Letters to the Editor for May 27

Packs of wild dogs not about to take over the beach

Re: When people live in fear, dogs must be leashed (Letters to the Editor, May 13):

Dog owners have it hard enough in Toronto with a limited number of off-leash parks and $250 fines if dogs are caught without a leash, so it is difficult to accept Mr. Oulton’s fear mongering.

He must be one very unlucky person to have been attacked by three dogs and witnessed at least six other dog attacks all with the owners taking no responsibility. It sounds like the beach is being overtaken by roaming rabid dogs that might take a chunk out of seniors, children and small dogs.

The truth is most people with aggressive dogs tend to stay away from crowded places or keep the dogs muzzled or tightly leashed.

I’ve walked my dog daily in the beach the past three years and have never seen a single dog attack. It’s not a perfect city and bad pet owners exist but they are not the norm.

Much as I appreciate the off-leash park in the beach, it is covered in small sharp rocks that are not good for dog paws and it’s not closed off on one side.

Mr. Oulton might be interested to know that dog owners at Ashbridges Bay are not “treating it as their private leash-free area” – Ashbridges Bay is officially leash-free from December to March while the snow fences are up. It’s a rare and wonderful time when dogs of all sizes can run free along a Toronto beach.

Karen McCall

Greenwood Ave

 

Food bank experience leaves bad taste in mouth for newcomers

Since the day we landed in Toronto in August 2013, we had been looking for Bengali foods. We started learning about Bangla shops on Danforth Avenue, buying Bangladeshi groceries.

During the first months, we were completely unaware about foods that are simply Canadian. Canned vegetables and other packaged food that were mostly unknown to us, the common Bangladeshi guys, remained simply unknown.

Last January, my wife one day found that there was a place where foods were provided to newcomers. She had seen her Teesdale friends go there and collect food. On a Thursday, the day when food was scheduled to be distributed, I went there with my identity documents. And how amazing that on that very day they gave us a good amount of known and unknown food!

The next week when we joined the queue, the ladies who had been supervising the whole arrangement gave us so much food that it became difficult for us to carry it home. Bread, milk powder, canned and fresh vegetables, packaged biscuits, chocolates, chewing gum, rice, so on and so forth. They even supplied toiletries.

It might be a bit of a disgrace to accept food from the food bank, but we didn’t think that way. We considered it as a gift from the government or government-supported organizations to newcomers who were yet to get their own sources of income. Rather, we felt sad that during the previous four or five months, we didn’t know about food banks.

But then my good impression was affected. One day I found one can among the many that was out of date. It was beyond my imagination that such a thing could happen in Canada. Afterwards, whenever we would bring foods from the food bank, we would check the dates. And sadly, every day we found some items past their expiry dates. Sometimes we could not understand if they were worth eating because we could not understand the sign numbers, given instead of clear dates.

I guess some food companies donate food to the non-profit organizations. I am sure those companies get manifold benefits from the government for their donations. But the reality is they donate food that they were supposed to throw away.

And another question – what responsibility are those non-profits showing? They were bestowed with the responsibility to provide food to newcomers who are in trouble, passing bad days in their new Canadian life. Is there no one to look after their activities?

Subrata Kumar Das

Crescent Place

 

No fan of new name for Beach neighbourhood

I appreciate the efforts of business leaders to promote the Beach and create more buzz in the neighborhood. What I find puzzling and frankly, maddening is the unilateral re-naming of the community. Didn’t we just settle that debate not so long ago? The Beach won out over The Beaches. I don’t recall anyone voting for “The Beach Village.”

So why is that suddenly becoming the new brand? It sounds terribly inauthentic, like the made-up names often attached to nondescript Toronto neighborhoods in need of more personality.

But the Beach is the real deal.  The name needs no phony embellishment.

Greg Reaume

Neville Park Boulevard

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