Dear editor,
I was disappointed by the Under the Glacier cartoon in Tuesday's edition that paints a most inaccurate picture of the changes being studied by the North Island 911 Corporation.
As accurately and fully reported in the press, and publicly debated at several regional district members of the North Island 911 Corporation, there are only two candidates being considered to provide lower-cost 911 answering service. One is located in Campbell River (which already provides our fire dispatch) and the other is in Vancouver (which already provides 911 service in Metro Vancouver and for a rapidly growing number of regional districts in B.C.).
I recognize that political cartoons do, for better or worse, have a greater latitude of expression than other parts of mainstream media.
However, in this case, the cartoon has not only got the facts completely wrong, but the portrayal of dark-skinned people, one in a turban, staffing a call centre in India, thereby implying lesser service, is — at the very least — in extremely poor taste and inappropriate.
Jon Ambler,
Comox Valley
Editor's note: Jon Ambler is the president of the North Island 911 Corporation.