Letters, June 2

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/06/2022 (1006 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

An evening in ER

Re: Grace Hospital nurses ‘begging’ supervisors not to send them to badly understaffed ER (June 1)

The other day I needed to call 911 for my husband, who had a possible heart-attack issue. To my surprise, all emergency lines were busy and I had to wait a few seconds before being connected.

The fire department came soon and then the ambulance to transport him to St. Boniface Hospital. This happened around 5:15 p.m., and the paramedics stayed by him in a hallway until he was first looked at around 9 p.m., and then they could leave.

There were around four other ambulances at the ER when my husband arrived. If paramedics are waiting with patients at hospitals, how can there be enough ambulances available to respond to other emergencies?

Thank goodness, my husband’s emergency wasn’t heart related this time. When he was discharged after 11 p.m., there was standing room only in the ER.

I do not feel wait times are getting better, as the Conservative government says. Health Minister Audrey Gordon has said she will put a couch in various outdoor places so people can talk to her. Maybe she should move her couch to hospital ERs to hear the public’s opinion.

Sandra Coutu

Winnipeg

Look beyond immigrants’ accents

Re: Accents are part of us and should be accepted (May 30)

Love this article! I came to Canada and Winnipeg in 1974 and experienced all that Ayodele Odeyemiare is writing about.

I too was told to slow down when I am speaking, because when I first came here, my accent was very raw and slanged with no proper English.

All the racism, just ignore it. It’s there, but there is only so much you can do about it. One’s personality has a lot to do with how they manage their lives in this society, which is so different from what we came from. If you carry a chip on your shoulder, you will have a tougher time making it through life.

For me, Canada is a land of opportunity. Forget the accent. Just work hard, stay positive and work on making your dreams a reality.

Bobby J. Hobson

Winnipeg

Let public see all data on assaults

Re: Proposed law gives Manitobans access to sensitive information about partners to protect themselves, children (May 31)

Pursuant to the article on disclosure of a person’s previous partner-assault records, apparently a third party has to review and decide if the records are pertinent to a potential victim. This allows non-disclosures and cover-ups.

I firmly believe any member of the public has the right to this knowledge, to prevent her from entering into a relationship with any assaulter. Why would any woman want to know after a marriage, after bearing children with an assaulter? Before is better. A person loses the right to privacy when they assault.

Ruth Hill

Winnipeg

Boomers need better home care

Re: Province’s neglect of home care continues (Editorial, May 30)

As a client of home care, let me state the magnitude of it. For five years, the rate for self-managed health workers has received zero increase. Not only is the pay low, the allowable number of hours of care are inadequate to the point of being scandalous.

I’m fortunate to have a caring family and resources, but speak on behalf of all frail people that these inadequacies should be addressed soon. Begin with substantive pay increases, offer more weekly hours, and increase tax benefits for the family member who fills in the shortages and gaps.

With the boomer generation requiring this essential home care, the time to act is now. The cost and consequences of caring for them in institutions is a magnitude higher than treating them at their homes.

Vishno Gupta

Winnipeg

PUB’s purpose questioned

Re: Protect the PUB rallying cry seeks to add voices (June 1)

Funny how some fight so hard to preserve an entity that, through its apparent careful guidance, has allowed Hydro to become a corporation that survives only because it is deemed to be backed by the government carrying such a large debt that, if it were a private business, it would have long ago being forced into bankruptcy. Yet they think it is doing a great job and must be preserved, no matter the cost.

James Roberts

Winnipeg

Replace Poplar River barge

Re: Remote band rations food, fuel after barge destroyed (June 1)

Poplar River needs a working barge to get food into the community and sell the fish their fishers are catching for us. Never mind if it is Ottawa’s problem or Freshwater Fish’s issue. Clearly, an entire community is on hold until it gets a barge.

Not asking for the moon here. Can our reconciliation-minded premier get on this today and get them one? Surely she can get her wealthy friends to kick in for a barge, or she can cough it up from provincial coffers. Just do it.

Gloria Enns

Winnipeg

Stop all-gender washrooms

Re: Gender-neutral washrooms create challenges (Opinion, June 29)

To ensure the safety and comfort once afforded our mothers, sisters, wives and daughters, and to underscore the respect owed to universal social propriety, the politically inspired policy of making all on-site communal washrooms “gender inclusive” ought to be reversed immediately. As a compromise to the progressive forces promoting the feelings of a few over the security of the many, a limited number of the multiple on-site facilities could be assigned the new designation, with the remaining majority being gender-specific.

No female, young or old, can possibly feel safe seeing a man expose himself, especially in what ought to be their/our acknowledged safe space. Worse still, even one unwelcome approach toward a female patron in an enclosed room with stalls is too many. And yes, such occurrences have been documented, with the offenders subsequently prosecuted.

Anne Elizabeth Souris

Winnipeg

I used the gender-neutral bathrooms at the Manitoba Museum last weekend. The stalls have excellent locks, and walls and doors from ceiling to floor for privacy. They bathrooms were clean, and at no time did I or my little boy feel unsafe.

I also noted a few men able to bring in their small daughters or granddaughters without discomfort, a big improvement over the 1980s when my dad was forced to bring me into the men’s room and tell me to look at the floor until I was in the stall.

In response to letter writer Sue Medgyes, I don’t see how men using a urinal for its intended purpose can be considered indecent exposure. If you don’t want to see men using the urinals, take my dad’s advice and look at the floor.

Kate McDougall

Winnipeg

I can, to a degree, understand women not wanting to use the toilet next to a row of urinals, but the questions all those with consternations around multi-gender toilets could ask themselves are these: why have we sexualized defecation and urination, and why should some people suffer emotional and physical torment and violence at the hands of those who feel it is their role to police gender?

North Americans should not think of this as something utterly new. The Romans had vast public toilet services that had no dividing walls and didn’t generally separate genders.

Is there any actual difference if the person in the next stall is male, female, asexual, non-binary or trans? Just do what you need to do and move on. Don’t forget to wash your hands.

Herb Neufeld

Winnipeg