The Social Page

Trustees call for e-scooter safety education

School trustees are calling on the province to bolster public education around e-bike and e-scooter safety ahead of back-to-school season.

The Manitoba School Boards Association brought members’ concerns about a growing number of students using electronic devices to get to and from classes to the education minister’s office this month.

“There’s a concerning lack of safety knowledge on the part of Manitoba youth,” executive director Alan Campbell said.

Campbell, a long-time trustee in the Interlake School Division, resigned from elected office this summer to run the association that mobilizes school boards and provides them with labour relations support.

Could renewed interest in strategically critical rare earth elements finally make sub-sector profitable?

Rare earth elements are among the most critical of mined resources for modern economies.

They’re essential in manufacturing specialized magnets used in a host of technologies from wind turbines and electric vehicles to hard drives, smartphones, television screens, and fibre optics. Most notably, however, rare earth minerals are increasingly vital to the defence industry.

These 17 elements — closely related chemically and usually found all together in mineral deposits — have indeed been growing in geopolitical importance as the United States, Canada and other Western nations recognize their dependence on production from China.

It is the world’s largest producer and processor of rare earths, including the most in-demand elements neodymium and praseodymium used to manufacture very light and powerful magnets for an array of technologies, including the most advanced weapons of modern warfare.

Man charged, suspect sought in commercial break-in spree

Winnipeg police have charged one suspect and are seeking a second in connection with a two-month spree of commercial break-ins, vehicle thefts and property crimes.

About $140,000 worth of property, including trailers, lawn equipment, motorcycles and bicycles, was reported stolen in 13 incidents in Winnipeg and the Rural Municipality of Headingley between April 20 and June 28.

Police said both suspects were wearing electronic monitoring bracelets during that time.

Justin Andrew Hanson, 35, was arrested Aug. 4 after he allegedly fled an attempted traffic stop at high speed in the 100 block of Clonard Avenue in St. Vital, and abandoned the vehicle he was driving.

Impaired driving victim honoured

Ten years after he was killed in a collision involving an impaired driver in 2016, Robbie Anderson’s name has been added to MADD Canada’s Manitoba Memorial honouring those killed in drunk and drug-impaired-related crashes.

His older brother Chris Anderson, was one of two dozen people who gathered at the Glen Eden Funeral Home and Cemetery in West St. Paul Saturday to remember their loved ones, 86 victims whose names are etched into the granite monument near the heart of the graveyard.

“It’s heavy,” said Anderson when asked what it was like to be part of the ceremony and see his brother’s name added. “It’s been something I’ve been thinking about for a while.”

Grateful for MADD’s work and its efforts to honour Robbie, who was 27 when he died, Anderson said his brother, represented the “absolute best of us.”

The Social Page

Celebrating WestlandThe Westland Foundation celebrated 25 years of inner-city youth achievements with its inaugural Scholars’ Reception on Feb. 13 at the Millennium Library. The event recognized Westland Scholars’ achievements and their contribution to the foundation’s growth. Created in 1993 to help a group of inner-Winnipeg school parent councils and area organizations raise $10,000 to fund summer school recreation play programs, the Westland Foundation is a volunteer-based and non-profit organization dedicated to empowering inner-Winnipeg youth through post-secondary education. The Westland Foundation Education Fund program works to raise sufficient funds to underwrite the first year of post-secondary studies for inner-city Winnipeg students. For more information, visit westlandfoundation.ca.

Here I AmSarasvàti Productions hosted two performances of Here I Am in celebration of International Women’s Week at the Asper Centre for Theatre and Film at the University of Winnipeg on March 9. Here I Am featured a diverse lineup of monologues by Canadian playwrights, as well as performance pieces by local creators and performers. Founded in Winnipeg in 2000, Sarasvàti aims to inspire artists and audiences through the use of theatre and by providing a place where artists can develop and showcase their skills and celebrate their creativity. For more information, visit sarasvati.ca.