Letters, Aug. 29

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/08/2024 (437 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Shame to lose awards

Re: No storybook ending for Manitoba Book Awards (Aug. 23)

I am shocked to learn that Manitoba will soon become the only place in Canada without provincial book awards. The awards themselves, from various sponsors, are firmly in place. It is the administration of those awards that has fallen apart.

As a previous recipient of several Manitoba book Awards, including the McNally Robinson book of the year, I know how important such awards are in promoting Manitoba writers and publishers.

For many years the awards were administered by the Association of Manitoba Book Publishers and the Manitoba Writers’ Guild. When the Writers’ Guild lost its provincial funding, the International Writers’ Festival (now Plume) took its place.

Now, it seems, these two organizations cannot continue to fund the administrative costs. Has the Manitoba Arts Council refused to fund such costs? Reports are not clear on that point.

What is clear is that the demise of the book awards means that all the funders of those awards will pull out. Starting the awards up again will take years.

Faith Johnston

Winnipeg

Sour grapes at school division

Re: Province appoints adviser to Steinbach school board (Aug. 27)

I find it ironic that an unelected “adviser” was appointed to a democratically elected school board which did not request nor, I suspect, want this so-called “adviser.” It appears that this was done because some school trustees participated in the 1 Million March 4 Children rally — which is their right. People who do not agree with said rally simply do not have to attend, period.

A majority of people in Hanover School Division have elected these common-sense school trustees; that’s democracy. However, to run and cry to the minister of education to try and get their way through the back door simply because they were unable to elect candidates of their liking is wrong. And for the minister to accede to their undemocratic demands is also wrong — very wrong!

This is a case of sour grapes that has gone way too far. Leave the democratically elected trustees alone so they can continue going about doing what’s best for their electorate. They do not need an unelected bureaucrat to meddle in their affairs.

Gilles Roch

Winnipeg

Why worry about wait times?

I do not think the NDP government is in any danger of hurting themselves by patting each others backs for being No. 1 in longest wait times at our ERs, and being second worst in the doctor-to-patient ratio category in all of Canada.

But they don’t seem to be worried, so I guess the rest of Manitoba shouldn’t be worried either. After all, Wab Kinew’s approval rating is still strong, so why worry? Unless of course, you or someone you care about, is at an ER, or looking for a doctor — then you should be in full panic mode.

Alfred Sansregret

Winnipeg

Consider transit alternatives

Re: More Manitobans are using cars and vans and trucks to get to work (Aug. 29)

Tom Brodbeck cites statistics that the percentage of Winnipeggers using motorized vehicles to commute to work is increasing, whereas in other cities, that percentage has actually decreased slightly. He also points out the percentage of Winnipeggers using public transit is also declining.

Considering that more and more Winnipeggers live in the outer suburbs of the city, those numbers should come as no surprise.

Winnipeg’s current bus rapid transit system cannot move people fast enough to make them think of leaving their cars at home.

Apparently we intend to spend a half a billion dollars to upgrade Kenaston Boulevard, the result of which will promote more vehicle use in that part of the city. Perhaps that money would be better directed to building an above-ground light rail transit system going both north-south and east-west in the city.

Irwin Corobow

Winnipeg

Back to school worries

I was encouraged to read the press release in May that the province has made Holocaust education mandatory in Manitoba schools. We must know the history of persecution so we can learn and commit to “Never Again” as a promise and not merely a slogan. This is a good step in educating about the extremes that unchecked hate of a people can produce.

It is also crucial that we do it right and that it should be free of political interests and biases. The people who are developing the curriculum must be vetted for their experience, qualifications and integrity. Our children are vulnerable and we need to be careful of any indoctrination that will harm their intellectual and social development.

I am hoping that the minister of education will recognize that the basis of the discrimination faced by Jews is the same as that faced by all racialized groups, and use this time as an opportunity to also implement mandatory education on colonialism, anti-Black, anti-LGBTTQ+, Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian hate.

The hate-filled propaganda against Islam and Muslims and the distortion of historical facts about Palestine from various platforms have left Muslim and Palestinian youth feeling dejected and betrayed.

I am deeply concerned about what students who are of Palestinian heritage and have families in Gaza, the West Bank, and what reactions Muslim students will face when they go back to school?

They already feel unsafe not so much by the right-wing extremists because they do not expect any better from them. They are hurt and confused by the indifference and the double standard of the political and multi-faith leadership who have demonstrated their inability to stand for justice and human rights and seem not to care about the suffering being endured by Palestinians.

Unfortunately, our youth have internalized this message to mean that they do not care because the victims are Muslims. They fear they will be targeted, and worry if they are safe in Canada. When asked, I wonder how teachers will respond.

For the sake of all our children and a commitment to end all forms of racial discrimination this would be the perfect opportunity for new government to show leadership and for the minister of education to implement mandatory training for teachers and school administrations in Islamophobia and the anti-Palestinian hate and its impact on society.

I pose this question to educators: Are teachers prepared, are they trauma-informed, are they bias-free on the humanitarian crisis in Palestine? Do they have the tools, knowledge and empathy to respond to difficult questions from their students? Are they capable of counseling and healing when their students are confronted with hate and do they have the skills to respond to fear, anger and grief in their students?

Will our children be stigmatized for expressing their raw emotions watching the ongoing slaughter of their peers, the starvation and the killing of their cousins? Will they be ostracized and stuck with labels of antisemitism if they question the Israeli government or express their pain about the burning and desecration of the Holy Quran, and destruction of Mosques by the Israeli army or if they want to discuss the torture and rape of Palestinian prisoners by Israeli soldiers?

Will our children be safe, or will the school administration turn on them, profile them as the “other” and punish them for expressing their pain?

Shahina Siddiqui

Winnipeg