Letters, April 4

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/04/2020 (2341 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Fair-weather Winnipegger

Re: Winnipeg taught me how to cope with pandemic (March 31)

I get so annoyed reading articles written by West Coast residents, who now live back in B.C., but who came to Winnipeg and survived our weather.

I never knew that Winnipeg weather could kill people, but David MacLean says so, so it must be true. My mother lived in Winnipeg until she was 97, my mother-in-law until she was 91. My husband and I are in our 70s and we are still alive! I have never experienced a -62 degree windchill and I took the bus for most of my working career but had no idea I could enrol in survival lessons.

Luckily for MacLean, he was driving in a car. He can thank his lucky stars he escaped living in Winnipeg and is now comfortably ensconced in Kelowna, B.C. He suggests the world today because of COVID-19 should think like Winnipeggers, ie. be antisocial, don’t go to any outdoor activities in the winter, have lots of lasagna in your freezer, dress completely different and cocoon at home.

He obviously didn’t hear about the Blue Bombers fan who vowed to wear shorts until they won the Grey Cup — and he did, and they did!

We have had many winter storms but never called it a bad winter. Once the snow is gone and the blossoms on the trees burst, we forget the harshness of the winter and rejoice that we live in Winnipeg.

Grace Hicks

Winnipeg

 

UBI could be simpler, cheaper

Re: Basic income plan not a cure-all (Letters, April 2)

Will Jones’ issues with universal basic income raise the same old objections that have been around for years.

Firstly: how can society pay for it? A better question should be how do we pay, and have paid, for decades to prop up a welfare system with all its attendant problems and dependency? Diverting those same tax dollars toward a basic income, a reallocation of funds rather than a duplication of welfare, need not further burden the taxpayer.

People on social assistance will tell you how difficult it is to get off. Having the wherewithal to dress and eat properly, to be able to seek training and employment are the benefits that go hand in hand with having charge of one’s own money. This, in turn, results in decreased reliance on health, police and social resources, all clearly reflected in the tabulated results of experimental UBI programs to date.

Secondly: will people have the financial know-how to use UBI funds effectively? To this I say: how can one learn to handle money without the opportunity to do so? How do people dependent on welfare learn to manage their finances? The evidence of generational reliance on public assistance would point to a definite failure in this regard.

I’m not sure what people with two incomes and big mortgages who manage their finances badly have to do with UBI. Obviously, they would not be eligible for an initiative designed to help people on assistance to get on the road to independence and self-sufficiency. While no program is perfect and there would inevitably be setbacks as well as successes, continuing with an often dead-end welfare system seems short-sighted. The initial investment in a guaranteed basic income could surely be offset by the long-term benefits of future generations no longer reliant on long-term social assistance.

Anita Rasmussen

Kenora, Ont.

 

Continue to care for youth

As of March 31, the ministers responsible for child welfare in Ontario and B.C. have issued a moratorium on youth aging out of care during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Manitoba must follow suit.

As it stands right now in Manitoba, youth in foster care age out of care on their 18th birthday, although some youth continue to receive supports until they turn 21 through an Agreement With Young Adults. However, agreements are granted only to permanent wards on a case-by-case basis at the discretion of the CFS agency that has custody of the youth.

For many youth, aging out of care means the structure and supports they have relied on for years disappear overnight. While many organizations providing group care and foster parents continue to maintain contact with former youth in care, lack of funding for these already cash-strapped organizations means the levels of support they are able to provide after a youth turns 18 are almost nonexistent in any meaningful sense.

While it is perhaps traditional to think of turning 18 as the date at which a youth achieves independence from their birth family, the reality is that many youth continue to live with their families well after they turn 18. Even those who do move out continue to draw on their families for a variety of supports, such as help paying rent, advice on home repairs or taxes, and all the benefits that a loving relationship with a parent or caregiver can provide. Youth in care aging out often don’t have any of these supports.

Youth in care often age out into unemployment, partial employment or precarious employment and into very precarious living situations: couch-surfing between friends or relatives or even outright homelessness. It’s no surprise, then, that anticipating aging out of care is an intensely stressful time for youth in care even at the best of times, and a global pandemic is far from the best of times.

By apprehending youth and children from their birth families, Manitoba is communicating that we, the collective people of Manitoba, are better able to care for some youth than their birth families (via the agents designated by our government). As a result, we Manitobans have a duty to deliver better care for these youth — at least as good as we would expect for our own family. In this time of global pandemic, we have a compassionate duty to follow Ontario and B.C.’s lead and continue to care for our youth in care after their 18th birthday.

We also have a duty to public health. Youth in precarious employment and housing are very transient, moving frequently from residence to residence, which is a potential disaster waiting to happen when social distancing is required to slow the spread of this pandemic. Minister of Families Heather Stefanson must do the right thing and issue a moratorium on aging out of care during this global crisis.

Don Moman

Winnipeg

 

United as never before

Re: What to save: the elderly or the economy (April 2)

In Gwynne Dyer’s piece the headline seems to be saying one or the other, and we know that cannot happen without total chaos.

While reading your newspaper, I noted the most active travel in Canada is by the trucking industry, which I believe is most vital to feed our nation at this time and also to support an industry that is needed for survival.

Until very recently, our survival was taken for granted in this country, as our only participation in conflicts had been in a supporting role. Now we are fighting for our lives on home ground.

Speaking of the trucking industry, how easy it would have been for our governments to designate stops allowing truck drivers to cross Canada without being denied access to fuel, food and personal hygiene? This oversight is just one example of our provincial and federal governments’ incompetence.

Together, both levels of government should take the reins and deal in Canada’s best interest; we are one nation to be united as never before.

Fred Gray

Carman