Which Trudeau has right idea?

Re Apologies key to moving forward, Trudeau says, Nov. 28 How sad that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau does not have the foresight and common sense his father, Pierre, had as prime minister when he refused to apologize and financially compensate Japanese Canadians for their internment during the Second World War. Pierre Trudeau, out of principle, adamantly opposed giving apologies and reparations, knowing that this would open up a Pandora’s Box of demands from other groups, with his words: “Where will it all end? I do not think the purpose of a government is to right the past. It cannot rewrite history. It is our purpose to be just in our time.” John Clubine, Etobicoke

Bravo to the Canadian government for again belatedly apologizing to minority Canadians who, over the years, have had their rights trampled on — LGBTQ federal employees, residential-school survivors and Japanese wartime internees, among others. I wonder how long it will take before the Quebec government realizes it should apologize for banning a small minority of Muslim women from wearing their religious face veils on buses and in libraries. Ron Brown, Toronto

While I understand that not all Canadians like or support Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, his attempts to see great wrongs and try to right them (paraphrasing what Ted Kennedy said about his brother, Robert Kennedy) are most admirable and should be given credit.

Contrast his behaviour with that going on with your anxious downstairs neighbours, where an apology of any sort, about anything, is never heard from our president and many of our leaders in Congress. In the final analysis, a solemn apology should always be worth more than random angry tweets or cries of fake news. Mary Stanik, Oak Creek, Wis.