Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - December 5, 2000, Winnipeg, Manitoba Focus a11 win Mim pm i to ill i 2000 v the eyes and ears of our society a new View of volunteerism the nature of both in Canada and is Cameron Volunteer chairman of the Canadian Council for International explains in this piece marking International year of the Volun that the United nations will be launching British prime minister Margaret Thatcher thought she could kill the idea of Community when she Infa in 1987 theres no such thing As Sci there Are individual men and and there Are but social interconnectedness is a hard thing to its something that seems to be hard wired into the human brain and just 10 years after that thatchers Succes Sor Tony Blair won a landslide Victory in Britain by articulating exactly the opposite vision we Are not simply people set in Isola Tion from each but members of the same the same human history of tolerance canadians As a nation have never bought into the harsh individualism of the neoliberal View our history has been one of tolerance and equalization at and generosity and peace Ful development our Core As found in poll after include Consul compassion and and nothing underscores our sense of global connectedness More than our honoured and honourable tradition of sending Canadian volunteers Over the past 40 about Canadian volunteers have fanned out around the develop ing building and and looking for the Chance to open their minds and build Bridges of human learning and whether its working on new farming methods in marketing handicrafts in securing clean water supplies in Nigeria or running a Micro lending program in Canadian volunteers provide the human face that our diplomats and business executives sometimes and the willingness of canadians to put them selves on the line internationally lends enor Mous credibility to our position As a world player in organizations like the the Commonwealth and la but the role of like everything else in a globalized is changing there is increasing discomfort these Days with the notion that people from the North automatically have knowledge to impart to people from the there will always be a role for Cana Dian volunteers to play especially those with specialized but increasingly the message from the South to the North is that they Are looking for partnerships based on Equality and Mutual rather than a teacher Pupil this requires a broader vision of Volun one that Many More canadians can participate in because it Doest have to involve Canadian nurse Jane Little at work in role of the Volunteer in the globalized like everything is changing leaving staying Home is some times the whole Point of the because what is often needed these Days is a massive educational Effort among our own citizens about working together internationally on issues like ethical human Security and joint planning for the sustainable development of the this new volunteerism is built on the ideas of greater civic global citizenship and the ability to inform and activate the and through to influence the crucial linked through internet and the new who Are often linked to their Southern counterparts through the can become the eyes and ears of our picking up on problems abroad and coming up with new initiatives that their organizations can pitch to decision makers both nationally and the women movement and the environmental movement Are both pioneers in mobilizing the new volunteerism they have moved beyond helping the disadvantaged to forging a spirit of creating powerful connections from their volunteers and supporters out into government and civic women organizations in for Are push ing the world Bank to invest More in women agriculture and credit in the Southern countries it does business in As Well As pressuring the Bank to involve women at the grassroots level in or theres the world women March for which linked activists from More than 150 countries in their global struggle against poverty and Vio the scope for getting involved in issues that matter has never been greater or More Cre University students across Canada have been Able to Force their Campus stores to Stop purchasing garments and other items made with sweatshop labour in the Large coalitions of voluntary organizations throughout the world succeeded in 1997 in Banning the use of a cause of daily tragedy and death especially among children in War torn Jubilee 2000 is a program fuelled by citizen participation that Aims to achieve debt forgiveness for the worlds poorest All these initiatives Are creating genuine partner ships and moving beyond the paternalistic relationship of donor and recipient into something far More democratic and this expansive new View of volunteerism not Only gets impressive results abroad these but it helps strengthen civil society Here in Canada As the More we get involved with family and colleagues in the common Pursuit of health and jus the More our democracy is enriched and our values reflected As we build meaningful Bridges to our fellow citizens around the letters to the editor the free press welcomes letters from they must include the authors address and Telephone letters May be letters to the 1355 Mountain r2x fax email Home water treatment More economical so the City of Winnipeg wants to invest million in a water filtration what about the thousands of Winni Eggers including myself who already have an income water treat ment the system i have is economical and it filters out plus Many other will i get a tax break it would be cheaper for the City to Supply the remaining Winnipeg House holds with their own income treat ment plus the water Quality would be better than any Plant could water still has to travel to your sometimes through Miles of David Hansen better business connections Winnipeg sentence encourages child molesters a new Standard has been set in Canada by the Manitoba court of Appeal in r unfried for sentencing denying child loss of status from counsellor to courier was taken into serious consideration in reducing a sentence from 30 months incarceration to a conditional sentence with an 8 to 8 cur few and 200 hours of Community ser Kevin Richardson had Faith in the process once his abuser would be held responsible for his he allowed his name to be used to let abusers know How much damage is done to boys sexually abused by the courts showing enormous leniency to this abuser because of the passage of time Between the crime and the sentence shows a dismal Lack of understanding of the ramifications of childhood trauma As result of sexual exploitation and the time needed to be Well enough psychologically to come v abusers in positions of Trust sexually assault children because it is easy and they want sentences like this one Only encourage those whose uncontrolled impulses leave so Many Anonymous suffering men in our Rosalind Prober Winnipeg tory votes would go Liberal Gerald flood was Correct Alliance stronger than free 29 that vote splitting Between the Alliance and tories helped the liberals in but he is off the Mark when he suggests that a tory Alliance vote would have won 25 More seats for the the fact is most Federal tories would vote Liberal they would vote any Toi ies attracted by the alliances principles jumped to them years the fact that most current tories second Choice is the liberals Means that if the pcs didst exist in this elec the liberals would have won 11 More seats in Atlantic five More in increased their Victory margins in All the Ontario won the three Ontario seats they narrowly and tightened their grip on their Western Urban a pc merger into the Alliance would guarantee a Liberal majority for some time Dale Swirsky Winnipeg Rural voters misrepresented once Frances Russell has attempted to marginalize the social conservative Rural we Are a Small t Liberal she the Alliance voter is the typically Rural social As opposed to the enlightened Liberal Urban All those of you from Calgary and Edmonton who voted for the Canadian Alliance notwithstanding we Are a backward for the nerve that we would even entertain the idea of voting for a Man whose personal beliefs Are pro Faith and the reason that the Canadian Alliance lost the election is an opportunistic prime minister called an Early election before the Alliance could prepare westerners who did know him voted for him in keep up the Good work we will be there for you next mar Ramshaw flin flon transit Hast paid the Biz re Iris collards letter bus fares Rise As transit donates i emphasize that there has been no Money which has gone from Winnipeg transit to the downtown the downtown Biz has worked closely with Winnipeg transit Over the last number of years on a number of and in recognition of this the Biz in its annual report assigned a value to the transit the support provided by Winnipeg transit was in the form of Adver Tising space on the downtown flyer and the acceptance of the Down town bids Blue loonie on transit both of these initiatives Are very positive measures to encourage redevelopment and revitalization of our downtown which in sure All win nip Eggers View As a major priority for our John Angus chairperson standing policy committee on Public works Winnipeg a nuclear contradiction Penni Mitchells column Carbon sinks sap Canadas credibility free 27 illustrates the contradiction Many environmental groups found themselves in while attending last weeks global warming negotiations in the we learn from is Mitchell that Canada is responsible for emitting tens of millions of tons of greenhouse Gas is Mitchell also informs us environmental groups were critical of Canadas position in support of nuclear it is indisputable that nuclear technology is a proven solution toward reducing global warming emis nuclear such As Cana Das Candy Power generate electricity without producing emis Sions that contribute to global warm acid rain and Canadas use of 22 Candy reactors Over the years has prevented More than one billion tonnes of c02 emissions from being last the worlds 436 reactors prevented the release of billion tonnes of one prominent James who previously opposed nuclear told the Hague conference Large scale nuclear Power is the Only practical Way that we have to solve the greenhouse Gas prob groups like Green peace and the Sierra club continue to maintain their rigid antinuclear Phi Why these groups ignore the fact that our Quality of life and the improvement of living standards in the developing world Are dependent on a constant caseload Supply of electricity produced by Fossil fuel or Hydro solar and wind Are limited technologies that cant provide a constant flow of electricity to Power Large Urban Cen when will the Media finally report that their rigid opposition to nuclear contradicts their policy toward reduced global warming emissions Larry Shewchuk manager corporate Media relations decl White Shell laboratories Pinawa doonesbury about you Eer 0gatupata p5m 0ltt you Pont know you you Gont know a that Pant you think its you committs to 7hin0 know trying to Honok Youk ;