Visiting Aisinai'pi National Historic Site - at Writing on Stone Provincial Park in southern Alberta

As part of our journey to understand the heritage of First Nations people, in August, Naomi and I visited the Aisinai'pi National Historic Site. Here, along the Milk River in Southern Alberta is one of the largest concentrations of rock art on the Great Plains of North America. Katyoississtisi, the Sweet Pine Hills which were and are sacred to the Siksikaitsitapi (Blackfoot) People, can be seen just to the south across the border in Montana. The Aisinai'pi National Historic site is a sacred landscape with special significance to First Nations people, specifically the Siksikaitsitapi. There are spectacular sandstone formations along the Milk River. We walked the Matapiiksi (Hoodoo) Trail to see these formations, and took a special guided tour to see a number of petroglyphs and pictographs (the writing on stone). Some of the these date to the last three hundred years. Others could be as old as 3,500 years old. A few photos from our visit are below.

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Comparison between Manitoba and South Dakota shows dramatic impact of Physical Distancing

Manitoba implemented physical distancing measures in mid-March. South Dakota has still not made physical distancing mandatory. The result is a dramatic difference in the incidence of covid-19 viral infections between the two jurisdictions. This graph shows the number of people with Covid-19 infections from March 27 to April 14. Manitoba ( red line ) started leveling off about April 4 and has seen only a small increase in Covid-19 infections since then. South Dakota ( blue line ) has seen a dramatic increase in Covid-19 infections since April 4. Those who are skeptical of the impact of physical distancing in Manitoba should look at this graph! Data are from the Johns Hopkins daily tabulations

Pushing for safe consumption sites and safe supply to reduce overdose deaths

On Monday June 20th, Thomas Linner of the Manitoba Health Coalition, Arlene Last-Kolb Regional Director of Moms Stop the Harm and Winnipeg City Councillor Sherri Rollins were at the Manitoba Legislature to advocate for better measures to reduce deaths from drug overdoses, most particularly for safe consumption sites and for a safe supply, measures which can reduce overdose deaths.

There is an imperative to have a provincial plan to ensure every child learns to read

Too many Manitoba children with learning disabilities like dyslexia are not being identified and helped early on starting in Kindergarten and grades 1 and 2. The Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that it is the provinces responsibility to ensure that every child learns to read, and even when, in the case of a child with dyslexia intensive intervention is needed. In 12 years Manitoba has failed to produce a provincial plan to address this issue. We are holding a Forum (see below) on this subject. Please come out to the Forum. There is no cost. Everyone is welcome. To learn more about the need to do better helping children, youth and adults with a learning disability click on this link

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