Letters, Oct. 7

Opinion

Trust violated

Re: Former WRHA nurse ordered to pay up (Oct. 4)

It was reported in the Free Press Oct. 4 that the lead public health nurse at the Ma Mawi Indigenous COVID-19 vaccination centre resigned and was fined $7,000 with costs by the College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba after pleading guilty to professional misconduct.

This was a person placed in a position of trust that she violated. This is a person who had lied, accessed her own and other medical files of her friends and deliberately altered these medical files. My question is: where can this person work in the medical field as a registered nurse? It appears she is currently working as a nurse in Manitoba.

How can this be, that someone who pleaded guilty to deliberately altering medical information can still be employed in the profession where she is in a position of trust, and to be allowed to possibly do the same thing again? What oversight is involved in this situation to see this doesn’t happen?

Ken Butchart

Winnipeg

Back Canadian beer

Re: Labatt launches alcohol-free Michelob as Canadians seek alternatives (Oct. 2)

When I drink a beer, my elbow goes up.

So I was rather disappointed to see the iconic Canadian (at least historically) Labatt Brewing Co. excitedly announcing their new offering of a Michelob Zero beer. Why could they not have invested in alternatives like Blue Zero or 50 Zero, both major Labatt brands with deep Canadian histories behind them? Why another American brew’s label?

It is sad to me that our beer market seems to have been taken over by American brand names. When I was growing up, Labatt Blue and Molson Canadian competed fiercely for decimals of a percentage point advantage over the other in sales, now both seem to be afterthoughts behind American labels.

Every time an American named label is sold in Canada, money is siphoned out of Canada to some American head offices in the form of some sort of royalty fee for permission to have used their brand name and logo. And it isn’t even the same beer as in the States, as it has different alcohol content; both Canadian and American beers are labeled as having a five per cent alcohol content, but one is five per cent by volume, the other by weight, so it is a different amount of alcohol, so a different taste result — a different beer.

So my fellow Canadians, when you go “elbows up” to drink a beer, at least lift a Canadian brand! (Preferably from a local microbrewery, but at least something with Canadian roots, one way or the other.)

Bob Martin

Winnipeg

Put needs over stats

Re: New economic plan: false hope, false assumptions (Think Tank, Oct. 4)

Gloomsters are demanding more cuts to services families need, more focus on exports, more deregulation and more fossil fuels. Life just gets worse for ordinary people. A better approach values human needs, not market statistics.

Top economists say that it would be financially irresponsible to repay the federal deficit because it could create deflation-collapsing private lending. The deficit is money we owe to ourselves in Canadian dollars. The government can and must spend more than it raises in taxes. What’s important is where that money goes: lately to tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy. The real deficit to future generations is government neglect of human capital and inaction on climate change!

GDP doesn’t measure quality of life. GDP values the servility of a gig job but ignores the freedom and abundance of a garden. Private wealth and public squalor make unhappy citizens. Inflation is caused by shortages not government. Export-focused industries like commodity agriculture are heavily taxpayer-supported to overproduce with environmental costs externalized to taxpayers.

Janine Gibson

Steinbach

Call for humanity

As we mark the second anniversary of the tragic events of Oct. 7, our hearts are still heavy with grief and disbelief. That day, more than 1,200 innocent people were brutally killed and 251 others taken hostage — acts that shocked the conscience of the entire world. One cannot help but ask: where has humanity gone? Which faith or belief system could ever justify such cruelty toward fellow human beings?

Since that dark day, the continuing conflict between Hamas and Israel has claimed more than 66,000 lives. Among the victims are countless innocent children and women — lives cut short, families destroyed, and generations scarred forever. And all this suffering — for what purpose?

It is time for the world to unite in compassion, not hatred. Violence only breeds more violence, and no lasting solution can ever come from bloodshed. Let us all pray and urge global leaders to bring about an immediate and lasting ceasefire — one that restores peace, dignity, and hope to every human life touched by this conflict.

Yog Rahi Gupta

Winnipeg

On remorse and rehabilitation

Re: “Parole not a reward” (Letters, Sept. 26)

This writer’s letter has drawn some erroneous conclusions. I urge every reader to make an informed decision by requesting the available public records for court on Nov. 22, 2023 and parole board hearing on Sept. 17, 2025.

The criminal justice system is broken from bail to sentencing to parole. Sometimes it is the loopholes in the laws. Other times it is the lenient application of the laws. The system failed justice for Jordyn Reimer at sentencing, but the system did not fail at parole.

The purpose of a parole board hearing is to evaluate if an offender has demonstrated accountability, remorse, engaged in rehabilitation; and to assess the remaining risk to society. Anyone can say the words, “I’m sorry”. How do you tease out truthful statements from lies and assess genuine, remorse, and accountability? You look at a person‘s actions and assess if they support their words. This is what the parole board did, and they were faced with changing narratives and contradictory actions that did not support Tyler Scott Goodman‘s words.

What does genuine accountability, remorse, and rehabilitation look like? It looks like honesty, owning with truth of what was done without changing narratives to minimize culpability; serving the sentence, head down, quietly, while working on counselling, AA and inner reflections to become a better person.

The parole board’s decision was sound and well balanced based on Goodman’s lack of insight and culpability, his lack of actionable work towards rehabilitation, consideration of the life-changing impact on victims (which is not public pressure but part of the Victims Bill of Rights) and ultimately by weighing this all to determine his ongoing risk to society.

There are definitely people who are remorseful and work hard at rehabilitation. Goodman is, so far, not one of them. This was a fair and lawful proceeding that provided one small measure of justice.

Karen Reimer

Winnipeg