Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - September 11, 2020, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A6 Back to school As students walked into their schools after being away for six months, they were greeted by their teachers but also by a maze of arrows and circles that need to be followed, which can be likened to doing a “dot-to-dot page” in a child’s activity book. Upon settling into their classroom, children are given an agenda of many new safety rules and reminders of how important it will be to wash and sanitize hands and practise physical distancing, along with wearing masks properly. Academics will remain of great importance, but there are three areas that can’t be neglected in a typical child’s school day. I am speaking of phys-ed, music and dog therapy. Phys-ed helps kids with their anxieties and lets them release their energy, music allows children to express themselves vocally and instrumentally, and dog therapy will give children a feeling of warmth and belonging, which will also help with anxieties and letting them know we are all in this together. For schools that have had to convert their gyms and music rooms into regular classrooms, some gym and music classes can be held outdoors in the school’s field, at least in September and Octo- ber if the weather is favourable. Fields can be divided so that recess breaks and various classes can all happen at the same time. Singing in an indoor classroom is not en- couraged, with the possibililty of transmitting coronavirus droplets from our mouths. By using the addition of an outdoor classroom, fields will come alive with the “sound of music,” there will be more room for students to spread out during gym time, and dog therapy will give a feeling of comfort to everyone and help relieve stress. Having said all this, support your teachers and help them when you can, because it is not easy for anyone as we go through these pandemic days. RON HUCAL Winnipeg As a fourth-year undergraduate science student at McMaster University, COVID-19 has unfortu- nately ruined my final year of university. With the fall semester being conducted online and the following semester likely following suit, I am stuck at home and unable to participate in the many extracurricular events that would’ve occurred in person. The clubs and sports that I normally participate in are no longer there. Although this is disappointing, I understand that these precautions must be taken for the safety of our community. However, unlike universities, elementary and high schools will still be conducting classes in person. For teachers, such as my mother, this situation seems hazardous. While schools are staying open, this shouldn’t give people a sense of normalcy just yet. We still need to remain cau- tious, perhaps even more so than before. Despite the safety measures in place, schools present a situation where large gatherings occur and social distancing is sometimes impossible. It is our duty and responsibility to keep adher- ing to the safety protocols as strictly as possible while we are put in situations that are prone to spreading this virus. FOWAD DAUD Vaughan, Ont. Tragic anniversary for Chile Once again, I am wondering how to forget what happened on Sept. 11, 1973 in Chile, while the focus is on the Sept. 11, 2001 New York tragedy of the twin towers. In Chile, a military coup sponsored by the Nixon administration in support of multinational U.S. corporations put an end to the long-standing democratic system in my small country of origin. It included the brutal repression of leftist Chil- eans, more than 5,000 murdered, 50,000 tortured (according to Amnesty International records) and hundreds of thousands expelled for their support of the constitutional government of president Salvador Allende. Here in Canada, we are safe and are told to forgive and forget, but in doing so we feel we are betraying the dead victims and their families who are waiting for real justice. Some of the murder- ers are alive and enjoying life in Miami while Washington refuses to authorize extradition to Chile in order to be prosecuted according to the law. How can we forget that horrible chapter in Chile’s history? FRANCISCO VALENZUELA Winnipeg Wake-up call Re: Contrarian take on green movement gets re- release (Sept. 8) Oh yes, I say. We’re definitely hitting the wall. As Frances Koncan puts it in her article, “there’s a myth that we can have infinite growth on a finite planet.” I’ve watched the documentary Battle for the Planet of the Humans. Thank you, director Jeff Gibbs, finally someone has the guts and where- withal to say it like it is. Wake up and smell the coffee, fellow humans. Capitalism has definitely corrupted the environ- mental movement. Humans are wreaking havoc with planet Earth and we need more people like Jeff Gibbs to get the message out there. Sooner than later, please. LOIS TAYLOR Winnipeg Buckle up Re: Face masks now required for school bus pas- sengers (Sept. 2) It’s encouraging to see concern for students rid- ing buses when it comes to COVID-19. But what about seatbelts? While the law is strict for anyone else not wear- ing seatbelts (for good reason), when it comes to school bus riders, the province has sat idle. AL YAKIMCHUK Winnipeg Trump and COVID-19 Are you as angry as me? U.S. President Donald Trump is the most dangerous man in the world, in my view. With the news about the interviews Trump gave Bob Woodward over the course of last winter, I find myself outraged at his irresponsible actions in lying to the American people. On one hand, he said COVID-19 would disap- pear by spring, while at the same time he was telling Woodward that COVID-19 was five times as dangerous as the flu. He says he didn’t want to start a panic, yet his lying has cost almost 200,000 American lives — many of whom could have been saved had he directed that the country be shut down (with the exception of essential services) and had Ameri- cans been mandated to wear masks. This caused Canada to not react as it might have had Trump been honest about the severity of the pandemic. Canada suffered the needless loss of thousands of our people because Trump didn’t share with us just how serious the situation really was. Joe Biden/Kamala Harris may not, in the view of many, be a good choice for the United States in November. But are they not the only choice? MICHAEL LEIPSIC Winnipeg Not-so-friendly skies Re: Fewer, pricer fl ights could be on the horizon (Sept. 10) For 15 years, the general public got ripped off by corporations that used the events of 9/11 as an excuse. How long will they be using the CO- VID-19 virus to do the same? BRIAN SHORT Stonewall LETTERS AND FP COMMENTS WHAT’S YOUR TAKE? THE FREE PRESS WANTS TO HEAR FROM YOU. The Free Press is committed to publishing a diverse selection of letters from a broad cross-section of our audience. The Free Press will also consider longer submissions for inclusion on our Think Tank page, which is a platform man- dated to present a wide range of perspectives on issues of current interest. We welcome our readers’ feedback on articles and letters on these pages and in other sections of the Free Press ● Email: Letters: letters@freepress.mb.ca Think Tank submissions: opinion@freepress.mb.ca ● Post: Letters to the Editor, 1355 Mountain Ave., Winnipeg, R2X 3B6 Please include your name, address and daytime phone number. ● Follow us on Twitter @WFPEditorials OUR VIEW YOUR SAY PERSPECTIVES EDITOR: BRAD OSWALD 204-697-7269 ● BRAD.OSWALD@FREEPRESS.MB.CA ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM A6 FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 11, 2020 Pandemic taking toll on mental health M ANY health professionals have warned about an “echo pandemic” a mental health crisis owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. Numerous surveys conducted over the past few months have indicated a soaring number of Ca- nadians are concerned about, or struggling with, their mental health. It’s not hard to understand why: living through a global pandemic is demand- ing, exhausting, stressful and incredibly hard on one’s mental health. People are dealing with fears about getting sick, about a loved one getting someone sick, and about job loss amid the eco- nomic crisis that has resulted from the pandemic. Others are navigating the isolation and loneliness brought about by physical distancing directives. That, and winter is coming. When the pandemic hit Manitoba in March, the days were already getting longer and the promise of spring — and, with it, more possibilities for physically distant activity and socialization outdoors — helped blunt the edges of our reality a bit. The prospect of a dark, cold and potentially isolated winter, which also happens to be cold and flu season, has un- derstandably set people on edge about what their mental health will look like come April. People are also burning out. Now, at the pandemic’s six-month mark, the adrenaline and vigilance that got many through those first few weeks has worn off. For some, that diminished capacity has manifested in sloppier approaches to the fundamentals — masking, handwashing, dis- tancing. For others, it has manifested as anxiety and depression. And let’s not lose sight of the fact Canadians were already grappling with mental health chal- lenges pre-pandemic. Advocates were already decrying the patchwork accessibility of mental health services in this country, and those suffer- ing were already languishing on waiting lists. Aside from the one day a year of hashtagged corporate feelgoodery, society still doesn’t really know how to talk about mental illness in a non- stigmatizing way — especially when it looks like addiction and homelessness. Isolation and loneliness are not new problems. Neither is trauma. There is an opportunity, now, to prepare for what’s coming. The Canadian Mental Health As- sociation has called on the federal government to act now. Part of that will mean bolstering access to preventive mental health services, not just responding to a crisis. “There can be no economic recovery from the pandemic without mental health,” said Margaret Eaton, CMHA’s National CEO, in a release. “People need early access to community services, instead of waiting for more intensive and expensive services down the road.” The rollout of the digital therapy program Abil- itiCBT, which is available to Manitobans age 16 or older experiencing mild to moderate symptoms of anxiety owing to the pandemic, is an encour- aging example of such early-access community services, as is the federal government’s Wellness Together portal. The $3.5-million investment in a new unit at Health Sciences Centre’s emergency department for patients in various stages of intoxication, withdrawal or mental health crisis, announced on Sept. 2 by Health Minister Cameron Friesen, is an encouraging step toward improving the capacity of the current system. But there needs to be more investment in a variety of long-term supports, such as trauma- informed counselling for frontline workers, as well as improvement in coverage, especially for those who don’t have insurance — or lost cover- age when they lost their jobs. Ultimately, it’s pay now or pay more later in serious social consequences of untreated mental illnesses — including an increase in substance abuse, homelessness and crime, as well as poorer educational and physical health outcomes. Now is the time for Canada to start treating mental illness with the same dililgence it does physical illness. EDITORIAL MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Health Minister Cameron Friesen announces $3.5 million to improve addictions and mental health treatment at Health Sciences Centre. Published since 1872 on Treaty 1 territory and the homeland of the Métis A_06_Sep-11-20_FP_01.indd A6 2020-09-10 5:13 PM ;