Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - April 12, 2005, Winnipeg, Manitoba C Ity & District Winnipeg repress. Com t tuesday pril 12, 2005 family notices b9 City editor Steve Pona 697 7292 City. Desk free press. My. Ca b 1 Gordon Sinclair or. I t was last month at the height of the school bullying controversy and a Winnipeg Middle school teacher had decided to use what had happened to discuss the Issue with her class. What had happened in Quick succession was appalling. In Roblin a High school student had apparently committed suicide after he had been targeted by bullies. And in the Gladstone area a few boys in elementary school who had been accused of bullying were subjected to some teacher supervised role playing where they were taunted by Middle school students As a Way of learning what it feels like to be bullied. They All thought it was terrible the Grade 8 teacher recalled. So she asked her class for ideas on How to Deal with bullying. One student suggested there should be a special class just for bullies. Put them in therapy. They All seemed to agree that bullying should not be tolerated. But then this week the teacher spoke to her class again about bullying. This time it was about the bullying that was going on in the very class that had been so openly critical of the behaviour. The target was a special needs girl in their class who was being cruelly mocked and shunned. Some students would treat the chair she had been sitting in As if it was contaminated. Others held books or hands Over their faces so they have to look at her. One boy shrieked in mock horror when she walked by. Then he would laugh at her. All the special needs girl could do to Cope was to laugh with her tormentors. According to her the teacher told me this is something Sheds had to Deal with since elementary school. It a snot the first time the teacher had noticed the Way the girl was being treated. Previously she had spoken to a few of them. Now she Felt it was time to address the whole class. First the teacher sent the special needs student out of the room with a teaching assistant. I know its not All of you she began. But she also knew that some who we rent directly involved had been silent observers. Then she reminded them what they had discussed a few weeks earlier about bullying. Thatus exactly what you Are doing she told the hushed room. I told them they were making her life miserable. There is something wrong with somebody who does this to someone so harmless. I told them it was like kicking a Kitten. I asked her what her students said. They just listened she said. When she had finished addressing her class the teacher sent two boys and one girl to the school counsellor. With the backing of a vigilant and concerned principal the students who had been spoken to previously were warned there would be no More warnings. If there was any other bullying behaviour they be allowed Back in school until exams were being written. After we spoke i gave the teacher something i thought she might want to share with her class. It was a piece of writing by a Grade 12 Warren collegiate student named Tammy Clare that had so moved student teacher Karen Korchinski that she wanted others to read it. Continued please see word b 2 blowing into town Julian from left bubbles and Randy characters from the immensely popular showcase Channel to series trailer Park boys were at the Assiniboine Gordon inn in Winnipeg yesterday to promote a new season of madness and mayhem at Sunnyvale trailer Park. The fifth season of the Nova Scotia based to series debuts this sunday night on showcase with the first of 10 All new episodes. By Alexandra Paul nearly 200 Winnipeg firefighters will file into the legislature today in anticipation of a new Bill to give them compensation for three new kinds of cancer and for heart attacks within 24 hours of fighting a fire. Currently they re not covered under the provinces workers compensation act even though scientific studies Call them Job hazards. Firefighters say they Are exposed to a soup of toxic chemicals released by synthetic materials set aflame in fires and Many of them Are cancer causing agents. The three new kinds of cancer expected to be covered under the new Bill for full time firefighters Are lung col rectal and urethra cancers. Five Job related cancers Are already covered. They include cancer of the brain bladder kidney non Hodgkins Lymphoma and leukaemia. Alex Forrest president of the United fire fighters of Winnipeg said firefighters have lobbied for the coverage for years now. Well have 150 to 200 firefighters in the Public gallery in the legislature when the new Bill is introduced. This will treat firefighters the same Way As if they were Hurt or killed at a fire scene. The Bill must still pass three readings in the legislature before being proclaimed Law. That could happen in As Little As eight weeks Forrest said. Every year one or two firefighters in Winnipeg learns he or she is sick from heart disease or a kind of cancer that Isnit covered. Options Are limited keep working and draw a pay Cheque or quit and Hope to qualify for provincial disability. If i did not have to do this Job i said one firefighter who works full time despite wearing a colostomy bag which collects his fees following Colon cancer surgery in 1997. Bruce Kitching 48, suffered a massive heart attack last May Only six hours after fighting a grass fire All night behind Chapel Lawn cemetery. Hers now on provincial disability which gives him a pension equivalent to two thirds of his salary. Continued please see firefighters b 2 by Patti Edgar mayor Sam Katz will continue talks with Roseau River chief Terrance Nelson about creating an Urban Reserve in St. Boniface despite pressure from Winnipeg councillors who say Nelson is spreading hatred. Nelson enraged anti semitism activists this weekend when he charged that jewish controlled Media ignore violence against natives. In a letter to the free Pressie argued that Media coverage of David Athena Kewus trial in Saskatchewan will produce a dramatic Rise in natives hatred to jews and Lead to native people killing police officers on a regular basis. The controversial chief is at the Helm of a proposal by the Roseau River first nation to buy a 30 acre parcel of the now abandoned Canada packers site in St. Boniface and turn it into an Urban Reserve. You Arentt just dealing with an individual you Are dealing with an entity with a first nation said Katz yesterday. If someone wants to be productive and engage in a positive discussion my door is always open. Katz who is jewish refused to talk specifically about Nelsons letter parts of which ran in the free press yesterday. Continued please see Nelson b 2 Stop bullying with just one word by Paul Egan t he provinces Cost to take Over a Money losing Winnipeg film studio topped $ 3 million about 71 per cent More than the government announced last week officials confirmed yesterday. In addition to paying $ 1.78 million for the Prairie production Centre sound stage the government forgave Loans to the owner that totalled $ 1.26 million a spokesman for culture minister Eric Robinson confirmed. That Means the total provincial Price of the takeover was just Over $ 3 million not $ 1.78 million As the government reported. A Federal loan of about $ 450,000 was also forgiven As part of the Deal. This facility needs to be debt free in order to be sustainable the spokesman for Robinson said. The 3,716 Square metre film studio on Pacific Avenue was owned by a partnership that included the troubled Crocus investment fund and firms controlled by wealthy Winnipeg businessmen Arni Thorsteinson and David Asper. Continued please see film studio b 2 film studio Cost soars province to pay More than $ 3m to take Over Prairie production Centre firefighters to show support for new compensation Bill associated press archives firefighters say they Are exposed to a soup of toxic chemicals. Joe Bryksa / Winnipeg free press talks with mayor on despite chiefs comments ;