Thursday, July 12, 2018
Kamsack Times
Page 5
Letters to the Editor
Letter to the Editor from Minister Kaeding Since February 28, a group of people have camped illegally on the legislative grounds to focus attention on a range of issues. Our government understands there are long-standing concerns. During the last decade, we have worked hard to better the lives of First Nations and Métis people. Here are some highlights: • Saskatchewan was the first province in Canada to introduce mandatory treaty education in the Kindergarten to Grade 12 school system • We currently have agreements with 17 First Nations Child and Family Service Agencies to deliver child protection services on-reserve and with three to deliver
services off-reserve • We have invested a record amount in adult basic education, including programs delivered on reserve, and other training initiatives • Funding for the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technology has more than doubled, to nearly $100 million • We have boosted support for on-reserve policing and Aboriginal justice programs and continue to invest in community justice and alternative measures programs • We are improving internet and cellular service in First Nations communities • And we have increased support for community based organizations serving indigenous communities in
the north While there’s always more work to do, we are taking action, and progress is being made. For example, employment in the indigenous community has increased by nearly 28 per cent since 2007, compared to 11.6 per cent in the non-indigenous population. The campers at the legislature have a different view of our government’s performance, and we respect that. All citizens have the right to express their opinion, to protest government decisions, and to advocate for policies they believe will improve life in Saskatchewan. However, protests should be lawful. If they aren’t, the police have a responsibility to
enforce the law. On the day the illegal camp at the legislature was established, a letter was sent asking the protesters to comply with regulations prohibiting overnight camping at Wascana Centre. The letter was ignored. On numerous occasions, government officials met in person with the protestors, asking them to comply with park regulations. There was no compliance. Government ministers visited the camp on seven different occasions to discuss the protestors’ concerns and made a number of attempts to arrange a formal meeting with the protestors to discuss their issues, to no avail, until a July 2 meeting date was
agreed upon. The government asked the Regina Police Service a number of times to remove the camp. The Regina Police Service insisted the government submit its request in writing. After a letter was sent, the police finally took action on June 18. But the camp was reestablished on June 21. The government sent two more written requests to the Regina Police Service, asking them to uphold the law. On June 26, they replied, telling the government that further police action to remove the protestors would compromise public safety. The Regina Police Service urged the government to
“resolve this peacefully.” Peaceful resolutions are always easier to achieve when the law is respected and enforced. Nonetheless, our government remains focused on the task at hand. For years, we have been working to address the issues identified by the protesters. And we remain fully engaged with our First Nations and Métis partners. Today, our indigenous population is advancing in many areas. This progress must continue, and it will. Warren Kaeding Minister of Government Relations and First Nations Metis and Northern Affairs
The 50-inch plasma TV died and so far no one is mourning These things come in threes, or so I’ve heard. So hopefully the death of the 50-inch plasma TV in our living room is the last of the trio. A few months ago, my small chest freezer which my late grandparents gave me for graduation, 25 years ago, decided that there should continually be water under it in the basement freezer room. So, with great reluctance, it ended up in the garage, awaiting disposal. Twentyfive years is a good life for an appliance. But we don’t see that anymore. A little over a month ago, the microwave died. It was a $600 model meant to be installed over the kitchen stove and to act as a range hood. But I had not yet installed it because the kids were too small to access it over the stove.
Instead, it’s been sitting on a table in the kitchen in the interim. I was going to finally get around to putting it up this summer, when it, too, decided it no longer needed to work. The light went on, the turntable turned, and the food did not cook. This led to a minor crisis since the microwave oven is kinda crucial for our ability to feed ourselves, and lacking the funds to go get a new one, we picked up a small cheapie for just over $100 to tide us over. Perhaps we can get the big one fixed? I don’t know. Is it worth it? And if so, how long can we expect it to last? Thus, the behemoth is sitting in the living room, awaiting its fate. A few weeks after that, I went to turn the TV on, and no dice. The little light went on in the corner, but nothing on the screen. I did every
Brian Zinchuk is editor of Pipeline News, and grew up near Hyas. He can be reached at brian.zinchuk@sasktel.net
permutation of troubleshooting I could think of. I turned it on and off. I unplugged everything and plugged it in again. I tried every different input. I used different cables in case the cable was at fault. Nothing worked at all. So it’s dead. This TV isn’t just any TV. When we got it about seven years ago, I was still actively trying to restart my wedding photography business. I shot 13 weddings in North Battleford in 2007, but only a small handful since coming to Estevan the following year.
As in, next to none. So I tried exhibiting at the local showcase and even attended a Regina wedding show. Since the human eye is drawn to movement, I figured I needed the best quality TV with the best colours and contrast to take to these shows in order to display my slideshows. I took a thumb drive into the local electronics store and tried viewing the slideshow on almost every TV there. At the time, the plasma was far and away the best picture, but it was also among the priciest. It was one of the
first with 3D capabilities, but I wasn’t going to spend an additional $150 per set of 3D glasses, so that never got used. Suffice it to say, there was a lot of money invested in this, and it still didn’t garner me additional wedding bookings. But now the TV is dead as a doornail, and, like the microwave, it’s not likely worth fixing, not economically, at least. And there are no funds right now to replace it and the microwave. The less capable TV from the basement will be moved to take its place in the meantime. But since the plasma’s demise, we’ve noticed we really don’t miss TV yet. My wife is on the fence, as she has a few series that she does not miss. I asked the kids last night if they miss it, and the answer from both was no. While Spencer would spend
days in front of it, blocking some channels broke him of that habit, and now he’d much rather use his computer or iPad. Katrina is the same way. All of us have taken to binge-watching whatever’s good and available on Netflix, and I will occasionally use Amazon Prime. All this has me thinking, that for the summer at least, I may pare down our TV package to next to nothing. I’m not ready to cut the cord entirely yet, and by putting the other TV in the living room, perhaps my affinity for the boob tube will rekindle. But most of what I watch is news, history or science, and I can find pretty much all of that on various websites, Netflix or YouTube. It may be quite a while before we replace the TV, and I don’t think we’re the worse off for taking that time.
Fond memories of summer fairs in Saskatchewan It is fair time in Yorkton, and that is an annual event that always brings back a flood of memories from my youth. In my youth, a time now more than three decades in the past, I spent large chunks of my summers at fairs. Dad showed livestock back then, and I was naturally thrust into the show ring. I won my first trophy at age five, the Inkster Cup as I recall. And if I dug around in enough boxes I might still have the little keeper trophy. From that time until I was beyond my teen years I was showing stock. Through the years the list of animals
became rather diverse when I look back, ranging from pigs and beef cattle to sheep, dairy goats, helping a couple of times with a draft horse halter class for someone needing a hand, and even one year catching some of the laying hens to show at Shand Fair. Add in a few grain sheaves in a couple of those years, and I covered a lot of the bases in terms of showing. Back when I was young, though, summer fairs were somewhat different than they are today. An event such as the one in Yorkton this week, and others held across the prairies
these days, are largely an entertainment package now. They are all about midways, stage shows, combine crunches and chuckwagon races. People go to be entertained, and there is nothing wrong with that. Fairs are supposed to be fun. In fact, they have always been about entertaining,
whether it was a hot band like Trooper at a major city fair when they were still topping the charts, or farmer fastball at a one-day fair like Connaught where I was a director by the age of 16. But fairs were also solidly about agriculture a quarter of a century ago. Farmers brought out their
stock and paraded them around a show ring, hoping to get the judge’s nod for the red ribbon. There weren’t big crowds watching, but people did wander through the barns to look at the stock. It was a connection between farmers and urban residents, many of whom I suspect back then were still more closely tied to our shared agrarian past. There was a value in that connection that I think was important. Certainly today farmers are encouraged to make connections with consumers in order to tell their story of producing food in a safe, sustainable way. Fairs
used to be a forum that allowed that dialogue to take place as people casually walked through the barns as part of going to the summer fair. Whether it was Nipawin Fair, Saltcoats, Abernathy, Kelliher, Kelvington, Prince Albert or dozens of others, there was a chance for producers to show off their livestock and talk farming with others. That element of the summer fair is all but gone. Barns in Yorkton, as an example, see very limited use at the summer fair now, which for me is a sad thing. But at least my childhood memories remain.
Editor’s Note If you would like to write a letter to the editor, feel free to do so. What is required is the author’s name and signature attached, as well as a phone number where they may be contacted. Mail your letter to: Box 746, Canora, Sask. S0A 0L0, Fax (306) 563-6144 or email to canoracourier@sasktel.net or simply drop it off at the office.