recorded guide to writing letters to the editor is available on Touchline. Using a Touch-Tone phone, dial 721-1990 and enter code 2422. The Citizen Online: www.ottawacitizen.com Letters Editon Brian Sarjeant, 596-3785 Copyright in letters and other materials submitted to the Publisher and accepted for publication remains with the author, but the Publisher and its licensees may freely reproduce them in print, electronic and other forms. I would like to express my disgust with the omission of Mark Messier from the Canadian Olympic Team.

I wish someone could explain to me how one of the best overall players in the National Hockey League over the last two decades was omitted from our team. It makes me sick to my stomach that Rob Zamuner can be placed on the team, and Messier can't. Four out of five people I talk to don't even know who he is! It is a disgrace to Canadian hockey, and I fear that with this sort of leadership we are in for an even bigger embarrassment than the World Cup. I would also like to express my complete loss of respect for Wayne Gret-zky as well. He has always been an idol of mine and to hear him dance around the issue on Hockey Night in Furthermore, it is my opinion that the media play a significant role in heightening the despair and degradation in corrections which, by definition, tends to have enough of these factors to begin with.

Again, the sensationalism of the "sex scandal at Hamilton's Bell Cairn training school for jail guards" was mentioned. Where is mention made of the hardworking, ethically bound employees in the system? I wonder if it would be possible to write a few dozen articles about their work and efforts. The treatment services offered at RCTC might be a good place to start. I wonder if Mr. Brennan is aware of the research undertaken at RCTC that demonstrates that "treatment works" and that those receiving specific treatment for specific identified problems recidivate less than those not receiving treatment who have the same problems.

I am also left wondering about Mr. Brennan's agenda in writing the article in the first place. He makes mention of cases from as far away as Windsor and Thunder Bay. What could be the possible local interest in this story? With the ministry's Eastern Region facing budget cuts and possible staffing cuts in January, 1 wonder if there was more of a political agenda In Working in service delivery at Rideau Correctional and Treatment Centre (RCTC) and offering front-line treatment services to incarcerated adult offenders, I am offended and insulted by Richard Brennan's comments prison staff lose Web access" Nov. 22).

It is my opinion that Mr. Brennan has grossly exaggerated the problems staff in corrections face. It seems to me that he is making broad, sweeping generalizations about corrections staff that are not warranted and only serve to demoralize staff, offenders and the community alike. There is no doubt in my mind that there are isolated incidents of staff who have and will abuse privileges and power, the alleged Windsor events being a case in point. However, Mr.

Brennan neglects to raise the point that the individual in question was management; to refer to corrections' staff is to refer to employees, not management. Moreover, to report that these staff are indicative of "rot in the corrections system" is unfair and inflammatory. As a professional working within corrections, I perform my duties to the best of my ability according to high moral and ethical standards. I do not wish to be included in the generalizations Mr. Brennan makes..