The good ones

Re: The quiet, sustaining architecture of volunteer leadership (Think Tank, Feb. 19)

I was struck by the stark contrast Borys’s opinion piece conjured up in my mind. The chaos and self-aggrandizement evident in other news often simmers in my head but was soothed by this reminder of the many good people doing good work. In Winnipeg, across the province, country and the world people young and old, rich and poor are finding ways to sustain our community, our institutions and our ability to withstand whatever comes next.

In the past month, my grandson’s hockey coaches have taught sportsmanship. Music teachers have celebrated progress. The Winnipeg Model United Nations young leaders are building expertise and community. The University Women’s Club is providing a forum for intellectual discourse. New Yazidi refugees are coaching futsal teams. Our cultural institutions like RMTC and WECC are providing ways for us to celebrate each other and recognize and nurture talent.

So thank you Free Press and Stephen Borys for celebrating the quiet and steady goodness of decent people.

Donna Alexander

Winnipeg

Sea change in Parliament

It’s amazing that the media missed the biggest floor-crossing in Canadian parliamentary history. This happened on March 9, 2025 when the entire left-wing Trudeau Liberal caucus moved en masse to become Carney right-wing Liberals.

Goodbye liberal ideology, hello conservative ideology! And they all sang from the same songbook: “MPs’ pensions forever; taxpayers fund our greed!” (Sung to the tune of “Solidarity forever; the union makes us strong!)

Gilles Roch

Winnipeg

A proposal to help the homeless

Re: Homelessness a humanitarian crisis, Rattray says (Feb. 17)

Homelessness continues to be an issue that everyone talks about but almost no one really wants to do anything about. Certainly not the people who could actually do something about it, from the mayor to the premier to the prime minister.

Ultimately this issue is one of willingness to act, rather than an issue of cost or available resources.

Let me lay it out there for all to see.

There are currently about 2,500 homeless people in Winnipeg for a variety of reasons, from lack of employment, to mental illness, to substance abuse, etc. All related issues. All these people are a heavy economic burden on the city for a variety of reasons from policing, fire and paramedics responses, ambulance and medical emergency costs associated with frequent calls to assist them wherever they happen to be. And they are everywhere.

How do we address this? Let us start with providing a place for them to call home. A place that could also be connected to treatment for whatever issue is ailing each of the homeless. Very expensive you say? Expensive, but not so much more that the previously mentioned costs. Consider that even if each and every one of the homeless was to be housed in a suite (at $80,000 per suite) it would cost less than $200 million dollars. That is a fraction of the cost we hear about that is needed to widen Kenaston, or to build the Chief Peguis extension. Where would we find these suites? There are plenty already built and available for sale all over the central part of the city. Or we could build some additional ones in the many derelict and abandoned buildings around the city.

Consider also that the overall cost would be further cut down by the reduced cost of fewer emergency need for fire and paramedics response, less policing and lessened emergency health interventions in the overcrowded ERs, not to mention the recurring clean-ups taking place in encampments each year. Bottom line: it is not the money that is the problem; it is the will to act.

Giovanni Versace

Winnipeg

Creating safe hospitals

Recent announcements regarding expanded hospital security measures are a welcome acknowledgment of a serious and growing problem. Violence against health-care workers has no place in our system, and any effort to improve safety deserves recognition. That said, it is also important to examine whether these measures are sufficient and sustainable over the long term.

One concern that deserves greater public discussion is the role and capacity of institutional safety officers. These personnel are increasingly being asked to manage volatile, high-risk situations involving mental health crises, substance use, and aggressive behaviour. Yet they operate with limited legal authority, restricted arrest powers, and tight policy constraints. They are not police officers, cannot lay charges, and often lack access to advanced control tools, despite facing escalating levels of violence.

This creates a difficult reality. These officers are expected to function as frontline defenders in environments that are becoming more complex and unpredictable, without being given the full range of tools or authority . This is not a reflection on their professionalism or commitment. Rather, it highlights a structural mismatch between expectations and capacity.

A second issue is the absence of a clearly articulated upstream prevention strategy. Hospital violence does not occur in isolation. It is most often linked to untreated mental illness, addiction, homelessness, and broader gaps in community-based care. Emergency departments have increasingly become the default destination for people in crisis because there are few alternatives.

Security measures, scanners, and response apps may help manage incidents when they occur, but they do little to address why so many high-risk situations are arriving at hospital doors in the first place. Without sustained investment in mental health services, addictions treatment, supportive housing, and community-based crisis response, hospitals will continue to absorb pressures they were never designed to carry.

The current approach, while well intentioned, risks becoming a patchwork system. Individual tools and incremental staffing increases are added in response to specific incidents, arbitration rulings, or public pressure. Over time, this results in a collection of reactive measures rather than a coherent, integrated safety strategy.

I appreciate the challenges faced by policymakers working within real financial and operational constraints. Protecting health-care workers is complex, and there are no simple solutions. Acknowledging that complexity should lead to deeper structural reform, not just layered stopgap measures.

Manitobans deserve hospitals that are safe for patients, visitors, and the professionals who work in them every day.

Marc Robichaud

Winnipeg