Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 19, 1997, Winnipeg, Manitoba Brian Cole 6977044 focus Winnipeg free press a 4 4 june 1997 m i i Quebec study outlined needed safety measures school bus death avoidable Michael Dean of the col University of believes Manitoba can learn lessons about school bus safety from que which has not lost a child to a school bus Accident in the four years since it cracked Down on Safe by Michael Fox special to the free press As i read the heart wrenching testimony of the family and officials testifying before the inquest into the death of Raymond i could not help but con once that such tragedies Are clearly avoidable an avoidable death is a term used by coroners in concluding that one or More solutions exist if applied in a Given would have prevented a having just moved to Manitoba from this particular inquest brought Back vivid memories of a 1993 inquest into school bus deaths largest such investigation in Canadian his during his Coroner Marcandre Bouliane decided that he would use his Powers to expose the enormous scale of school bus related accidents and deaths in que he focused on the two most common forms of fatalities involving school buses those killed by their own bus running them Over those who must Cross the Street to get to or from the bus and Are filled by oncoming since Quebec school children had been killed by their own bus and another eight were killed by oncoming Bou Liane had decided that enough was during his 13 Days of Public hear Bouliane ordered three Provin Cial Cabinet ministers to appear the minister of the minis Ter of transport and the minister of Public following the minis ters on the witness stand were 125 school Board senior civil school bus Drivers and the parents of children killed in bus accidents were allowed to testify As the three ministers of the government looked As Well As the school Board officials and the in 284 witnesses were during the the Coroner admitted he did not expect to learn anything new about the school bus safety problem in he suggested his Point was educational aimed at the obvious solution to avoidable deaths increased safety at the he stated if school boards Are going to allow the deaths of five or six Chil Dren a i want them to stand up in Public and say let them Tell parents that five or six of your Chil Dren will die this year and were not going to do anything to prevent parents did listen and thousands signed petitions for increased safety measures on school hearing Guy Cadieux testify that his sons death should never have happened reminds once that one death due to error is too his comments also cause me concern after having heard so much about school bus deaths in Quebec in we have not Learned from these inquests and investigations in the country As a after each inquest the Issue moves away from Public attention and parents and children fail to be and More deaths raymonds death was if judge Rubin has not read the Quebec coroners he should do Bouliane made a series of very powerful observations and rec he travelled throughout North America to research the school bus Industry and various safety measures adopted in other he found Manitoba to be one of the safest places in terms of bus related Bouliane made the follow ing recommendations 1 school bus fleets should be made up of Flat nosed vehicles so Drivers can View children walk ing in front of the 2 that the contracting of bus ser vices become More including performance evaluations of both vehicles and 3 the creation of a special Dri vers permit for school with extensive training for Drivers before such a permit is 4 permanent presence of adult monitors senior senior secondary Drivers in each of the buses carry ing elementary 5 that a compulsory and continuous training program on Road and bus safety be Given to elementary school and that parents be involved in this training research has found that most school safety programs Are Given during the first weeks of yet most school bus deaths occur in the november to May 6 that the Public insurance com Pany do massive publicity campaigns on the dangers and consequences of passing a stopped school bus while its red lights Are Boulaine report has had an enormous Impact on the Way children Are transported to the schools of the que Bec government has committed million to phasing out Long nosed school and the ministry of transport has initiated a new school bus Driver training a number of equipment changes Are currently being such As retractable Extension arms that Force children to move away from the bus and into the Drivers line of Over 50 per cent of Quebec school boards have implemented changes in the Way they design their bus thus reducing the number of children that must Cross the Road to get on and off the those same boards that initially stated that the Cost of hiring Moni tors would be prohibitive have not found that to be the some boards Are testing the California method where Drivers Stop the turn the engine and accompany children off the bus and across the Street before leaving the at the end of the Bouliane asked what is the Price of a single Childs life the Quebec coroners report of 1993 could be renamed the Manitoba inquest report of the circumstances Are the the reactions Are the the questions of Cost and blame and the Ter Rible anguish and guilt Are the the major difference is that another child has been killed in what is coldly and scientifically referred to As an avoidable this current inquest will be added to the dozens of previous inquests and recommendations concerning school bus safety in will it improve the situation will it prevent any fur ther deaths i certainly Hope it will if we i believe the most significant result of the Quebec coroners inquest is the fact in the four years since its release and the enormous Public there have been no reported school bus deaths or Seri Ous that is my Hope in this current school bus deaths Are and the More attention that is paid to Raymond Cadieux the greater the chances of heightened Public awareness and government and school Board pre Public inquests Force government the Media and the Public to debate the Trade offs Between improved bus safety and the financial and educational costs of protecting our letters to the editor nude March stunt Fosters voyeurism it appears that vulgarity and voyeurism Are alive and Well in our fostered by the recent stunt of a once respectable and respected local radio station and a couple of its More unrestrained two women accepted their invitation to walk Down Portage Avenue bar breasted and to appear in this condition in a studio at the topless is so is Bottom Bowel moving and Intercourse Are also natural is the station going to have a few folks Down to demonstrate these activities when should we tune in for nose pick ers porn for fun and profit and org arranging made easy there is a difference Between what is natural and what is appropriate for Public viewing and sleaze and Good journalism do not and radio hosts do not Appeal to decent what does it say for our Community when tackiness is rewarded with High ratings Kathleen Fraser Winnipeg loss of loss of dignity i hesitate to comment on the absolute right of women to Bare their breasts in Public because there Are those who would question the right of a Man to speak on this i believe that those of us who have reservations about this Are not expressing so much a puritanical opposition to free expression As a con Cern that this will further denigrate human what was intimate has now become not just in a Magazine or but with persons that we interact with in our daily this loss of innocence contributes to a further loss of dignity and person in my Schellenberg Kleefeld topless March proves stupidity 1 wish to congratulate Larry Updike and Job for their recent Call for a women topless just when one feels that there is Hope that our world might become More such actions restore Faith in human natures stupidity and a tendency to trivialize important issues for the Sake of Alf Brooks Winnipeg Library cuts attack on literacy in response to Aldo satins article libraries face big cuts in City deficit cutting free june it is Evi Dent that the City and the province do How to reach us the free press welcomes letters from letters must be signed and should include a clearly printed address and Telephone names will be published but not All letters May be edited for style and Short letters Are less Likely to be please address letters to letters to the Winnipeg free 1355 Mountain Winnipeg r2x letters can be sent to our fax number letters May be submitted through the internet at . Letters sent via the internet obviously cannot be but must include Home address and Telephone not value education or the chairman of the cites Library Board said he was dismayed and discouraged by the proposed and i feel although you might add angry to the As a Library recent High school graduate and cur rent University i am disgusted by the cites continued attack on learn fighting the deficit is an admirable and necessary but there Are far better ways to go about balancing the it is ignorant to believe that the City can continue to provide All services to All people with out tax As tax increases Are also it seems that modest user fees might be an option for the City to would have no problem paying a Small Annu Al fee to ensure the Quality of the cites perhaps Library cutbacks and poorly funded schools will produce fewer literate people who will be Able to read about the stupid things the City Mike Warkentin Winnipeg consumer beware of fat free Label after Reading the article fat free foods gain a Little weight free june i wish to draw your attention to an yet critical Point of information concerning the introduction of new regulations for the use of the term fat free in the Canadian the article Points out More fat free products we rent made in Canada under the old fat free claim the reason for simply is that Only those products that were truly contained no could be labelled As products that had Low Levels of fat were More correctly identified As Ultra Low a term which More precisely describes the amount of fat in the under the new products that Are not free of fat am be labelled As fat Larry Updike chats with the two women who answered the Job Call for bar breasted the Consumers association of Canada cac believes that All product labels must be based on sound scientific and independently giving approval for the use of a fat free Label to a product that contains fat will con fuse the Consumers Trust in the information that appears on a this is Why cac has been assured that food manufacturers and government regulators will be conducting a comprehensive Public education Campaign explaining to Consumers what the new regulations mean and stressing that fat free does not mean the fact that nutritional professionals feel that the new Standard is nutritionally insignificant does not change the fact that the products May contain Consumers need to be aware that the use of the fat free Label is a marketing canadians need information about healthy eating and should not be selecting their diet on the basis of slogans or marketing jargon such As fat Lee Anne National food Consumers association of Winnipeg immersion students doubly literate regarding the letter from Nancy Blicq focus on not free june 13 where she called immersion students barely literate in is Blicq makes Many varied Points in her but she has obviously overlooked educational research when she writes about French immersion in particular the latest Canad wide English language indicate that French immersion students consistently score higher in English language arts than their eng Lis Only tests of students in local school divisions show the same transference of skills Between Lan combined with the double dose of language Means that they have studied language in two different yet complementary that Why French immersion students have bet Ter language in English and in than their unilingual counter is you got it As a teacher whose first language is i have kept a close Eye on my sons Ela skills As they have proceeded through they Are both extremely read prodigiously and in two that is the Beauty of a bilingual the graduates have Good language skills in both their Mother Tongue and their chosen second like Many of us who Are bilingual by graduates of immersion Are justly proud of their Sharon Mcinnes Winnipeg doonesbury by Garry Trudeau 70 som of your for keep about ability to manage 6li jockeying Fofi occasional maw my parking car in from a vow ;