Letters, Aug 16

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/08/2024 (450 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Blossoming praise

Every day I drive past beautiful flower planters on boulevards in various areas of Winnipeg.

Thank you, City of Winnipeg, for creating all this beauty.

“Just living is not enough….one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.” — Hans Christian Andersen

Carmen Hannah

Winnipeg

By the numbers

Re: Civic service diversity lacking: report, Aug. 14.

Many efforts to achieve equity use simplistic comparisons that are deeply misguided and unfair to workers with non-preferred identities.

Consider the comparison for women: 47.77 per cent of the labour force but “only” 26.37 per cent of city workers. It seems to indicate gross under-representation of women. But the numbers mean that women must be over-represented elsewhere.

And it is not hard to guess where. What percentage of elementary school teachers are men, versus men being 52.23 per cent of the labour force? Nurses? What affirmative action programs are in place for preferential hiring of males in jobs where they are under-represented?

Inappropriate comparisons do not end there. The percentage of minorities and immigrants in the labour force has increased dramatically in recent years, while the city work force evolved over decades. Many city workers were hired when there were far fewer minorities or immigrants.

It is unrealistic to expect the current total workforce to correspond to much higher contemporary statistics. New hires might ideally be proportional but certainly not an entire work force, unless senior workers are fired along with extremely biased preferential hiring.

Ignoring qualifications adds further to the unfairness. If a job requires an accounting degree, then the appropriate comparison is the percentage of people with accounting degrees belonging to identified groups.

Otherwise, the scale is sharply tilted against qualified but non-preferred applicants.

Such flawed comparisons are pervasive. Yes, let’s remove artificial barriers for some groups and encourage application by qualified members, but reject misguided yet common quotas that take preference over common sense and fairness.

Jim Clark

Winnipeg

Say no to distortion

Re: Separating the good from the bad, Erna Buffie, Aug. 15.

Thank you, Erna, for another great Think Tank piece.

It reminded me of one of my favourite quotes by Plato: “One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.”

It is unlikely that every citizen has the opportunity to run for public office, but this is not the only way to participate in politics.

In 2024, something we must all do is question what we read and hear. When untruths are discovered, refuse to accept them and hold those accountable who put out the information.

This can be done through conversation, social media shares, or joining grassroots organizations aligned with your most pressing issues.

Martin Luther King said, “keep telling folks the truth, they will wake up eventually.”

We need to tell our politicians that distorting the truth is no longer acceptable.

They will eventually listen when they feel their support is at stake, resulting in a better political environment for all people.

Jeff Roos

Winnipeg

Unintended irony

CTV news on Aug. 13 had a segment about a young man on a bicycle being hit and the culprit leaving the scene.

Meanwhile, in the background, a cyclist can be seen at a four-way stop slowing down, but then blowing right through the stop sign.

I thought that was pretty ironic.

Regards,

Karl Lang

Navin

Importance of role models

Re: Elect women — but not just because they’re women (Think Tank Aug. 13)

As Sandy Hyman points out in her letter to the editor (“Relieved to see more parity,” Aug. 14), role models are an important component to achieving parity as they can expand the societal comfort zone.

Case in point; we recently lost an elder woman, Olga Fuga, who was a notable Manitoba politician and community leader in an age when there were very few such role models.

Her activism and achievements inspired a generation of women who are playing this role in their individual, often male-dominated, fields.

It’s important that we recognize and celebrate the highly competent women who pave the road to parity. I look forward to reading her life story in the Free Press, so that others can continue to be inspired.

Marta Sabara

Winnipeg

Sharing the blame

Re: “Identifying who’s responsible,” (Letters, Aug 8).

All of Canada has benefited from access to the land and resources to the tragic detriment of the original owners, the First Nation peoples.

The “original spirit and intent” of the treaties promised First Nations Peoples a fair share of the wealth from the use of land and extraction of resources in Canada. This promise was breached by Canada, a breach which continues to this day.

Regarding the Robinson treaties, breach of the augmentation provision for treaty payments was judicially confirmed. Damages were awarded by the court.

Bill Parkes asserts that he and other taxpayers who had nothing to do with the breaches should not be responsible. Governments, elected by Mr. Parkes and other taxpayers, committed the treaty breaches. The court concluded the responsible treaty partner, Canada (taxpayers, which includes the “greedy tycoons” and “mineral extraction companies”), must pay the damages. No responsible party was exempt from its decision.

A partial list of information on FN peoples , of which Mr. Parkes is probably not aware, is as follows:

They were not allowed to vote until 1960. This meant they had no political voice to express their dissent on how governments violated, or allowed their rights to be violated.

Until 1951, the Indian Act barred them from retaining lawyers to prevent or defend against the violation of their rights or otherwise.

Canada has not provided all of the land it promised in many of the treaties. To meet this obligations, Canada developed a land claims policy in which it decides on submitted claims, their validity or invalidity before negotiations can start. Canada, the fiduciary and defendant, legally in conflict, decides which claims can be negotiated.

Although, promised tax exemption by treaty, many FN Peoples pay income tax and most consumption taxes.

As stated, this is a partial list of Canada’s continuing failure of honouring its obligations.

Perhaps Mr. Parkes does not understand the meaning of the “original spirit and intent” of treaties nor fully understand the historical significance of Canada’s continuing breaches of its treaty promises, now constitutional obligations. I am prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Regardless, would Mr. Parkes have written his published letter had he been more informed?

Does this short narrative of Canada’s continuing breaches of its promises assist Mr. Parkes in identifying who is responsible for the damages assessed by the court?

Kenneth B. Young B.A., LL.B.

Winnipeg