Letters: ‘Rights aren’t meant to feel negotiable’

Re: “Should rights depend on your postal code?” (Opinion, May 1)

Rights aren’t meant to feel negotiable, and Samer Majzoub captures that tension well in his opinion piece.

Canada prides itself on being principled, not just pluralistic. The promise was never simply that provinces could be different, but that those differences would exist within a shared space of dignity and freedom.

When that floor starts to tilt, even slightly, it stops feeling like diversity and starts feeling like disparity.

And that’s the crux of it. Federalism should allow for flavour, not fracture. It should reflect who we are locally without compromising who we are collectively.

The harder question, and the one this forces us to sit with, isn’t whether provinces have the right to legislate differently. It’s whether we’re comfortable with the human impact when those differences begin to limit participation, opportunity or expression for some more than others.

Because once rights feel conditional, even for a few, they stop feeling guaranteed for all.

Lindi Ross, Cairgnan

Laws’ harms put into sharp focus

Re: “Secularism laws take toll on mental health” (Opinion, May 2)

Psychologist Fatima Nabi presents a clear, articulate and intelligent analysis of the harmful effects of Quebec’s secularism laws on mental health.

My heart ached as I read her account. It is sad that our government seems unable to view its legislation through the lens she provides.

Helen Segal, Montreal

Wasteful mindset a big source of garbage

Re: “Garbage coming from garbage trucks” (Letters, May 6)

While it is true garbage trucks frequently leave a trailing mess behind on collection days, blaming the collection crews wont solve the problem.

The garbage generated by industry through excessive packaging and the public’s wasteful “throw away” mindset contributes significantly to the volume of garbage that needs to be collected.

To find the solution to many problems, usually one has to go to the source.

John Hall, Montreal

A bold solution for homelessness

Re: “A solution — and election platform —for housing crisis from Welcome Hall” (Allison Hanes, April 21) and “Treat homelessness as an emergency” (Opinion, April 2)

The latest Gazette article on homelessness has good ideas on rent control and regulation for low income people, but this won’t be enough to resolve the crisis.

It’s astounding that the number of unhoused people in Quebec reached 12,077 in 2025, according to Quebec government statistics. By now, the number might be considerably higher.

As former Montreal city councillor Justine McIntyre writes, we are in an emergency situation with homelessness, yet it’s often taken for granted as normal.

It can be argued that the root cause of homelessness is our extreme income disparity. Some have multiple millions and live in luxury homes, while others, perhaps a short distance away, have nothing and live on the street.

We need a guaranteed minimum annual income. Food and housing should finally be considered basic human rights in Canadian constitutional law and should be prioritized over our impending massive military spending.

Shloime Perel, Côte-St-Luc

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