Letters, Jan. 23

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/01/2025 (487 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Walking the walk

At age 86, there are very few of us, the real and true survivors, that have experienced what it was like to live and try to survive in residential schools.

I am tired of reading all the academic verbiage of people trying to explain to the readers what the true existence was like in trying to survive in said schools.

The two recent opinion pieces, pro and con, (Residential schools: considering intentions and consequences, Jan. 20, and Column misrepresented Sinclair’s position, Jan. 22) forget how it affected an individual that was an inmate of these schools. Their authors’ “expertise” originated in their readings and research of other “experts.”

I used an old cliché, borrowed from the experts of earlier years to the effect, “walk in my moccasins before you share your expertise” with the Free Press articles.

I am an educated aboriginal person. There are many aboriginals that may not read such academic articles. Those that do read are not truly understanding nor care about these articles. They do not understand the true survivors.

We are not there as some subject for academia to dissect, analyze, examine, investigate or scrutinize. It just fills in some space in your paper. It will all be forgotten in a week or so.

May the Great Spirit make the non-believers receptive and positively respond to these articles. More letters should be printed.

Ralph Paul

Winnipeg

Death of a democracy

Living next door to the United States, we are witnessing the death of a democracy in real time.

The inauguration of the 47th president on Monday was full of irony on many levels, not least of which was the ceremony in the rotunda of the Capitol Building, given the events on Jan. 6, 2021.

Attendance and funding of the ceremonies by owners of the most impactful social media in the United States is disturbing.

Meta has announced cutting back on fact-checking of content. Lack of adherence to factual information was serious enough in Trump’s first administration. It has continued in this last election cycle and is continuing with pronouncements from him even on the day of his inauguration, such as the repeating of his claim of the rigging of the 2020 election.

The United States, by presidential executive orders Monday, withdrew from the Paris Agreement (Accord) on climate change action and from the World Health Organization. What is next — withdrawal from NATO and from the United Nations?

The current economic and sovereignty threats to other countries, including Canada, are not what we should expect from the leader of the free world.

All of this is to say that, true democracy, with working checks and balances, should prevent abuses within that country and also not bring harm to the influence of that country with the rest of the world.

David Stones

Winnipeg

Costs constantly rise

I know there is not much sympathy for landlords these days.

As any Manitoba business, the last several years we have experienced inflation and cost of living increases (due to the pandemic and record inflation) just like everyone else.

The NDP government has removed the school tax rebate from our rental property tax bills, leaving us with a large extra expense.

The rent increase guideline rate in no way covers this tax reversal, let alone all the other cost increases we are experiencing.

This landlord would be willing to pay a small amount of school tax but not all of it.

With homelessness being such a big concern, why would the NDP burden existing landlords with such a large expense?

We are the people who work night and day providing housing for Manitobans. In this critical time of housing shortages why would the NDP make it more difficult for landlords?

We are already paying Manitoba taxes in many other ways. Landlords don’t fund the housing initiative, the federal government does.

Sounds like the school tax will not be leaving property tax bills anytime soon.

Gabriel Robert

Winnipeg

Time to act

Re: Private property versus the public good (Jan. 21)

I am surprised that the Lemay Forest saga is still ongoing while the city dithers on what to do.

The loss of thousands of mature trees as a habitat for wildlife is horrendous in itself. But what is truly shocking is the report that as many as 2,300 infants may be buried on this site. This in itself should warrant the complete stoppage of clear cutting and removal of all equipment.

Desecration of a cemetery anywhere should be halted immediately. Especially one that is within city limits.

Time for Mayor Scott Gillingham to be the leader he was elected to be.

Al Yakimchuk

Winnipeg

Once a major venue

Recent media coverage of the fire that destroyed the Sutherland Hotel on Main Street left me disappointed. In their reporting, both the Free Press and CBC News neglected to mention the decades-long role the hotel played in Indigenous music history.

The Sutherland Hotel served as a longstanding venue for Indigenous music and musicians, as well as for Indigenous audiences to enjoy their music.

Although situated under the CPR overpass which historically marks the start of the North End, the Sutherland Hotel was part of what was termed the Main Street Strip of hotels with bars and pubs which featured Indigenous music almost exclusively beginning in the 1950s.

These establishments — the Sutherland, Woodbine, Bell, Occidental, Brunswick and Yale, among others — nurtured the development of Indigenous music in Winnipeg. They provided steady gigs and launching pads for a number of Indigenous musicians and bands. In addition, these hotels offered both short and long-term residences for Indigenous people.

Quite simply, it was the Indigenous community that kept the doors to the hotel open for decades. Yet there was nothing in the reporting that recognized the role of Indigenous people in the history of the Sutherland Hotel, a glaring and, I believe, shameful omission.

A giant mural covering the hotel’s south wall titled “The Fancy Shawl Dancers” by Dee Barsy and Kenneth Lavallee, celebrated Winnipeg’s Indigenous community.

As award-winning Indigenous blues musician Billy Joe Green states, “I was always drawn back to the Main Street Strip because that was where I was appreciated. We were very proud of who we were. It was definitely the only place I could go where I felt safe and relaxed among our own people. Indigenous artists were not welcome in other venues that weren’t Indigenous. We didn’t pursue white venues because we knew we’d have the door slammed in our faces.”

Although the Sutherland Hotel’s best days were long gone and it sat vacant for a few years, it had a storied Indigenous history that should not be forgotten nor ignored.

John Einarson

Winnipeg

What about handguns?

Donald Trump’s nonsense about Canada being a major source of illegals crossing the border heading south along with large amounts of fentanyl could be countered by Canada demanding the U.S. crack down on the flood of illegal handguns which, according to the RCMP, are smuggled into Canada by American criminals.

These guns end up the hands of drug gangs who regularly use them to kill rivals, along with the occasional innocent person.

Michael Dowling

Winnipeg