9 minute read
News
from 26 January 2022
High schoolers walk out to protest lax COVID policies
Organizers demand remote option, increased funding for school safety
NEWS
Colton McKillop, staff High school students across Manitoba walked out of class last Monday to demand improved COVID-19 safety measures as inperson learning resumes.
Organized by the group MB Students for COVID Safety, the walkout’s demands included the option to return to remote learning if students wish and increased funding for safety measures for those who prefer in-person learning.
Brie Villeneuve, a student at Grant Park High School and one of the organizers of the walkout, explained what students were hoping to achieve.
“We want KN95 or just N95 masks for all students and staff, we want filtration to be improved [with] HEPA [filters], we want the contact tracing to be put back into place and we want rapid tests for all high schools and middle schools as well.”
Villeneuve is immunocompromised, and although they have been worried, they take extra precautions and have felt relatively safe at school during the pandemic — until now.
“With the Omicron surge coming up, I feel way less safe and there’s no new safety measures being implemented,” they said.
Organizers say as many as 90 schools participated in the walkout, including Maples Collegiate, Gordon Bell, Grant Park, Collège Béliveau and Collège Louis-Riel in Winnipeg.
Participation ranged from dozens of students at some schools to only a few at others.
Villeneuve said the walkouts had received a number of different reactions, but the response has been mostly supportive.
“Even if they disagree with the idea of remote [learning], a lot of people respect the fact that we’re standing up for what we want,” they said.
Some school administrators, such as Kelvin High School principal Tim Cox, were empathetic, saying in a memo to parents that students had the right to protest peacefully.
Administrators at Collège Louis-Riel, on the other hand, stated students would be marked absent if they participated, as neither the school nor the division had sanctioned the walkout.
“The benefits of in-person learning are significant and we are working towards balancing between slowing the spread of the virus and ensuring as many children and youth can access in-person learning [as possible],” said Wayne Ewasko, minister of advanced education, skills and immigration, in an email statement.
“Cases in schools tend to mirror rates seen in the community and have been shown to be at overall lower risk for transmission […] Manitoba schools have layers of protection in place including a rapid testing program for asymptomatic teachers, staff and kindergarten to Grade 12 students (over 700,000 tests distributed), an additional five million masks being distributed (over 10 million distributed in 2021-22) and ventilation assessments and improvements that schools have been implementing for over the last year.”
The province recently announced its ability to contain the spread of the Omicron variant is “limited” and that every person in Manitoba is likely to be exposed to the virus.
Additionally, Dr. Brent Roussin, Manitoba’s chief provincial public health officer, said the speed at which the Omicron variant spreads means it is impossible to eliminate the risk of the virus in schools.
Villeneuve called the government’s announcement “a really ridiculous choice” with “eugenicist” undertones.
“Just because everyone will eventually
provided Brie Villeneuve / photo /
get it, if that’s true, doesn’t mean that we need to all put ourselves into that position right away, as that could really overwhelm our health-care system that’s already struggling, and we don’t want […] mass spread,” Villeneuve said.
While Villeneuve said they appreciated the government’s choice to delay the start of in-person learning by one week, they knew little would change.
“Our government said that the reason for it was so they could implement more safety measures and stuff like that, but they couldn’t do [what they didn’t] in two years in a week.”
news@themanitoban.com
Official website for 2022 municipal elections launched
NEWS
Dimitar Tomovski, staff With the 2022 Winnipeg municipal and school boards election approaching this fall, the city has launched an official election website for prospective candidates and eligible voters to find information on registration, nomination processes and important dates leading up to the election.
In a media release, senior election official Marc Lemoine said, “We wanted to ensure we provided as much information, as early as possible, so that potential candidates and the public understand the process of running for public office.”
“We hope the easy-to-use, mobilefriendly website will also help engage voters early in the process.” In a statement from Oct. 23, 2020, incumbent Mayor Brian Bowman said he would not be seeking re-election in 2022.
“I want to be open with Winnipeggers about my personal plans for the future, plans that do not include a career in elected office, plans that do not include running again for re-election as mayor.”
“It is my hope that Winnipeggers will elect a new mayor in 2022 that has the integrity and work ethic needed in the office of the mayor.”
The website contains a wide range of information for both potential candidates and eligible voters. Prospective candidates for mayor, councillor and school trustee can find information on eligibility and the registration process as well as the nomination process and campaign period.
For each of the three elected positions, candidates must be Canadian citizens, 18 years old or older on election day and a resident of Manitoba. For the school trustee position, candidates must also have been a resident in the school division they are running in since April 26, 2022.
The website also includes rules and regulations for the proper use of campaign signage as well as legislation relevant to prospective candidates, such as the City of Winnipeg Charter and the Municipal Councils and School Boards Elections Act.
Voters, meanwhile, are able to find information on voter eligibility as well as what their identification requirements are.
photo / Mohammad Arsalan Saeed / staff
elector must be a Canadian citizen, be 18 years old or older on election day and have residence or property in the city of Winnipeg for at least six months since April 26, 2022.
Aside from information for candidates and voters, a list of frequently asked questions can also be found regarding the election, which will take place Oct. 26, 2022.
Prof appointed CRC in extreme astrophysics
Supporting astrophysics research excellence in Manitoba
RESEARCH & TECHNOLOGY
Michael Campbell, staff
Samar Safi-Harb, a professor in the department of physics and astronomy at the University of Manitoba, has been appointed a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair (CRC) in extreme astrophysics. Safi-Harb’s research examines the most extreme celestial bodies, such as supernovas, black holes and colliding neutron stars. She formerly served as Canada Research Chair in supernova remnants astrophysics. While supernovas are indeed extreme objects, so too are black holes and neutron star collisions.
The Canada Research Chair program invests nearly $295 million per year to attract and retain the highest quality researchers in the world. CRCs are some of the world’s leading experts in their fields.
Safi-Harb’s passion for astronomy and physics began in high school and led her to attend the American University of Beirut in Lebanon, pursuing a pre-med physics degree.
“When I started taking physics in high school, I immediately fell in love with the subject,” Safi-Harb said.
“But when it was time to go to university, I guess I also wanted to be a medical doctor […] I wanted to do something down to earth.”
Her career since then has been anything but “down to earth.”
Safi-Harb completed a graduate degree at the University of WisconsinMadison, specializing in neutrinos and particle physics, before landing a fellowship at NASA. She completed her post-doctoral fellowship at the Goddard Space Flight Center studying supernova remnants and other highenergy astrophysical phenomena.
Although it was previously assumed all elements were formed exclusively in the supernova explosions of massive stars, recent research indicates heavier elements may be formed as a byproduct of neutron star collisions.
Safi-Harb’s research has tracked this evolution of understanding from supernova remnants to broader extreme astrophysics. She is now studying, among other things, the collisions of neutron stars. Neutron stars are the smallest and densest class of stellar objects currently known. According to Safi-Harb, neutron stars result from the explosions of stars with more than 10 times the mass of the sun.
“To give you an idea of how exotic and how interesting those objects are, a neutron star has the size of a city like Winnipeg — so this is considered really compact for a star —but they are more massive than the sun,” SafiHarb said.
“So just imagine squeezing something as big as the sun, 100,000 kilometres, into 10 kilometres.”
These collisions cannot be observed optically through a telescope. Instead, they create gravitational waves in spacetime which can be observed as X-rays. This has led to the discovery of heavy elements like gold and platinum left over from the collisions.
Safi-Harb’s research analyzes phenomena like the gravitational wave discovered on Aug. 17, 2017, aptly named GW (gravitational wave) 170817. Her research asks if supernovas and neutron star collisions both produce these heavy elements, whether one is more dominant in creating them than the other and how this shapes our understanding of the origin of the elements that make up life on earth.
Beyond research, Safi-Harb wants to use her new position to contribute to the training of students.
— Samar Safi-Harb, Canada Research Chair
“I want to use this Tier 1 CRC to inspire the next generation, just like I was inspired by physics when I was in high school,” Safi-Harb said.
“I want to make sure that this is accessible to people in Manitoba in particular.”
Safi-Harb’s goal as a Tier 1 CRC is to contribute to the training of highly qualified personnel in Manitoba. Many children grow up dreaming of being an astronaut or working for NASA or the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). For children in Manitoba, far away Cape Canaveral or the CSA headquarters, there is no clear path to realizing these goals. Safi-Harb wants to encourage students to pursue that dream.
Moreover, Safi-Harb wants to encourage women and underrepresented groups, including Indigenous peoples, to join the fields of physics and astronomy. Science, technology, engineering and mathematics tend to be dominated by men and she would like to help support women thrive in these fields as well.
“I’m very passionate about these issues — equity, diversity and inclusion — especially given my own background, but also my own experiences in the field.”
