\t\t\tUkrainian pride<\/p>\n
On Aug. 24, 1991, Ukraine proclaimed independence from Soviet Russia and declared itself a responsible member within the international community. Since that date, Ukraine has been fully sovereign and legally autonomous, making its 35th independence anniversary a valid national milestone, despite Russia\u2019s ongoing invasion and occupation of parts of Ukraine\u2019s territory.<\/p>\n
Should Ukraine\u2019s Independence Day be acknowledged every August even though Ukraine has been in constant conflict and turmoil over the past years?<\/p>\n
In my opinion, celebrating liberty during wartime is an act of psychological and national resilience.<\/p>\n
It shows that the Ukraine still exists, refuses to surrender, and honours democratic choice to be a sovereign nation, a vital act of unity and survival, commemorating freedom.<\/p>\n
Peter John Manastyrsky, Niverville<\/p>\n
Recognize suffering<\/p>\n
Re: Manitoba supports MAID delay: Asagwara<\/a> (Aug. 14)<\/p>\n For almost a decade as a MAiD assessor and provider, I have witnessed the complexity of assessing intolerable suffering. I support MAiD for mental illness with rigorous safeguards addressing incurability, irreversibility, capacity, suicidality and structural vulnerability.<\/p>\n We must confront inadequate access to mental-health care, poverty, racialization and trauma. No one should receive MAiD because appropriate treatment, housing or social supports were unavailable. But failures of our health and social systems cannot become the justification for denying autonomy indefinitely to every person with mental illness.<\/p>\n Some capable people endure profound suffering despite decades of high-quality treatment and social intervention. Psychological suffering is no less real because its origin is psychiatric rather than physical. To categorically exclude these patients risks perpetuating the very stigma we claim to oppose.<\/p>\n Minister Asagwara says \u201cso much more work\u201d is needed. Then define the work, fund it, and set a timeline.<\/p>\n Indefinite delay is not a safeguard.<\/p>\n Kristen Creek, MD, Winnipeg<\/p>\n Let\u2019s be green<\/p>\n Re: Lasting legacy or pining for a pipe dream?<\/a> (Think Tank, Aug. 17)<\/p>\n (The op-ed article) explained that the private energy companies are no longer willing to build pipelines with their own money because fossil fuels are not competitive against solar, wind, and batteries.<\/p>\n The market for fossil fuels will dry up because they will be too costly. The pipelines and other fossil fuel infrastructure will be stranded assets, no longer being used.<\/p>\n That is why I, as a taxpayer, don\u2019t want the federal government building another pipeline. By the time it will be built it will likely never see a drop of oil because the fossil fuel market will of collapsed.<\/p>\n As Laura Cameron points out, we should be using that money to develop our green industries. Hopefully Wab Kinew and the provincial government will make Manitoba the leading green energy province in Canada.<\/p>\n Jim Lapp, Winnipeg<\/p>\n Not the whole tale<\/p>\n Re: Telling a trailblazer\u2019s story<\/a> (Aug. 17)<\/p>\n Nellie McClung was a trailblazer as both a suffragette and an elected official.<\/p>\n As an advocate of eugenics, she supported the forced sterilization of women. Many Indigenous women in Alberta, where she was MLA, were sterilized. We will never know how many had their bodily autonomy stolen from them: many weren\u2019t told they were being sterilized when they went in for surgery and the Albertan government destroyed most of their records when they put an end to their eugenics panel.<\/p>\n Nellie McClung was, like any of us, a flawed person.<\/p>\n But we have to consider how we remember her complicated legacy. We cannot call her a champion of women\u2019s rights without ignoring the women who lost bodily autonomy due to her.<\/p>\n Kelsey Enns, Winnipeg<\/p>\n Keep \u2019em separated<\/p>\n Re: \u201cOur booze is better\u201d (Letters<\/a>, Aug. 18)<\/p>\n David Hedman said what we all should be practising. We do not have to buy their booze, as well as their paper products, cleaning products, cereal, cookies, juice, dairy, hygiene products, pasta, soup, etc. The list is long and, with the exception of some fruit and vegetables, I have only bought Canadian products for over two years now, ever since the bully from the south started acting like a child. The public needs to be educated on the alternatives available out there and support only Canadian.<\/p>\n Sherrill Greenaway, Winnipeg<\/p>\n If we must concede and allow American liquor back on our Manitoba shelves, can we at least segregate the product into a designated area of our stores?<\/p>\n Not suggesting (or am I?) that we put it in the back of the store or surround it with black flags or anything like that, but it would certainly alert us to where it is if we to choose to continue our message of discontent by not purchasing American alcohol.<\/p>\n Brenda Johnston, Winnipeg<\/p>\n Leading the way<\/p>\n