Letters, March 15

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/03/2025 (252 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Untangling history

Re: U of W students get lesson in treaties (March 13)

Maggie Macintosh’s recent piece about teaching education students the “lesson on treaties” raised perplexing questions about the teaching of history in our schools.

One student expressed the view that “settlers” wanted to protect resources from Americans and that the rush to the treaties produced an outcome in which “everyone” was able to purchase lands, build a house and move around freely. Well, jolly decent of the settlers, eh?

I raise this last point to highlight how interpretations of the past can be contested. Was it not instead that the settler project and the treaties were a hegemonic project to remove Indigenous Peoples from the land and sequester them in reserves?

So it is that there can be several meanings given to the past and the teaching of history should recognize that plurality of interpretations. One student in the program says that we should teach “Canada’s true history.”

Sorry, there is no such thing; only a variety of histories and disagreements and no finality.

Allen Mills

Winnipeg

Managing sickness

Re: Manitobans sick of sick notes (March 13)

Employees should not be going to work sick (I assume we learned lessons from the pandemic). However, there could still be a need for short-term illness sick notes. The problem is not necessarily with the strategy, it’s with the execution. Employees who get short-term illnesses are most likely out of work for a week or so if not going to work sick (allowing for symptoms and contagiousness to subside). However, from Day 1, the employee should report over the phone or by email the illness to their employer.

The employee should then, shortly after, contact their doctor by phone, by email, or by teleconference to discuss symptoms. This does not need to be a long meeting. The doctor should then be able to email the patient confirmation of illness for their employer.

However, a problem might arise when waiting for a long-term disability form or a return-to-work form to be completed which, for whatever reason, can take up to a month for a doctor to complete cutting close to an insurance deadline. The disability or wellness assessment should be a primary focus of an in-person appointment and quick form completion (especially if digitally based rather than requiring cursive writing or hand printing on five-page paper forms). This leaves short-term illnesses to brief remote interaction and email dissemination and long-term disability to in-person and digital form completion sent by secure email to the employer or insurance company. These execution solutions would better manage doctor time and minimize paperwork.

David Albert Newman

Winnipeg

Disappointed in the U.K.

For everything that’s going on between Canada and the U.S. right now, we have failed to hear one thing coming from the U.K. in regards to coming to Canada’s aid against the U.S. Are we not in the British Commonwealth? It seems like the British Commonwealth has left us to be on our own so I think now is a good time for Canada to get out of the British Commonwealth, as what’s the point of being in it, if the head of the Commonwealth does not do anything to aid or protect their Commonwealth countries?

The U.K., by their silence, has proven to us that we mean nothing to them, so it’s time to cut ties with the British Commonwealth

Ron Robert

Winnipeg

A true hero

Re: Orr and Gretzky: fallen heroes (Think Tank, March 13)

I do agree with some of his statements. If one really wants to relate to heroes one only needs to walk in the soldiers field at Brookside Cemetery!

My children were fortunate to also see a true hero when they were young, and his name is Terry Fox. He united our country with his dream.

I believe the time has come to unite our country again!

God bless the people of Canada, our home and native land!

Denis Coutu

Winnipeg

Change to law needed now

Re: Landlords should foot the bill: province (March 12)

I was quite surprised to open 4Rent magazine and see the half page ad for Birchwood Terrace. Then in the Free Press I read the article on the proposed change to law that would see building owners pay for displaced tenant’s lodgings.

Birchwood Terrace’s owners, having let their building deteriorate to the point of having to displace more than 250 tenants (from May to recently), should be ashamed and very glad no one was injured.

Why on Earth are the citizens of Winnipeg, the Red Cross, and provincial taxpayers having to cover the costs?

What indeed was the total cost? Apparently Ladco Co. Ltd. owns Lakewood Agencies, which is in charge of Birchwood Terrace. Quite a wealthy company with all its assets. And to add insult to injury, they have raised the rents trying to lure tenants.

Please get going on this change to the law.

Jane Romaniuk

Winnipeg

Wastewater treatment strategies

The algal communities in Lake Winnipeg are composed of a complex variety of algae, of which blue-green species constitute only a part.

It is true that some (not all) blue-green algae can assimilate (fix) nitrogen from the atmosphere, and thus satisfy their nitrogen requirements. However all of the other algae, which do not have this capability, depend on dissolved nitrogen in the water, and therefore nitrogen pollution promotes their growth.

We use nitrogen as a key ingredient in fertilizer because it certainly boosts plant growth: the same principle applies to all non-nitrogen fixing aquatic photosynthetic organisms. It is for this reason that the overwhelming majority of jurisdictions which practice nutrient removal address both nitrogen and phosphorus in wastewater treatment.

Eva Pip

Cloverleaf

Pop-up problems

Re: Drawing power of the pop-up (March 11)

I love to save money, and I have concerns about a venue like this.

Questions I would ask are the following: where did these items come from? Are the materials uses sustainable and good for the environment? What happens to the inventory that is left after March 17? Are any of the items made in Canada? Can people try the items for fit? What is the return policy? If strollers are not allowed at this location, what about someone with mobility issues? Are backpacks checked at the entrance? Why a 90-minute wait to get in?

I found out about this event from the newspaper article, and not from social media — not everyone reads a newspaper or uses social media.

I consider events like this selling fast fashion or a “fire sale.”

As Divya Ramachandran from the University of Manitoba mentioned in the article, “Everybody loves a deal … but you also don’t want to buy stuff and just have it be money down the drain.”

I prefer to support businesses and items that are Canadian and better still, from Winnipeg. A question to ask management of your favourite clothing or shoe store is what do they do with the inventory that doesn’t sell out of season.

I wish the organizers of the event all the best.

Cindy Kelly

Winnipeg