Letters, July 8

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This article was published 08/07/2024 (688 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A course for a stronger future

Manitoba Hydro’s board of directors is in the process of a hiring a new chief executive officer. This is important work and will send a strong signal about the future and priorities of Manitoba’s largest Crown corporation.

For the last 60 years, every decision that Manitoba Hydro has made in hydro development directly affected Indigenous Nations and communities. We’ve been flooded from our homes, labelled as squatters, and to this day face major barriers to exercising our rights on our lands.

Manitoba Hydro’s future does not have to reflect its past.

While the path forward for Manitoba Hydro must meet the growing needs for renewable power, it is critical that it gets back on track with reconciling the wrongs of the past by ensuring that Manitoba Hydro’s future includes the meaningful participation of Indigenous communities. First Nations want active participation in the ongoing operations and future development of Manitoba Hydro: one that finally creates long-term opportunities that match the long-term impacts.

Manitoba Hydro’s incoming CEO must build new relationships with Indigenous communities and lead an organization that is respectful of our land, people, and rights, and embody a genuine commitment to reconciliation.

This includes engaging First Nations by recognizing local skills and expertise through jobs, training and business opportunities, strengthening operations through local knowledge and workers. They must embody the principles of mutual respect, transparency, partnership, and accountability, and ensure that these principles are carried throughout every level of the organization.

Moreover, our Nations must be seen as a solution to the opportunities that lie ahead for a growing green economy. We have expertise, access to capital, a young population, and the land and rights to advance major projects and development.

The path forward must be one of true partnership. One with a broader vision for a stronger North that supports more equity partnerships, joint ventures, and business development.

Now is the time to ensure that Manitoba Hydro’s new leadership moves forward with a genuine commitment to forging a stronger relationship with Indigenous communities.

Our energy future depends on it.

Okimakan Morris Beardy

Fox Lake Cree Nation

A look at Manitoba’s green prospects

Re: Visions of Hydro’s future (Think Tank, July 5)

My understanding is that water held behind the dams is a power storage system; open the sluices and power is generated immediately. Meanwhile, while the sun shines and the wind blows, use solar and wind farm power sources.

All should be part of the Crown Corporation Manitoba Hydro as we transition away from fossil fuels, including their ‘natural’ gas. And why can’t private power generators be compensated when their power is fed into the grid when they are not drawing from it?

The other side of the equation is to reduce demand by:

1) using geothermal and air heat pumps (which can reduce demand up to 50 per cent by acting as heat sources and air conditioners as needed).

2) reduce demand by building new buildings to passive home insulation and seal standards where heat generators aren’t even needed at -40 C. They have tens of thousands of them in northern Europe.

3) use EV vehicles as battery storage units in power outages.

Reduction of carbon emissions by speeding the transition to EV buses and light rail (above ground on pylon supports so no snow clearing needed and a smaller footprint) so reduced private car congestion and use. Use smaller vehicles — why suburban F-150s for instance, when all you need is a Prius? Why not the EV equivalents of 1970s K-cars and reduced speed limits as they imposed in the U.S.?

Andrew Maxwell

Swan River

Praise for good care

Re: Two minor injury clinics to open in Winnipeg (July 5)

I have just read of plans for the creation of additional minor illness and injury clinics. This is great news for Manitobans.

The clinic and staff on Corydon Avenue are literally responsible for saving my life, and for providing timely exceptional medical treatment in the years since this event. I cannot praise the ongoing work of the doctors, nurses and staff highly enough. If the model and standards set on Corydon are emulated in new clinics Manitobans will benefit significantly.

While I am passing out accolades I feel compelled to offer deep and heartfelt appreciation to medical staff, technicians, nurses and doctors alike.

Being on in years I have had need to see a number of specialist doctors in recent years and am overwhelmed by the intelligence, knowledge, diligence and kindness I have received and observed. Considering the demands and often trying conditions that exist our medical community deserves great appreciation.

I can’t help but feel sadness for all those who are lost in pain and blame and anger and wish that they could find pathways to the positivity and kindness that is available.

Garrett Loeppky

Winnipeg

On the monument debate

Re: Religion has a place in public (Letters, July 4)

I don’t get why people have such a hard time understanding the argument against religious imagery in public spaces.

I was raised Catholic and attended Catholic school, and though I have no religious affiliation now I do have a nostalgia and fondness for religious imagery and symbols. I live near Wolseley and I can hear the bells of Westminster church ring out daily, and I am not offended. Why would I be offended by a Church publicly displaying its belief in its own religion?

I enjoy the three wise men that you can see around the holiday season from the legislative grounds atop the Canada Life building. I am not offended by a private business showing support for a story of the bible.

The problem is not the statement of “I believe in Judaism” or “I believe in Jesus Christ” — it is who says it.

When at the St. Boniface Hospital, I noticed the Christian prayers over the announcements to the entire hospital of staff and patients twice a day. I notice the cross on top of the Misericordia hospital. Why is our health-care system displaying a belief or support in a particular religion?

I understand that much of the imagery in the St. Boniface hospital is due to their history with the Grey Nuns, and the pictures that display them or even the statues outside the hospital don’t bother me — it is showing their history of affiliation to the church — but the church should no longer be affiliated with our hospitals. Why are bible verses and prayers still being announced to everyone inside the hospital, daily?

The Ten Commandments should not be affiliated with our public parks, which are a space for everyone, paid for by everyone. If Gail Asper displays these statues on her front lawn, it would not be offensive to me. It isn’t a problem when my neighbour displays their affiliation with religion, it is a problem when my city does.

Daria Magnus-Walker

Winnipeg