Letters, July 24

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 24/07/2024 (762 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Right to safety

Re: ‘Our people have a right to health care’ (July 23)

After reading the article, I do have serious concerns regarding the ability to recruit nurses to work in the northern nursing stations. I feel that in order to address the staffing issues in the northern nursing stations, the importance of staff safety has to be addressed.

Chief Angela Levasseur of Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation states “There’s a lot of machete incidents that happen in the community … like other First Nations.”

There may lie the reason medical staff are not choosing to work in those communities. Until the violence is addressed, I don’t think nurses will be applying to fill the northern vacancies.

“The system has been broken for a long time, and nobody wants to step up and fix it” MKO Grand Chief Garrison Settee states.

“It’s very challenging work and a very special type of person needs to do that work” states Manitoba Nurses Union president Darlene Jackson.

We’re in a critical nursing shortage in this province — not just in northern Manitoba, but also throughout Winnipeg and rural areas.

In most cases, it’s due to a lack of available nurses to fill the positions.

The newly formed provincial nursing float pool may offer some assistance in staffing the northern First Nations communities, however they do have the right to refuse unsafe working conditions.

Addressing violent crime in these communities would be a first step to ensure the safety of medical staff would be a wise first step. I feel the remaining concerns of staff recruitment and retention would then likely fall nicely into place.

Not only do all people in Manitoba have a right to health care, all health-care workers have a right to a safe work environment.

Karen Zurba

Winnipeg

 

Repeal drug prohibition

Re: Much rides on safe consumption site for Kinew (Think Tank, July 23)

I would like to thank Deveryn Ross for driving home the point that conservative politics’ habit of finding scapegoats to blame for society’s ills drives the drug war regardless of the failure of prohibition. Garnering votes is more important to conservatives than saving lives.

Why not put a safe consumption site either next door or right in a police station if the fear of crime is what is holding politicians back?

Better yet, why not take the crime out of the picture by repealing the Controlled Drugs and Substance Act and thereafter model a safe drug consumption site on the safe alcohol consumption sites that can be found in every neighbourhood in the country? Many more lives will be saved when users can be assured of the strength and purity of drugs they could buy at the pharmacy rather than buying adulterated drugs from the black market. When’s the last time someone went blind or died drinking adulterated alcohol?

The idea that prohibition is stopping anyone from addicting themselves to drugs is laughable.

Repealing drug prohibition ought to be a priority for any champions of the free market. Repealing alcohol prohibition ensured no tax dollars need be spent on safe alcohol consumption sites, so there is good reason to believe no tax dollars would be spent on safe drug consumption sites either if that is what is holding back conservatives from saving lives.

Chris Buors

Winnipeg

 

Name game

Re: Evicted tenants return — to find little left in suites (July 22)

I have read most of the articles written about the illegal eviction of tenants from the Stratford Hall Apartment Building on College Avenue.

One thing I have not noticed is the name of the current owner or the former owner, one or both of whom are responsible for the illegal action in terminating the leases and evicting the people into the street. Is the Free Press withholding that information for some reason?

Laurie Etkin

Winnipeg

 

Thankful for compassion

Re: Mourners remember ‘happy, beautiful’ young man (July 22)

Thank you for Chris Kitchings’ report on the fatal shooting of Mohamed Yusuf Abdullahi. Clearly this city was made poorer by this tragic violence.

I was especially appreciative of the reporting of remarks made by my MLA, Uzoma Asagwara. Your reporter and editor saw fit to include the statement expressing grief for “the person who would make such a violent decision, and I wonder what we have to do to show that person enough love that they would not make that decision?”

That is not the sort of statement that one expects to hear from a public figure, but I found it startlingly and profoundly important for all of us to hear. I do not know Asagwara well enough to be sure of this, but I am pretty sure that the word “love” was being used in a practical and public, not a sentimental or romantic, sense. It is surely the question elected officials and voters need to ask if we are to move toward a city where violence becomes a stranger.

Thanks to Asagwara for this challenge to our political imagination, and to the Free Press for reporting it.

John Badertscher

Winnipeg

 

Buttigieg Dems’ best VP bet

I think it’s wonderful that Joe Biden has stepped aside and endorsed Kamala Harris as the Democratic candidate for U.S. president. If Harris chooses Pete Buttigieg for her running mate, this gay guy in the ‘Peg will be over the moon.

Buttigieg is currently serving as secretary of transportation in the Biden government. He was mayor of South Bend, Ind., from 2012 to 2020 which earned him the nickname “Mayor Pete.” In 2015, Buttigieg came out as gay, and in June 2018, he married Chasten Glezman, a schoolteacher and writer.

Pete Buttigieg was born in 1982. Donald Trump’s running mate JD Vance was born in 1984. They are both handsome men who are very youthful looking. They are also both very bright. Pete Buttigieg was a Rhodes Scholar and is a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Oxford. JD Vance wrote the bestseller Hillbilly Elegy which was made into a Hollywood movie starring Glenn Close. Pete Buttigieg is a gay guy. JD Vance is a homophobe.

Donald Trump is 78 years of age. Kamala Harris is 59. JD Vance and Buttigieg may be the same age, but compared to the Trump team, the Harris/Buttigieg team would be very youthful. With Biden out of the race, this is no longer a contest between two very old white guys.

Indiana has long been considered a Republican stronghold, and if Kamala Harris chooses Buttigieg as her running mate, Indiana could well go Democrat.

In my opinion, Pete Buttegieg is the best choice for Kamala Harris’s running mate. The Harris/Buttigieg team would probably be the most progressive team that has ever run for president and vice-president in the U.S. If elected, Harris will be the first woman to serve in this capacity. If she chooses Pete Buttigieg as her running mate, he will be well placed to run for president when Harris retires in eight years. If successful, Pete Buttigieg will be the first openly gay person to serve as president of the United States.

Rich North

Winnipeg