Letters, May 28

Lost pride

Re: 7-Eleven to open outlets in city: mayor (May 27)

I still remember the distinct civic pride I felt as a young man when I learned that Winnipeg was crowned the Slurpee Capital of the World.

It wasn’t just about my hometown being celebrated for my childhood obsession; as silly as it sounds, it really felt like a badge of honour for our city’s youth, thriving despite the odds. I am still incredibly proud of that title in my 40s, which is why watching 7-Eleven systematically board up its North End locations hurts so much.

For years, I have watched retail theft rise in this city, while customers, retailers, and the police point to insurers as the roadblock to resolving the issue. We have created a system where young, front-line clerks are forced to stand by unprotected and watch their workplaces be robbed, simply because corporate “do not engage” policies make it cheaper to let the theft happen.

Mayor Scott Gillingham recently said these closures, eight since 2024, are part of a bigger North American trend for the company. He’s right, but we shouldn’t just accept this as something we can’t change.

When national chains leave places like Main Street, Keewatin and Logan, or Notre Dame and Arlington, they don’t just take the Slurpees — they leave behind empty, run-down buildings in our neighbourhoods.

Instead of protecting their staff by making stores safer, investing in security, or changing layouts to prevent theft from happening in the first place, company leaders are choosing to leave. They rely on insurance write-offs and completely ignore their responsibility to both their employees and the neighbourhoods that helped them succeed. This doesn’t feel like the Winnipeg I grew up in.

We need city hall to expect more, even as businesses demand more from it. In this election year, we must hold city leadership accountable for failing to build a balanced policy framework that both incentivizes local businesses and invests in our residents’ safety and continued well-being.

Our city has already lost so much over the years. We need to ensure businesses operating here are willing to stand up for Winnipeg and support them when they do. If keeping our famous Slurpee capital title isn’t enough to push our leaders to demand real accountability from companies, I don’t know what will.

Hersh Seth

Winnipeg

Good job, Wab

Re: Kinew to Smith: delay divorce talk (May 27)

Premier Wab Kinew spoke not just for our province, but for the whole of Confederation.

While Alberta Premier Danielle Smith offered bad-faith interpretations of court decisions, Kinew clearly stated the treaty responsibilities and the logical scope of the duty to consult where any treaty right is impacted. And, as separatists circle Smith’s wagons due to her perceived lack of fervor for their shared cause, Alberta’s premier seems under-prepared to be criticized by her peers.

What’s more, he did it with good grace and humour.

Kelsey Enns

Winnipeg

Respond to needs, not acts

Re: System to address violence in schools a no-brainer (May 27)

Kudos to Tim Brodbeck for his analysis of the complexities of classroom violence. I was particularly interested in the issue of school suspension as a consequence of violent behaviour. I was reminded of my work in a city school division in which students with longer-term suspensions were given daily tutorial support in the home.

Though it is not a panacea, that policy addressed some important factors related to violent behaviour in the classroom.

Home tutoring served as a reminder to both staff and student that learning issues must be considered when dealing with severe misbehaviour. I know from experience that behavioural issues can easily overshadow certain educational needs.

Indeed, frustration with unrealistic learning expectations can trigger acting out as a means of deflecting from deep-seated learning insecurity, i.e., requiring a student to work on goals not commensurate with his learning needs. Simply stated: sometimes the work is just too hard.

As well, the tutoring context provides opportunities for engaging with a teacher who can make immediate adjustments to the assigned schoolwork. When that happens, the suspended student is given some evidence of his learning capacity. Perhaps most importantly, it opens the door to building a trusting relationship in which the student may privately share some of his own frustration and insecurity with school learning.

In addition to home-based tutoring, I know that some schools have been able to establish an effective in-school suspension option. With this approach, students may feel less ostracized and, with the right teacher, may develop greater confidence in their ability to function within the school community when certain learning needs are expressed and addressed.

Edwin Buettner

Winnipeg

Personal responsibility is ‘personal’

Re: “Government’s responsibility” (Letters, May 23); “On personal accountability” (Letters, May 19); “How we got here” (Letters, May 14)

A number of recent letters to the editor have talked about personal responsibility, as though the crises we are facing these days are just a matter of certain people not taking responsibility for their actions. The writers can be a bit vague about who they’re referring to. We can probably assume they mean people without a place to live, poisoned by substances, without money, in inner-city Winnipeg. The letter-writers are saying that, if only these people would get their act together, or be made to, the problems would go away.

Most of us would concede that the way we act comes with context. If violence does damage to us, or to people who are supposed to nurture us, that context effects how we act. Of course, some people — usually because someone in their lives taught them to or helped them to — react to adversity with the long and hard work, often overcoming multiple setbacks, of recovering from the past and, basically, saving their own lives.

That’s probably what the letter writers mean by “taking personal responsibility.” But the writers need to acknowledge a couple of things.

The first is that people who overcome adversity like this are not just taking responsibility for their own actions. They are taking responsibility for — by dealing with — something that was not of their doing: the context that harmed them. They are making up for something that was not their fault. These are the real takers of responsibility.

People who haven’t experienced such contexts should at least recognize that. Those who don’t take this path should at least be cut a little slack for having much, much more to deal with than most Manitobans.

The writers should also recognize that inner-city Winnipeg is full of other people taking responsibility, too. There are numerous groups — all obviously made up of individuals — actively doing things to ameliorate and repair conditions in our inner city. The list would be too long to fit on this page, but it’s a huge range — from professionals to institutions to NGOs to business people to artists to musicians to chefs to volunteers walking the streets, cleaning up, and feeding people.

All of these people are exercising their personal responsibility. The letter writers might not recognize it as such. But personal responsibility isn’t just about what you do for yourself — it can be about others. These people and organizations are essential — supporting (see above) others in the long, incredibly hard work, of recovery. And they have an impact.

Please recognize these two other forms of personal responsibility. They are both about dealing with a situation someone else created. Come walk with us, and we’ll help you understand what responsibility is about.

Lawrence Bird

Winnipeg