Letters, Dec. 13

Think of the animals

Re: City council looks at scrapping bird-friendly construction rules (Dec. 11)

Winnipeg city council is now considering scrapping its bird-friendly window bylaw because developers say it eats into their profits. This is only the latest in a string of moves by the city that sidestep animal welfare.

Earlier this year, the city had to be restrained by the province from gassing ground squirrels in public parks.

In 2022, council rejected a bylaw that would have curbed the sale of exotic pets.

Who is steering animal-welfare policy at city hall? Cruella de Vil?

John Youngman

Winnipeg

Going offline

Re: Social media ban for Aussies under 16 underway (Dec. 11)

A social media ban for our kids is a good idea.

Heavy use of social media can have serious consequences for a child’s social growth and development. Cyberbullying, and relentless social comparison, particularly around body image, are part of the problem.

Research also suggests using social media can be responsible for increased anxiety, depression and sleep loss in young people.

Our government now has a model for meaningful action. The Australian government has imposed a broadly-based ban on the use of social media by youth under the age of 16. The prohibition of youth accounts on social media platforms is a logical option in the face of growing evidence of the damage social media are inflicting on our kids.

The Australians also put some teeth into their legislation by imposing heavy fines for large social media companies that accept or maintain accounts for children and youth under the age of 16. The fines can reach $45 million if companies breach the age threshold.

Perhaps federal Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation Minister Evan Solomon can add this to his search for ways to limit the economic and social impact of social media giants like Facebook and Instagram in Canada.

Jerry Storie

Winnipeg

Get behind free rides, government

Re: Free bus rides for all might be what’s needed to save Winnipeg Transit (Dec. 10)

Those getting free rides are the federal and provincial governments.

The city, if anyone has noted, has blown through all its contingency funds, trying to maintain property taxes at an affordable rate. The province has done a poor job of supporting municipalities and the feds like major projects where they can maximize public relations.

Meanwhile our streets crumble and our emergency services struggle under yet another budget cut.

Well here’s a PR opportunity our leaders can get behind. Global warming? Check. Growing cost of living? Check. So let’s demand that both federal and provincial leaders get behind this and provide free public bus fares for all.

John Thomas Tierney

Winnipeg

Lost opportunities

Re: Film production robs city teams of 100 hours of ice time (Dec. 10)

I just cannot imagine any Canadian making or supporting the decision to allow the Southdale Community Centre to allow an American film company take over the ice in prime hockey season for a curling movie about an American curler who does not hold a candle to many Canadian curling teams.

It’s time for the city (which owns the facility) and its legal team to step in and make it right. I doubt there are written contracts between Hockey Winnipeg and the centre but there is certainly the implied contract for use of the ice that has been ongoing for years, if not decades. The disruption in time, Winnipeg parents’, young hockey players’ and teams’ inconvenience and additional cost cannot be ignored.

Our family has used that facility for years, including the small rink when it was a great place for families with small kids to learn to skate, and have found it difficult to find a parking spot in the many times we have been there this fall.

The waiting area is usually full and a great place for families to interact with each other which has been going on for years. All this will be lost.

Howard and Sharon Shearer

Winnipeg

Winnipeg needs more than a study

Re: Hire firefighters instead of paying consultant to open mental-health emergency service, union tells city (Dec. 10)

I am so grateful to hear that someone out there is hearing there is a lack of mental health emergency supports. Perhaps it is not more studies nor a replication of services that we need. However, there is no doubt there is a massive need for mental-health intervention in the community.

This comments by the firefighters union sadden me, as they reflect how hard it is to understand the mental health experience and the lack of resources. I have no doubt we need more firefighters too, but I am really unclear on how those firefighters will help me if I am in my home suffering a mental health crisis.

Do I get to call 911 and ask them to send a truckload of firefighters to my house because I am severely depressed and life feels hopeless? Personally, I must say that there are days when that would perk me up quite considerably but then I am not suffering from a horrific state of hopelessness and despair. Maybe it is not a mental health check by a police officer that I need …. I need much more.

As a community we are tuning into the needs of people who are homeless and/or experiencing drug addiction. However, our silence is deafening when it comes to people in their homes who are invisible to others, whose pain is hidden from sight. The lack of supports or resources for them is heart wrenching. Do they need to become homeless to be seen? We cry out for our knee and hip surgeries, but the cries are not there for all the people suffering mental-health crises. We are frantic about wait times in hospital emergency rooms but not for the same wait times in mental health emergency space.

We want more doctors and nurses, but where are the psychiatrists, psychologists and therapists for mental health?

I do fear that this may just be a focus on emergency services. The need does not stop there. Someone with mental-health pain does not suddenly become better after visiting an emergency room or talking to someone on a phone for a little while.

And yes, tie it into what exists. Talk to the people at crisis response because they know what is needed.

Just please, please do not let this just be another study.

Val Kellberg

Winnipeg

Looking out for others

Re: MTS criticized for donating to Palestinian teachers, Dec. 10

I’m disappointed that the Manitoba Teachers’ Society’s decision to donate $5,000 to the General Union of Palestinian Teachers is coming under fire.

According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, as of July 2025, 518 out of 564 schools in Gaza have suffered such extensive damage that they will need to be significantly or completely rebuilt in order to be functional again.

The scale of this devastation and its visitation on schools — sites where children learn and grow, and where teachers work — is a manifest tragedy. As teachers, if we want our students to be conscientious global citizens, we should model the type of activism that safeguards the health, safety, and wellbeing of teachers and students, regardless of where they happen to live.

If Canada ever saw such despair that resulted in 92 per cent of its schools being destroyed, I could only hope that teachers in other jurisdictions would look out for us as MTS is looking out for others.

Jon Bettner

Dauphin