Keep prayers at home

Thank goodness for the likes of Clarke Bitter. We need better politics, not someone spending council’s time on their own personal agenda.

If Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati wants to pray, pray at home before coming into council meetings. There are more people who support Mr. Bitter than you think.

I will remind you that the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that municipal meetings can’t begin with prayer. We expect you to uphold this ruling.

The court said: “A neutral public space free from coercion, pressure and judgment on the part of public authorities in matters of spirituality is intended to protect every person’s freedom and dignity, and it helps preserve and promote the multicultural nature of Canadian society.”

Lloyd Wood

Niagara Falls

Attack on former president ‘disgraceful’

that exist regardless of who is doing the asking, even if they are Indigenous.

Perversely much of the expense to taxpayers is not from “assistance” to the hunt but for policing the illegal protests which are oblivious to the decision-making roles and rights of the Haudenosaunee.

It is narrow-minded to see the hunt as only about survival, as if it is an out-dated tradition.

The hunt is necessary for Haudenosaunee ceremonies and food independence. Protests targeting Kosher or Halal slaughter would be rightfully suspected of prejudice and exclusion of minority communities, why doesn’t the same apply to protests targeting Indigenous hunting?

Any effort to stop the hunt must first comprehensively respect the rights and very existence of the Haudenosaunee, not try to erase them from our thinking let alone their own lands.

Saleh Waziruddin

St. Catharines

Is it all about money?