Letters, July 29

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/07/2023 (1087 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Area just needs TLC

Re: Washroom to be beautified (July 26)

It is good to know there are people working to make lives more livable for the homeless and vulnerable downtown around the Higgins and Main area. I hope that eventually more and more will be done in that corner of the city for people to have a nice place to “hang out.”

During renovations, if the contractors and city managers could find ways to employ locals to participate in the construction and follow-up maintenance, that would also help give them a feeling of ownership. Ideally, in the end, there will be a comfortable open park setting with benches, trees and sturdy awnings to relax under and get out of the sun and rain.

There can be plenty of garbage receptacles that are regularly emptied and a renewed Thunderbird House to show off our proud history. The area can look quite nice and the people that “hang out” there won’t feel like a problem but more like a citizen who also deserves a respectful place to relax and enjoy the company of their peers.

Regular upkeep and maintenance will make all the difference.

Tom P. Scott

Winnipeg

 

Put housing first

“It’s a community hub,” says Wins Bridgman of the downtown washroom. And said community hub sits next to the once glorious Thunderbird House, a gathering place in dire need of repair, beautification, and use.

I am all for meeting the needs of the homeless. I just want provision of suitable housing to be at the core of meeting their needs, not devoting great tracts of downtown to service centres.

Reasonable, yes? Government priority? Not so much.

Christina Sikorsky

Winnipeg

 

Motes and beams

Re: Major issue affects many Protestant churches in North America (July 23); Sermons and semantics (Letters, July 28)

In his letter, Henry Essau said that he was disappointed in John Longhurst’s article. I thought that it was excellent.

Jesus said nothing about homosexuality. Jesus did say this: “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?” (Matthew 7:1-3 KJV)

The United Church of Canada was the first major religious organization on planet Earth to choose a homosexual man as their leader. This man was immediately followed by a homosexual woman.

Gary J. Paterson (born 1949) was the Moderator of the United Church of Canada from 2012 to 2015. He was the first openly gay person to take the post since the church was formed in 1925 and the first in the world to lead a major Christian denomination.

Jordan Cantwell (born 1967) was the Moderator of the United Church of Canada from 2015 to 2018. She was one of the co-plaintiffs in Vogel v Canada, the court case which forced the Government of Manitoba to accept equal marriage for homosexuals.

Thank God I was born in Canada.

Rich North

Winnipeg

 

Time for Stefanson to make history

Re: Votes, wedges and political tricks (Think Tank, July 27)

Shannon Sampert’s op-ed was well written and basically says that the election will depend on 20,000 well-placed votes in the south end of the city and on the Tories getting a higher percentage of the female vote in the city.

In the 17 years of NDP rule after the defeat of Gary Filmon, the governments of Gary Doer and Greg Selinger tripled Manitoba’s debt and we now spend well over $1 billion a year servicing that debt. Money that could be well spent on health care and education. I would hope that Manitobans would remember and not go back for more of the same reckless abandon from the NDP.

Shannon Sampert says the NDP leader can come across as a bully so maybe some of the urban women will change their vote or stay at home. Heather Stefanson has done a good job through a difficult period of history in our province. She deserves our vote. We have never elected a woman as premier. It is time.

Peter Kaufmann

Winnipeg

 

Games chance to build bridges

Re: Police games send the wrong message (Think Tank, July 26)

The aim James Wilt speaks of in his article, to create genuine community safety, is one we certainly all share. We need the kind of community engagement that is mentioned, but instead of fanning the flames of division by making sweeping (and unsubstantiated) generalizations about the police, why not include them in the conversation in order to achieve this end?

Rather than looking at the World Police and Fire Games as a threat, I see no greater opportunity to improve the relationship between those whose safety has been affected and the people whose job it is to keep us safe.

With up to 8,500 athletes taking part, this is an incredible chance to foster a positive association between law enforcement and the wider community. By meeting and interacting with our first responders in a more relaxed and easygoing setting, these two groups would be surprised how much they have in common out of uniform.

The “us” versus “them” mentality accomplishes little. Building consensus by finding common interest is the only way we’ll ever be able to tackle the root causes of the complex societal issues we face. It might just be the mechanism through which government is finally convinced to step up and commit to searching the landfill.

Alexander Hupé

Winnipeg

 

Reject reading war narrative

Re: Teacher of dyslexic children decries new reading instruction guidelines (July 27)

Fanning the flames of the reading wars is not the way to help Manitoba’s children become literate.

As a Manitoba teacher with more than 25 years experience, I read the July 27 Free Press article with a sinking heart because it plays into the false narrative and false dichotomy of the reading wars.

Educators and the public need to reject the reading war narrative as it creates divisions and animosity between educators that need not exist.

The fact is that teachers in Manitoba do need support. High-quality initial teacher education, ongoing high-quality job-embedded professional development, smaller class sizes, access to specialists and professional mentors, and time to study and collaborate with colleagues. And they need to be able to learn about and embrace all approaches to teaching reading that work for children, whether they are labelled Balanced Literacy or Structured Literacy. There are no simple solutions for children who struggle to learn to read.

I applaud the Manitoba Government for publishing “Guiding Principles for a Comprehensive Approach to Reading Instruction in Manitoba” and providing school divisions with the autonomy to develop systems that meet the needs of their local student populations. Will school divisions have the necessary resources to put these principles into practice?

That is a question that remains to be answered.

Helen Proulx

Winnipeg