Letters, Feb. 9

Time and emotion

Re: Keeping public in dark about patient deaths erodes trust (Feb. 5); A curator’s dilemma: art, power, and the limits of neutrality (Think Tank, Feb. 5)

In medical postgraduate surgical training, error is adjudicated in forums such as “morbidity and morality rounds,” as emanating from the realms of diagnosis, technique, judgment, and intra-operative and post-operative management.

Dismissing or minimizing a client’s, or their proxy’s, genuine complaint would be a judgment error while an overly prolonged wait for assessment would be a management error.

A minor surgery, in a controlled and stable setting, serves as an exemplar of a functioning complex system, hence the long-standing requirement in departments of surgery for “M and M” rounds.

As Stephen Borys made clear, upon the world of politics and museums in his op-ed of the same day, it’s also difficult in medicine to, “hold on to complexity without descending into certainty.”

Mr. Lett has called for judicious transparency while the resources of time, to establish “the facts,” and emotion, to communicate them, are in short supply.

Chris Jensen

Winnipeg

Provinces depend on one another

Re: Harper paints picture of united Canada in danger (Feb. 6)

An otherwise perceptive article states that there are “… legitimate grievances in Alberta” but wrongly includes equalization, a mechanism used to achieve roughly comparable quality of life across Canada. But this claim ignores multiple dependencies among the parts of Canada.

Economics is one. Much of the money spent by Canadians feeds coffers in other provinces. Quebec citizens buy a lot of gasoline refined in Quebec from Alberta oil. Money spent on insurance concentrates elsewhere, something I noted working in Cape Breton. Fees collected in a run-down office on George Street were sent to a luxurious London Life building in my hometown. Same for buying vehicles, fertilizer, beer, or whatever.

Demographics is another overlooked factor. Canadians move to Alberta and drive the oil industry. But their home province educated them, paid for their health care, and assumed other expenses for 20 or more years. As well, migrants left behind parents and other older relatives who continue to be the responsibility of provinces deprived of younger workers to support them.

And later in life, people who retire are about twice as likely to change provinces as non-retirees, moving to better climates, cheaper places to live, or back to their province of origin. Now that their working lives are over, costs like health care are off-loaded on different provinces. An apocryphal metaphor would be tales of Alberta enticing workers from Atlantic Canada when needed and giving a one-way bus ticket home during economic downturns.

In short, our provinces are deeply interdependent and failing to appreciate that fosters division and threatens a unified Canada.

Jim Clark

Winnipeg

Living hopefully

Re: Teaching in tough times (Think Tank, Feb. 4)

As a retired educator, I very much appreciated Jordan Laidlaw’s refreshing take on the current climate of despondency, fear, and hopelessness. His bold (and rare) use of words such as love and hope comes as a beacon of light in these fraught times.

Laidlaw understands the critical difference between hope and optimism. Optimism comes and goes with one’s variable moods and experiences. Hope derives from a deeper place that transcends the day-to-day highs and lows. Author and speaker Caroline Myss captures it well: Hope and love are nectar for the human spirit. We can live without a lot of things, but we cannot sustain ourselves for long without hope or believing in something greater than ourselves.

On a daily basis, public school teachers are able to see signs of hope in the eyes of the kids they teach. They also can detect a loss of that hope. Teachers committed to their calling know their students and are able to rekindle in them a hopeful stance towards their futures. Their presence among young people also makes it possible for they themselves to live hopefully in the face of the strong forces of negativity.

Some might call it professionalism; I would prefer to us the term “vocation.”

Edwin Buettner

Winnipeg

Tools the system could use

Re: Justice system has means to protect children from repeat sex offenders, but is loath to use them (Feb. 3)

Tom Brodbeck is right to say there are many tools available to supervise high-risk sex offenders. When a high-risk offender has completed their jail sentence and any probationary terms, the justice system still has a tool to supervise these individuals: a peace bond.

Under section 810.1 of the Criminal Code, the Crown can apply to impose restrictions and supervisory conditions on high-risk sexual offenders for up to two years. These terms can include sobriety requirements, prohibiting or limiting internet use, bans on communicating with children, GPS ankle monitoring, and further treatment, amongst many different options.

Failure to follow the terms of the peace bond, which is a court order, could result in arrest and potential incarceration. It is just one more option amongst many to the justice system to ensure the safety of the community.

Scott Newman

Winnipeg

Staying in school

Re: Grade 12: a critical rite of passage? (Think Tank, Feb. 3)

John Wiens identifies Grade 12 graduation as a critical right of passage, achieved by some through the mature student diploma path. For many students the pre-existing connections to their attending high school are critical. Connections with other students in similar situations, siblings of friends who have graduated, or with individual teachers, counsellors or administrators often exist as essential lifelines for vulnerable young people. Also, the continuance of academic work already achieved in any given incomplete subject area can be recognized.

Despite the value of school division programs actively offering continued education, working toward a regular or mature student diploma, graduation in the attending high school can be essential for students who, for any number of reasons, need the comfort of existing connections.

The severance of that connection can be perceived as a personal failure. Overcoming inertia to establish new connections with a new physical environment and new people, regardless of how welcoming, can be challenging and may take a year or more to realize.

Of course, in order to discern between creating a psychology and culture of strength-building rather than one of enabling weakness, educators need to talk about options truthfully and thoughtfully, while knowing the student well enough to make the appropriate professional recommendation.

It is easy to overestimate students age 17-19, 20 or older and to presume they have the capacity and self-knowledge to manage their lives and academic progress. Not everyone has the specific knowledge or capacity to recognize, know and work with the array of cognitive, psychological or life circumstances of an individual student.

In high school settings, it is often the counsellor who is best situated to engage in individual graduation planning, in consultation with those involved, including parents where appropriate. This is especially so for mature student diploma path planning. The knowledge, skill set, personality type and assigned role of counsellors enables them to acquire deeper levels of knowledge of students and to liaise with social workers, occupational therapists, mental health providers or those working in areas of criminal justice. The numbers of students with focused needs is significant, and as with many life conditions is not easily discerned and may exist as invisible.

Creative problem-solving by high school educators can play an important role in graduation success, as can divisional programs supporting high school graduation.

Garrett Loeppky

Winnipeg