Letters, Feb. 12

Bylaw goes too far

Re: Vote to crack down on ‘nuisance’ protests set for city council (Feb. 10)

I was so alarmed by the abrogation of essential Charter rights described in your article that I was compelled to read the actual language of the proposed bylaw, which has only increased my dismay.

Coun. Evan Duncan describes the bylaw as restricting hateful protests near sensitive sites, but the plain language of the bylaw goes much further. Its definition of “nuisance demonstrations” includes not only those which express “objection or disapproval towards an idea, action, person or group based on or related to any specified characteristics,” but also those which merely “obstruct… the passage of pedestrians or motor vehicles without an applicable permit issued by the City,” or use “amplifiers or microphones,” without an applicable permit.

To incur a $5,000 fine per person, there is no requirement that such a demonstration target one of the long list of types of designated facilities, only that it is within 100 metres of one, at any time of day. A community member created a map using the city’s own land use data and calculated that this prohibition extends to nearly 17 per cent of all Winnipeg land area. It variously proscribes all such protests or marches on every university campus, along most of Portage Avenue and much of Main Street, outside the premier’s constituency office, on a portion of the legislature grounds, and even, incredibly, the courtyard of city hall itself.

The bylaw is incredibly over-broad in its language, and its carve-outs for labour action paltry in comparison to legislation in other jurisdictions. I urge council to reject this dangerous overreach, and contemplate in whose interest they entertain such casual disregard for our cherished freedom of expression.

Andrew Kohan

Winnipeg

Take away the guns

Re: Premier, mayor have some explaining to do on firearms buyback (Feb. 9)

Thank you Dan Lett for your timely opinion piece. It’s time Premier Wab Kinew and Mayor Scott Gillingham were taken to task for not supporting the federal buyback of assault weapons. Why do all western politicians mistakenly believe that Canadians have the constitutional right to carry guns?

Following a mass shooting in Nova Scotia, then-prime minister Justin Trudeau did the right thing and banned the worst of these weapons and arranged to pay the owners for them. Now our politicians are returning this country to the wild-west American style.

I hope the premier and mayor are overcome with guilt today following the mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C. The litany of “thoughts and prayers” from sanctimonious gun proponents makes me ill.

Carol Clegg

Lac du Bonnet

Students have it right about rights

Re: Sturgeon Heights students fight to keep backpacks in class (Feb. 9)

I would like to commend the students of Sturgeon Heights Collegiate for exercising their basic human rights.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) Article 19 simply states that we all have the right to make up our own minds, to think what we like, to say what we think and to share our ideas with others.

Article 26 states we all have the right to education.

The students make extremely good points. The backpack is a unique organizational tool for many students. Taking it away causes many additional problems for teenagers. It leaves them running in the hall to make classes because they have to go to lockers to get required equipment for the next class or a snack /drink. Studies have shown that targeted bullying in schools often takes place at unsupervised areas like lockers. We are engaging more and more with neurodivergent students and students with exceptionalities. They deserve to organize their school day whether it be through visuals or a backpack, etc.

Hunter Mangin booed the decision in an assembly and received a two-day suspension stripping him of his basic human right to attend school? Recently we have seen others booed at the Olympics, sports venues and political venues to name a few, but we are not allowing Mangin to express his right to freedom of speech?

Sturgeon Heights Collegiate wants to take clutter out of the classroom creating stress for students and bedlam in the hallways. We are always paying lip service to mental health issues, not creating more issues for vulnerable teenagers would be a place to start.

It seems to me that Sturgeon Heights students are intelligent and have ideas to share. Why not make this a teaching moment where staff and students come together to share ideas and come up with a solution?

Jane Pogson

Winnipeg

Time for social media crackdown

Re: Free speech used to justify corporate profit (Editorial, Feb. 11)

The editorial on the social irresponsibility of so-called social media is excellent and raises a crucial issue. Social media has played a major role in the rise of authoritarian governments in the U.S. and elsewhere, and governments need to make them accountable.

In a recent interview Maria Ressa, who received a Nobel Prize for her work as a journalist who exposed the Duterte regime’s police state in the Philippines, pointed out that Trump was able to move more quickly to take control of the levers of power than Duterte did largely because of the role of social media during and after his campaign. As she says, there is no democracy without accountability, and there is no accountability without verifiable information.

Social media platforms have had a free hand to promote lies and misinformation without consequences. As you say, governments must hold them to the standards of other news publishers if we are to preserve our democracy.

Jeremy Hull

Winnipeg

Taking decisive action

One of the reasons Canada has been considered to be such a military featherweight in recent years or even decades is its constant prognosticating in its procurement process for new weaponry. In the 1930s if the Royal Air Force had procrastinated as much in its decisions to develop and adopt aircraft like the Hurricane and Spitfire, the Battle of Britain would have been lost within a week. Fortunately the prescience and tenacity of Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding, who recognized the urgency of a strong air defence system, prevailed over the foolish opposition of politicians and the Royal Navy, so that any enemy invasion was averted.

Today Canada, even though its own assessments as well as those of several other NATO countries, has determined that the F-35 is a superior aircraft to any other foreign counterparts, continues to play a stalling game in making a decision to adopt it and leaves the impression it just wants to spite the U.S. in retaliation for trade disputes.

So if this country wants to take an important step toward restoring its reputation for the prowess it demonstrated in two world wars and the Korean War, among other military engagements, its government needs to show some resolve by eliminating its chronic inaction on defence matters.

Edward Katz

Winnipeg