Hallmark film shot in city a U.S. hit

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It’s the start of a new school year, but not just any school year. It’s also school board election year.

Nominations are public knowledge and close on Sept. 22 and, on Oct. 28, new or continuing trustees will be elected, re-elected or acclaimed. For the next four years the people chosen will make many of the crucial decisions that affect our children’s education. It’s a big deal (one-third of our children’s school lives).

As a former superintendent, I want to encourage everyone to get involved and, at the very least, vote.

At least two school divisions during the last round elected or acclaimed people who were openly residential school deniers and sexists, people willing to break the law, deny human rights and who defied their educators’, communities’ and government’s efforts to rein them in. They were community dividers, pitting people against one another and against children. Therefore, it’s important to vote responsibly, meaning voters need to familiarize themselves with their candidates.

Ditch Dynacare now

Re: Labour board ruling halts Dynacare strike (Sept. 9)

It is upsetting — no, infuriating — that Manitoba and other provinces (e.g., Ontario) are using Dynacare for their medical laboratory services. Dynacare is owned by a huge American corporation, Labcorp, located in North Carolina.

Doing a deep dive (via Google) into Labcorp and Dynacare’s finances is revealing. Labcorp does not separately report its Dynacare profits. But you can be sure that hundreds of millions of dollars are draining south. An important question to ask is how much of Canada’s publicly funded health-care money is ending up as profit for a U.S. owned corporation? And why is this not being investigated and reported? This is unacceptable.

We live in the unenviable era of rising American imperialism and the emergence of a precarious new world order.

As U.S. President Donald Trump escalates his annexation threats over Canada, Greenland and Venezuela; deteriorates decades-long relations with NATO; and offers concessions to totalitarian North Korea; we must remain steadfast and vigilantly united against these ominous — and markedly unusual — sociopolitical developments.

We have so much to learn from our past. As historical patterns suggest, these threats are not idle nor mere political rhetoric. Rather, these threats should be treated with utmost seriousness. As Winston Churchill so famously uttered, “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

As a Canadian public educator, I hold the vehement conviction that we need to instruct our youth on the societal dangers of imperialism, while simultaneously exploring the “contentious” concepts of sharing and acceptance.