Stop denying me
My name is Karen R. Clarke. I have received the CCSVI (angioplasty) treatment for my Multiple Sclerosis twice. I have the quality of life that I have not had since my MS diagnosis in 1991. Discrimination denies anyone with an MS diagnosis the right to receive the CCSVI treatment in Canada. This form of angioplasty is a 45-minute procedure done in hospitals all across Canada every day for everyone who requires it—only MS patients are blocked.
I have travelled halfway around the world in my wheelchair at the expense of $30,000, because I am denied a medical treatment that by all health laws I am entitled to. I have been denied after-travel procedure follow-up care and the right to visit a vascular surgeon.
This procedure improves MS patients' quality and quantity of life, and lowers medical bills to at least 80 percent. At least 450 MS patients die needlessly every year with this illness.
O Canada, where are MS patients' rights to have quality and quantity of life? —Karen R. Clarke, Dartmouth
Do it fur the pets
Attention all animal lovers,
There's a new online petition out, to "ban the importation of any dog and cat pelts or furs, and prohibit the sale of said products in Canada." It has over 8,000 signers in just a few days, and it needs 100,000 to be introduced into the House of Commons. It's sponsored by federal MP Don Davies, and could be one of the first official online petitions to the House.
Few people realize that when you buy a fur- or faux-fur-trimmed garment in Canada, if it was imported from elsewhere then there's a good chance it has dog or cat fur on it. It's not so easy today to tell faux from real fur, and fur from dogs and cats in China can be cheaper to use on garments than faux-fur. So, even when labelled faux-fur, it could well be from a dog or cat.
As surprising as it is to learn, there are currently no labelling requirements to tell people from which animal fur sold in Canada came from. In the US, they have animal-of-origin labeling. Even with this requirement, tests there consistently show that the labels cannot be trusted. A jacket labeled faux, coyote or fox fur, for instance, could well be really from a dog or cat. Commerce is like that: big surprise, huh? It's "buyer beware" for sure.
Google "China dog or cat fur" and you'll quickly learn the cruel reality of what happens there. The petition link is bit.ly/23d4qEr. Or search for "e-petitions House of Commons e-123." —Ty Savoy, Lake Echo
Sobeys v Super
Dear Steve MacDonald,
After reading your letter in last week's Coast, I hope you haven't spent all your money on groceries, because you'll need some cash for a good pair of glasses ("Buy two, get bent," Reply All, January 28). I hate to spring this on you, but it's Sobeys that's your culprit, not Atlantic Superstore. For years now Sobeys has been advertising buy one, get one free.
I know you're now in shock, Steve, so I'll repeat. Sobeys of Atlantic Canada is the grocery chain that offers buy one get one free. Superstore offers Dollar Days—tons of items for $1. That's right, Steve, $1. And you don't have to buy two.
Perhaps you just have an axe to grind with Superstore. Maybe they kicked you out of the 10 items or less lane when you tried to put through that $12,000 worth of groceries. I personally think you should try Dollar Days at least once, because you are spending way too much on groceries. —Ken Weston, Calgary
The good fight
Stay strong, Tony ("Tony Smith is still looking for the truth," The City by Michael Lightstone, January 28). You and the other people in your group have been brave and mature and steadfast in your work to bring the abuse at the NS Home for Colored Childen to light. People who experienced the abuse and neglect need an opportunity to be heard. It has never been about the money.
I wish for peace for all of the people who participate in the restorative inquiry. —posted at thecoast.ca by Kim16
