Letters, Jan. 14

Work to be done on safety

Re: Skywalk attacks raise alert levels (Jan. 13)

Having gotten rid of our second vehicle, I am now a winter bus rider (spring, summer and fall I bike). Since the transit overhaul, and the removal of the buses from Graham Avenue, there are few people in that area early weekday mornings (6:30 a.m. to 7:30 a.m.). Getting off a bus at Portage and Vaughan at 6:50 a.m. and walking to the legislature area is a sketchy walk at best. It is dark, cold and isolated.

I looked into Safe Walks advertised by organizations in downtown Winnipeg. One told me “we meet from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. and only do walks starting at 8 a.m.” Three said they only do safe walks to/from vehicles, not bus stops. One organization I called told me to walk by the Winnipeg Art Gallery as there is more light there and it may be safer — but that would add time to my walk and leave me outside longer and more vulnerable.

So, I changed my bus-to-work-route from two to three buses, taking a feeder bus, transferring to a Portage route, and again transferring at Polo Park to a route that goes down Broadway — which conveniently stops right in front of the Leg, thereby hopefully minimizing any chance that I may run into danger. At least I will be in a busier area that if I do encounter danger, some good Samaritan may assist. I am less looking over my shoulder at every sound thinking that it is someone behind me but still stay very aware of my surroundings.

The suggestion that “more people need to move downtown to make it safe” is not a realistic one, as that does not guarantee and those people will be out and about when women such as myself are making their way to work early in the morning. And it is not only after 5:30 p.m. that you need to worry about safety downtown. Maybe safety efforts have been done for when the majority of people are downtown, but there still is a long way to go to improve safety in the early-morning hours.

Case in point, the three recent attacks in the downtown skywalk on women, not men.

Elaine Stobbe

Winnipeg

Handle mental health first

Re: Skywalk attacks raise alert levels (Jan. 13); Tenants fed up with unsafe housing (Jan. 13)

Both the skywalk attacker and the loud, disruptive tenant need to be first treated for their mental health issues; secondly, for their alleged criminal activity. Detainment/incarceration is necessary because they pose an immediate threat to public safety, yet lock-up mental health facilities or institutions do not exist. It’s jail or freedom. Nothing in between.

Supervised and unsupervised group homes are also needed. Mental-health issues seem to be exacerbated in people living alone.

Also, the threat of being detained in a mental health facility may motivate individuals to exhibit better self control and behaviour. Everyone values freedom.

Marilyn Bird

Winnipeg

Choosing a purpose

Re: See evil, hear evil, speak no evil (Jan. 10)

I believe it is time for the Manitoba Teachers’ Society to decide what kind of organization it wants to be.

Is it a union, a professional advocacy organization, or a regulatory body? One cannot be all three at once.

Perhaps it is time for the province to step in.

Tom Wallace

Winnipeg

Digital cards’ usefulness

Re: Digital health card available, optional (Jan. 13)

The usual routine is to hand over one’s health card to reception and watch it disappear behind the plexiglass, and then have it returned. Will the new digital card be “as” efficient as our phones will now disappear?

The resolution on individual phones is different, so this could require the user or the clerk to adjust it for an easier read until the QR code is developed for scanning. This is a time delay, not to mention that I don’t hand my phone over to anyone I don’t know, for privacy reasons.

For now, the digital health card is optional, and the convenience will become evident once it’s in use.

It took years to get the plastic health card, so I question the efficiency of this approach.

R. Bodi

Winnipeg

PCs made right move

Re: Manitoba PC board member suspended over ICE social media post (Jan. 12)

With the horrible illegal actions being taken by immigration enforcement (ICE) south of the border, I’m encouraged by the Manitoba Progressive Conservative Party’s quick decision to suspend and prevent Patrick Allard from running in the next election. Allard’s insensitive, cruel post on social media certainly does not reflect the attitude of decent Manitobans.

The cold-blooded killing of an unarmed young mother is nothing to make light of and shows Allard’s callous lack of empathy and common decency. It also exposes where he stands politically, as a supporter of a lawless American president intent on turning America into an authoritarian dictatorship.

There is no room in Manitoba politics for the hateful divisive rhetoric being displayed openly in the U.S. The permanent removal of Allard from the political landscape would certainly be justified in this case.

Garry Eekhoudt

St. Andrews

I have been a lifelong Conservative supporter. I cannot believe anybody would make such a callous remark “tongue in cheek,” about ICE recruiting in Manitoba. “Asking for a friend,” is equally bad. Remember, a young woman was shot to death in Minneapolis.

The members of ICE are no better, if not worse, than the Nazi stormtroopers, or Italian blackshirts, prior to the Second World War.

I am very pleased that Obby Khan suspended Patrick Allard. He should have been permanently removed from the Manitoba Conservative Party.

Dick Maguire

Winnipeg

Government must get off X

Re: Sexual deepfakes on X show need for online regulator, advocates say (Jan. 11)

Now that Elon Musk’s X allows paid users to generate and post sex abuse images, mostly of women and girls via its AI chatbot Grok, why on Earth are Canadian politicians still communicating on X? These images show real people’s faces on AI-drawn bodies that are naked or nearly naked in sexually suggestive poses.

On one hand, most of us agree that child sex abuse material (CSAM) is illegal and immoral yet our elected representatives are giving implied approval of it by posting on a platform that creates and propagates it.

Those of us who shun X are shut out of government announcements posted there.

Politicians should stop posting on X and instead use a platform like Bluesky that has effective moderation and is free. The public has a right to interact with government representatives in a place that’s free of illegal porn and CSAM.

Heather Jones

Winnipeg