I wish to refer to your article dated August 11, 1999 "Baby Yanai: Bermuda to protest to Canada''.

My heart goes out to Carolyn Davis and her child and family. I know what it is like to hold your precious child and be at the mercy of airports, doctors and people in power or authority. These people can make your life a living hell, be it for five minutes or five hours.

I pray that Yanai be completely recovered.

However, why lash out at "Canada'' so severely? Why lay most of the blame so heavily on them? It is extremely important that Bermuda learns a lesson from this and develops a proper emergency procedure so this never happens again.

Foremost, I think the blames lies with the officials here in Bermuda for not following through from our end first, so that when "Yanai'' arrived in Canada, an ambulance was waiting for him, the proper authorities were advised and waiting for him, the proper authorities were advised and waiting and ready.

It is not Canada and the people in authority who are to blame here, it is we in Bermuda. We are too laid back in Bermuda and we assume too much. I too have been at the mercy of totally rude incompetent doctors, the hospital administration and especially Immigration officials in Bermuda, and I would bet my last dollar that if all of these people had worked together and had a proper guideline to follow none of this horror would have happened in the first place. It is not up to the Airport officials in Canada to make sure that all procedures etc. are in place, it is up to the officials here in Bermuda, every person, be it doctors, nurses, the hospital, immigration here in Bermuda should know the procedures, should have arranged everything for Mrs. Davis so she would not have had to go through that anguish and nightmare of an experience.

Put the shoe on the other foot. What if "Yanai'' was being kidnapped and got through Airport officials in Canada. Can you imagine the hell for the rest of the parents' life trying to find this child. Bermuda should be the same way.

So many children go missing, look at the front page of The Royal Gazette on August 10, regarding awarding abused children $650,000. Yanai was being protected and so was Carolyn Davis.

Don't lash out at "Canada'' until you have looked in your own backyard. You may be placing blame too harshly where it does not belong.

We know from personal experience how wonderful the hospitals in Canada treated us, not only the physicians, but also the administration staff and the immigration officials. We also know from experience how difficult and unprepared we here in Bermuda can be from the Immigration department, to the polities of the hospital and especially some of the physicians' lack of follow through.

Since we here in Bermuda are "screaming'' the loudest, I suggest it is extremely important that we streamline our Bermuda first before we lash out at another country, creating bad liaisons unnecessarily.

BEEN THERE, DONE THAT AND NEVER WISH TO DO IT AGAIN Devonshire Canadian saved baby August 12, 1999 Dear Sir, In response to Carolyn Davis' letter printed in yesterday's paper, may I sympathise with her for the distress caused to her and her family. May I also express that I take issue with the second-last paragraph of her letter as regards the re-evaluation of Bermudian-Canadian relations.

Yesterday's editorial was a relief after the unbalanced reporting on Tuesday and Wednesday which described a "Canadian crisis''. It appears 90 percent of the blunder lies with Bermudian bureaucrats and misinformation.

Under international law, it is recognised that one parent cannot enter another jurisdiction without the consent of the other. Picture the outcry if a father came forward to report that an estranged girlfriend/wife had taken children into Canada without his permission and was not questioned. Obviously, the Canadian officials should have expedited the process in light of the medical urgency, but what is insinuated by the need to re-evaluate the welcome given to Canadians as tourists and guest workers? How about "thank goodness for the Canadian Health services which fill specific gaps in the Bermudian service?'' How about "thank goodness for the Canadian doctor who saved her grandson's life?'' As for the "backdrop of growing resentment towards Canadian expatriates...by Bermudians who feel ill-treated or displaced'' (Editorial), I have this to say -- I am an Irish citizen and we have a booming economy. If international software and financial services business pulled out of Ireland in the morning and we tried to earn a livelihood exporting Baileys and Kerrygold, we'd be Third World pretty soon. On the whole, we embrace foreign investment and the guest workers that come with it. Do Bermudians really think that this economy could survive on the export of rum and onions? Expatriate workers make a huge contribution to the operation of international business and the spin-off service industry on this Island. We are the backbone of this economy. Bermudianisation of the white-collar work-force will be achieved only by education and training of Bermudians in universities in the US, and UK and mainly in Canada.

One of the biggest attractions of Bermuda as a tourist destination is its relative safety and low crime rate. Without a strong economy and the enjoyment of full employment, do you think that crime would be so low? I do not.

We bring a lot to Bermuda and we gain a lot from it. It's a win-win situation and I cannot fathom anti-expat griping.

ARLENE POWER Paget