Letter: This is our saddest, darkest day

I have lived in Vancouver all of my life. “Fighting back the tears” is an understatement. I was raised with fireworks, I raised my children and scores of foster kids with them, and family from all over celebrated with us. I am now disabled, due to my back, and cannot go to the fireworks site. For us in the city limits, this will be the hardest, loneliest Fourth we may have ever had. When politicians alone can decide to take away one of our most revered and celebrated public holidays, and completely disregard those it affects without considering the small children, disabled, or otherwise handicapped people who cannot go to the fort, then what does “Independence Day” mean in Vancouver? I cannot imagine the Vancouver police rounding up people who are only trying to have fun in this time-honored tradition, to be charged as criminals, for being patriotic. My heart is broken, my son is depressed, as all of us are, leaving us not knowing what to do or where to go, to enjoy the friendship and atmosphere that this night has provided every year. This is the saddest, darkest day Vancouver has ever experienced.