Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - October 8, 2021, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A6 Youth have vaccination rights Re: Majority supports mandatory vax for stu- dents: poll (Oct. 5) Probe Research principal Mary Agnes Welch, in referring to intransigent opposition to vaccines among the scientifically illiterate and morally immature denizens of southern Manitoba, refers to the importance of family and parental rights. We already know opposition is a problem, since provincial orders regarding vaccine distribution in schools have been flouted in the area. There is no such thing as a parental “right” to make decisions that jeopardize a child’s safety and life. A child is not a possession. Young adults over the age of 16 have the right to make decisions to protect themselves by get- ting vaccinated without anyone’s permission, as do children over the age of 12 with support of a health care professional. Interference from a parent in this context is criminal negligence and necessitates the involvement of CFS. ANN LA TOUCHE Roseisle Horrific crimes warrant life Re: Unrepentant attacker gets 10 years for ham- mer assault (Oct. 6) Re: Vehicle fleeing police traffic stop kills woman (Oct. 5) Jerry Kipling, who ruined a 15-year-old boy’s life by attacking him with a claw hammer, and James Joseph Wieler, who killed a woman while driving drunk and outrunning police, should be in prison until they die. Both are repeat offend- ers who have no regard for others and will likely offend again when they are released. I do not care if they have had bad childhoods and are addicts. I’m sick of hearing this excuse. They have proven that they cannot change and do not deserve more chances. Why is our legal system set up to do what’s best for criminals and not what’s best for society? STEWART JACQUES Winnipeg Go after rich tax dodgers Re: Spending money we don’t have (Letter, Oct. 7) While I agree that the social welfare system that letter writer Kim Trethart commented on is large and sometimes wasteful, it should also be noted that this comment is on the same page as the editorial cartoon Pandora’s Box, which refers to the rich hiding billions of tax dollars in offshore accounts and setting up shell companies to avoid contributing their share of the burden. I don’t think we need a temporary tax, as one letter writer suggested. We need to stop catering to the rich and close tax loopholes that, in the end, would alleviate the pressures on those who actu- ally pay their taxes in good faith. JOHN MACPHEE Winnipeg Repentant anti-vaxxers inspiring Re: Facts prevail for now-vaccinated trio (Oct. 5) Brave. Humble. Those are the two words I have for Jason Lerato, Rebecca Harder and Howie Eugenio, the three Manitobans who talked to the Free Press about their transformation from being vaccine hesitant to getting the vaccine. May we all find hope and inspiration from their stories. JANET FRITSCH Headingley Declare dentists’ vax status Re: Health care faces strain with virus on ‘severe’ trajectory (Oct. 5) I phoned my dentist to confirm an appointment and also confirm that the staff who would be in close proximity to me were vaccinated. Imagine my surprise when their guidance was to “ask the dentist when you get here,” and my further sur- prise that the Manitoba Dental Association advised their members they cannot advertise or mention on social media that their staff is vaccinated. It seems like it would have been extremely simple to create a consent form that individual practices could use to voluntarily gather data from their staff to then highlight that their prac- tice believes in science and the greater good. I hope the MDA acknowledges the public good of promoting vaccinated practices and steps up to do the right thing. JEFF BASSETT Winnipeg So the average Manitoban, rightly so, must show a vaccination card and photo ID to go out for a simple meal or to a hockey game, but a sitting member of the provincial legislature, or political staff, or media covering the political event, do not have to show vaccine status. When will the province require their MLAs and staff follow what I do every day? BILL LEWIS Winnipeg Temporary bike lanes needed Re: New bike lanes praised, questioned (Oct. 4) One hates to come across as ungrateful, but it’s awfully tempting to say, “I told you so!” Those who wish to get around the city safely are grateful for the expanded bike infrastructure but frustrated by the poor execution, and wonder- ing why the city didn’t listen when bike advocacy groups suggested Winnipeg do as Calgary and Ed- monton have done: cover the city with temporary bike lanes. This way adjustments can be made based on real data regarding usage and suitability. Before the city puts permanent infrastructure in place, it could test the routes first and collect feedback from cyclists — both the experienced and the newbies — on the advantages and disad- vantages of the new lanes. KARLA BRAUN Winnipeg Cycling spike not ‘sizable’ Re: City snapshot shows spike in winter cycling numbers (Oct. 6) A report says the number of cyclists who used some key active transportation routes during the winter nearly doubled during a March survey period, rising to a daily average of 236 in 2021, up from 119 in 2020. This is called a sizable demand? Quite the contrary. With numbers like that, one would think that our elected representatives conclude that as a cold-weather city there is no more need for Win- nipeg to continue to increase the number of bike paths for an estimated 236 people. JAMES ROBERTS Winnipeg Reading into three Rs Re: Education more than 3Rs (Letter, Oct. 6) Thanks to letter writer Joan Stephens for ad- dressing the tendency of some to deal with educa- tional issues in an either/or manner. In the case of reading, one of the Rs, it is important to remem- ber that reading is not merely about decoding (connecting a word in print with a spoken word), a set of skills that are typically mastered in the early years. Beyond this period, learning to read becomes reading to learn, a phase that extends into post-secondary learning. Areas of study such as social studies, science and literature require comprehension strategies and vocabulary specific to it. Thus, in learning to read science texts, the student also learns the sci- ence content. In that sense, every teacher is also a teacher of reading. EDWIN BUETTNER Winnipeg New word coined: Covided Re: Frustration must stop for 311 callers (Editor- ial, Oct. 5) With respect to this much-needed editorial, perhaps there is a more generic reason for the 311 information line’s failure to thrive. It is en- compassed in a word and definition which I have submitted to the Oxford English Dictionary for inclusion in its next edition: “Covided (Ko-ve-did) — the process by which the current pandemic has rendered an organization inept due to its inability, given adequate time, to adapt to dramatically altered circumstances.” For example, after waiting 55 minutes on my cell for 311 and being constantly assured by the bot that my call was important to them, I hung up. Looks like they have been well and truly Covided. And 311 is not the only outfit to suffer from this malaise. PETER ANDRE GLOBENSKY Winnipeg LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 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 OCTOBER 8, 2021 No valid reason for shielding regional data T HE principle of access to information in the public sector is that records held by govern-ment should be disclosed upon request un- less there is a valid reason not to. In Manitoba, those principles are codified in the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA). Government is required to make information available to the public unless it falls under one of the exemptions in the act. Whether public records are requested formally through FIPPA or informally, government has an obligation to follow the principles of openness and accountability in the legislation. It’s not up to civil servants or politicians to release information only when it suits their needs. The provincial government has played fast and loose with those principles throughout most of the pandemic. Public-health officials have routinely refused to release statistics around contact trac- ing, testing and case modelling. More recently, Dr. Brent Roussin, the chief provincial public health officer, has denied repeated requests to disclose test positivity rates (the percentage of those infected with COVID-19 who have been tested) by region. The province collects and stores mountains of pandemic-related data, including COVID-19 infection rates, hospital admissions and vaccine uptake by age, gender and region. That informa- tion is used to track the spread of the virus and to help inform the province’s pandemic response strategies. However, those public records do not belong to civil servants or elected officials; they belong to the public. Unless there is a valid reason not to disclose specific records, they should be made available upon request. To its credit, the province does proactively release a sizable amount of information online related to the pandemic, including daily infection numbers, hospitalizations and vaccine uptake. However, it’s only a fraction of what is collected. More detailed information is often required to better understand how the pandemic is progress- ing, what the public risks are and how govern- ment is responding to growing risks. By denying access to that information, govern- ment is keeping the public in the dark about key aspects of the pandemic. Dr. Roussin has been asked for weeks to dis- close test positivity rates by Manitoba region. He has consistently refused. The province releases five-day averages for the province as a whole and for Winnipeg, but has declined to do so by health region. Dr. Roussin has been asked specifically to re- lease test positivity rates for the Southern Health region, where COVID-19 case numbers and hospi- talizations have soared in recent weeks. He says he won’t disclose that information because there’s too much day-to-day variability in the data. That’s not a valid reason to deny release, nor does it meet any of the exemptions in FIPPA. It also didn’t stop the province from releasing test positivity data for two districts in November: Steinbach and the Rural Municipality of Hanover. The province has not explained why it released that information almost a year ago but won’t now. Unless public-health officials can demonstrate the harm in disclosing test positivity rates by region, that information should be released. Test positivity data is one of many important surveillance tools used to monitor the spread of infectious diseases. The World Health Or- ganization cites it as a key metric that should be assessed when making decisions regarding COVID-19 restrictions. The public has a right to see the data. EDITORIAL ALEX LUPUL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin Published since 1872 on Treaty 1 territory and the homeland of the Métis A_06_Oct-08-21_FP_01.indd A6 2021-10-07 7:21 PM ;