Debating an Olympics boycott

Re: Medals will be soaked in blood, Terry Glavin, Feb. 11; and There is something more important than sports, Letter to the editor, Feb. 18

Just as the boycott of the Moscow 1980 Summer Olympics accomplished nothing other than a retaliatory boycott of the Los Angeles 1984 Olympics, a boycott of the Beijing 2022 Olympics would also achieve nothing useful. An achievable human rights action by Canada would be to fulfil long-outstanding promises to bring drinkable water to our First Nations reserves. Another would be to build safe housing on reserves. Another would be to drop government legal filings opposing the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal's September 2019 compensation ruling ordering payment of $40,000 per First Nations child (who since 2006 was inappropriately removed from their home, with the same amount going to their parents or caregiver) arising from its earlier order that Canada has knowingly underfunded on-reserve child welfare. These are human-rights improvements we can achieve as we have control over our own house.

David J. Watt, Toronto

I don't know why the federal government — or the competitors, for that matter — hesitate about refusing to attend the 2022 Olympic Games in China. If Chinese President Xi Jinping can jail two innocent Canadians without trial for over two years to try to persuade Canada to release Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, then seizing a hundred or so young Canadians with anxious parents should surely do the trick.

Ban Canadian athletes from attending the Games. Ban the Games from Canadian television. Set an example of both prudence and defiance.

Charles Hooker,

East Garafraxa, Ont.