Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 27, 2012, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A10 She had a future The Free Press is stating that my niece Lorna Blacksmith worked in the sex- trade industry. I want to set the record straight. My niece was not a prostitute. Every time one of our aboriginal women goes missing, she is classified as someone who worked the streets. Every time the media make such a statement, it further perpetuates the stereotype of our women as less than human, expendable and of no value to society, while others blame them for the choices they may or may not have made. My young niece's life was cut short at the hands of a monster. He took her choices away in a violent and inhuman manner. Lorna was an amazing, upbeat, caring, healthy young woman. She had goals, ambitions, values and beliefs. She was an academic achiever in school; her goal in life was to become a successful, independent woman. She was a beautiful aboriginal woman with her whole future ahead of her. Like any 18- year- old, she made mistakes, struggled, endured challenges, had weaknesses, made misjudgments; she was a teenager who needed guidance and direction. You need to focus on the fact that she was a human being and deserved to be treated with dignity and respect. MARGARET HART Thompson We're past that now In 2004, when the Manitoba government announced the post- Labour Day start to the school year, Manitoba parents and business owners cheered. It was something many had wanted for years. Even the Winnipeg Free Press reported that the NDP had extended summer. However, your June 25 editorial, Whittling the school year away , suggests that instructional time has suffered. I thought we were long past the notion that " butts in chairs" was the only - or even the preferred - method of instruction. Experiential learning like the kind that occurs on field trips brings curriculum to life, and a few of the half- day trips your editorial cites are typical of the recognition provided for the super- engaged students who have devoted countless additional hours to community and peer service over the course of the school year. Those who lament that we're not preparing kids for the " real world" shouldn't whine when we decide to use that " real world" in our instruction. Learning can and does take place during these out- of- class activities. The June schedule looks the way it does for any number of reasons, but I'll give you two: . Exams need to be spaced far enough apart that they're realistically achievable. We're aware of no educational value in giving a 15- year- old kid an ulcer. . There's no point in having kids write exams unless we're going to mark them. Marking takes time and the marks are due in the office early enough in June that report cards, graduation requirements and accurate transcripts can all be generated. PAUL OLSON Manitoba Teachers' Society Winnipeg Harper's hypocrisy Re: Health- benefit cut for refugees spurs lawsuit ( June 23). If you Google the publicservice health- care plan and go to schedule VI - full employer- paid coverage - you will see a long list of persons, including all members of the House of Commons, who are entitled to full employer- paid coverage of supplemental health- care benefits. This coverage, paid for by Canadian taxpayers, is not just for one year but for as long as the members of the plan are working for the government. Therefore, it is a bit hypocritical for the Harper government to argue that " it's only treating refugees the same as Canadians who can't afford supplemental health benefits." Can members of the House of Commons, or the rest of the groups listed on schedule VI, not afford to pay for their own supplemental health benefits? Rather than trying to pit Canadians against refugees, I would suggest that the Harper government forgo its entitlement to fully paid supplemental health- care coverage and use a part of these savings to continue the current funding of the IFHP, which is a vital and wise investment in the future health of refugees whom the government approves and selects to come to Canada. EVELYN FLETCHER Winnipeg �� No one would debate that governments around the world are in crisis. Cuts are necessary. But I am continually astounded by Prime Minister Stephen Harper's priorities and decisions. I believe it is a compassionate nation that accepts refugees from war- torn countries. But as of June 30, they will be accepted as second- class citizens devoid of many medical services. This will save Canada $ 20 million over five years. At the same time, the Harper government has designated $ 28 million to " celebrate" the War of 1812. I would much rather know that we are treating those on our soil with care and compassion than know I will receive specially embossed coinage in my change. JANE STUEBING Winnipeg Incredibly disrespectful Re: Send Europeans to Asia to learn how to work ( June 23). I find it incredibly disrespectful how Fabrice Taylor makes a comparison between the work ethic of Europeans and Canadians and Asians. Taylor seems to think things are better in Asia, of all places. Perhaps Taylor needs to forfeit his Canadian citizenship and go take up residence in there. I guess the large cities and sophisticated societies that have been built up throughout western history do not qualify as examples of hard work in Taylor's eyes. MARK QUIGLEY Winnipeg Indeed, it does Not all of my students at university appreciated the precision I tried to impose on their prose, but I encountered the other day an important and amusing example of how sloppy grammar can go badly wrong. An advertisement for an apartment rental included the line " no pet policy." Now, if the ad meant to say, " We have no policy regarding pets" ( with the implication that they are accepted), all was well. But I suspect that the intention was to state that they do not accept pets, for which the correct punctuation would include a hyphen: " no- pet policy." And yet the world turns. DON BAILEY Winnipeg HAVE YOUR SAY: The Free Press welcomes letters from readers. Include the author's name, address and telephone number. Letters may be edited. Letters to the Editor, 1355 Mountain Avenue, Winnipeg, R2X 3B6. Fax 697- 7412. Email letters@ freepress. mb. ca Letters represent the opinions of their writers and do not reflect the opinions of the Winnipeg Free Press or its staff. Re: Crows on attack in Transcona ( June 23). Winnipeggers need to realize that the crows were there long before people and they are protecting their babies just like any parent would. They see people who walk down the street past their nests as a threat. All they're doing is protecting their young. It's part of nature, people. You choose to live in Manitoba where there is wildlife and you are actually invading their territory. If you don't like it, move somewhere else or just live with it. NYREE DOELL Gladstone EDITORIALS WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 27, 2012 Freedom of Trade Liberty of Religion Equality of Civil Rights A 10 COMMENT EDITOR: Gerald Flood 697- 7269 gerald. flood@ freepress. mb. ca winnipegfreepress. com EDITORIAL W INNIPEG is reeling from the news a serial killer is believed to have murdered three aboriginal women since September. Shawn Cameron Lamb's arrest in the slayings of Carolyn Sinclair, Tanya Nepinak and Lorna Blacksmith has confirmed the suspicions of many who demand answers in relation to a long string of missing and murdered women. The demand, however, for a provincial inquiry, in response to suspicion investigations have been bungled, is premature. A joint task force of Winnipeg and RCMP officers is now broadening the investigation into Mr. Lamb's past for evident reason. He has moved about the country, leaving a trail of more than 100 criminal convictions, many for violence, including a sexual assault in Alberta in 1991. He has been known to Winnipeg police since first landing here in the 1980s. Manitoba is believed to have almost 80 missing or murdered women, and family and advocacy groups have demanded police give greater attention to them. Some claim police diminished pleas for help from family, or too quickly filed away the fruitless efforts to solve disappearances or deaths. On Monday, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Derek Nepinak said police have been slow and clumsy in their investigations of the missing and murdered women. The AMC and the Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak are calling for a provincial inquiry into the " travesty." They believe systemic discrimination is at the root of why aboriginal women are disproportionately the victims of violence. The groups say the 1991 Aboriginal Justice Inquiry, which looked into the issue of systemic discrimination within the Winnipeg Police Service, did not cover the problem in sufficient depth. The demands for an inquiry are premature and counterproductive. Police are appropriately speaking with authorities in other jurisdictions to retrace Mr. Lamb's trail and his encounters with the law. But they are also not convinced, due to a lack of evidence, that there have been serial killers at work in Winnipeg through the years. The possibility there may be connections among homicides and stones unturned in investigations of murdered or missing women is what led to the establishment in 2009 of the joint task force. That task force has produced no hard results of yet. But it is rash to suggest - as some have done - that police are less dedicated to uncovering evidence in the murders or disappearances of aboriginal women than they would otherwise be in matters affecting any other group. Ordinary people are free to conclude from what they hear or know that a serial killer is at work; police must have sound grounds on which to pursue such thinking. What police, and Winnipeg at large, need most is the goodwill and trust critical to investigations - people who will talk and the co- operation of family, friends and also of community leaders who can do real good or considerable damage with imprudent comments in emotionally charged times. Indeed, the fact that many of the missing and murdered were involved in the sex trade and living desperate lives marked by addiction makes police work more difficult. In addition to the difficulty of tracing victims' last contacts, those acquaintances who last saw them before they disappeared or died are often most hesitant to co- operate with police. The investigation into Mr. Lamb's connection to the cluster of recent slayings may lead to greater involvement of the joint task force. It will be seen whether threads were dropped, and the concerns of family and friends that police haven't acted professionally in listening to their pleas for help will be tested. But no good comes of the rash judgment and accusations that poison the well at the same time investigators take to the streets, retrace old leads and seek out new witnesses, and that is what demands for an inquiry risk. Doin' what birds do No time for rash judgment WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS ARCHIVES A crow patrols Ralph Avenue West in Transcona on June 22. A_ 10_ J un- 27- 12_ FP_ 01. indd A10 6/ 26/ 12 6: 24: 57 PM ;