All Posts Tagged With: "Manitoba"

Hint: It’s not schools, and they pay $80k after three years.

RCMP by Daniel Paquet

Education graduates face a dismal job market. Two-thirds of recent grads in Ontario aren’t working full-time. The University of British Columbia’s teacher’s college recently admitted that many graduates won’t find jobs in teaching.

Things are bad in Manitoba too. The local school boards didn’t even show up at Monday’s University of Manitoba education job fair.

But that same job fair should give education graduates a reason to be hopeful, because it showed how certain other employers value their experiences.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, for example, showed up at Manitoba’s education job fair for the first time Monday. The force is recruiting education graduates for the police academy in Regina.

Continue reading Guess who’s recruiting education grads

6.3 per cent dropped

Nearly 200 students, representing six per cent of the student body, have left Brandon University since November. Scott Lamont, the vice president of administration and finance, told CBC News that it’s safe to assume many students dropped because of the uncertainty and missed classes that resulted from the 45-day long professors’ strike. The student’s union called for a refund of tuition paid during the strike. Instead, the deadline for voluntary withdrawal from first semester courses was moved to Jan 6. and professors were told to complete classes. The professors picketed from Oct. 12 until Nov. 26 in order to extract higher wage increases. On Dec. 6, they ratified a four-year agreement that includes an 8.5 per cent wage increase, plus increases to professional development, travel and meal allowances. It was the second strike at Brandon in three years.

Minister takes “extraordinary” step

Manitoba’s labour minister has ordered striking professors to vote on the latest contract offer from Brandon University’s administrators. A strike at the small prairie school has killed classes for six weeks now. If a majority vote “yes,” professors will go back to work almost immediately.

“I have reviewed the circumstances of the dispute and the negative effect of the work stoppage on the students of Brandon University and the city of Brandon,” Labour Minister Jennifer Howard wrote in a letter to university president Deborah Poff and BUFA president Joe Dolecki yesterday. “I am of the opinion that a vote of the employees in (BUFA) to accept or reject the last offer of the employer, respecting all matters remaining in dispute between the parties, is in the public interest.”

The vote is expected later this week. The parties were close to a deal last week. The university offered raises of nine per cent raise over four years, plus an $1,800 back-to-work bonus. BUFA wants 10 per cent over four years, plus $3,000 for each member who goes back to work.

The reason Brandon professors have gone on strike for the second time in three years is that they feel they’re underpaid. Associate professors average $89,000, which is less than the $106,000 nationwide. Still, salaries are very similar to those paid at similar small schools like Nipissing University in North Bay, Ont.

Click here to read an opinion piece on what professors should be paid.

Check back later for a report on how the strike is affecting students, by blogger Sarah Petz.

Sticking point is wages, says professor

Photo by ggbaker on Panoramio

Staff at Brandon University are on strike. They hit the picket lines at 7:30 a.m. this morning.

Negotiations between the Brandon University Faculty Association and the administration ended at 5 a.m., reports CBC News. BUFA represents 240 professors, instructors and librarians.

The university says that classes for roughly 3,000 students are cancelled until at least Oct. 14. Deandra Tousignant, who speaks for the Brandon Students Union, said the faculty association communicated their support of students who cross the picket line for school work.

Jim Forsythe, a professor, told CBC that faculty asked for wage increases of four per cent for each of the next three years, but that the university offered two per cent in year one, two per cent in year two and no rise in year three. Taking into account inflation, the offer amounts to a pay cut, he said.

A recent Statistics Canada study of 27  universities showed that the median salary for associate professors in 2010-11 at Brandon was $95,220. The highest paid associate professors in the study were at York University ($123,959) and the lowest paid were at Vancouver Island University ($82,946). Brandon’s professors were the 20th best paid out of the 27 schools in the study.

BUFA was last on strike in 2008 for 17 days.

Legislation would recognize Manitoba’s only French university

Legislation was proposed in the Manitoba legislature today that would see Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface (CUSB) elevated to full university status. Currently, CUSB is a University of Manitoba college that caters primarily to Winnipeg’s French-speaking population. Under the legislation, the new University of St. Boniface would have an independent senate, and would have greater flexibility in developing relationships with other institutions, though ties would be retained with the U of M. “This new legislation will provide the institution with more opportunities for academic partnerships across Canada, with the potential to offer students more options for graduate programs in partnerships with other institutions,” Advanced Education Minister, Erin Selby said in a government release. Founded, 1871, CUSB is the oldest university in western Canada.

Manitoba justice was wrong to base ruling on rape victim’s clothing

All you girls out there better think twice before dressing up for a night out. After all, it seems that wearing a braless tube top is now judicially perceived as equivalent to the phrase, “Yes, I would like to have intercourse with you.” Heels mean you’re a harlot, in case you didn’t know, and wearing makeup implies you’re ready for a whole lot of fun. In future, eyes on the floor, skin clear, and for Christ’s sake keep those ankles covered. That way, we won’t have any confusion about so-called “consensual” sex.

These helpful hints are in accordance with a recent ruling by Manitoba’s Justice Robert Dewar, who decided that a man convicted of rape would not serve time in prison. According to Dewar, the victim sent signals that “sex was in the air,” specifically noting her attire which included high heels, a tube top without a bra, and lots of makeup. Commenting on the behaviour of the victim and her friend, Dewar said, “They made their intentions publicly known that they wanted to party.”

The obvious explanation is that Justice Dewar must’ve studied under Toronto’s Constable Michael Sanguinetti, who told a room full of York University students last month that they can avoid sexual assault by not dressing like “sluts.” The onus is on you, girls; make sure you don’t give the impression that you’re some sort of trollop. Because if you do—well, that’s pretty much the same thing as explicitly saying “yes,” right?

Actually, no. The Supreme Court of Canada struck down the idea of implied consent as a viable defense over a decade ago in a ruling involving the case of R. v. Ewanchuk. And before that, in 1992, Canada established rape shield law provisions essentially limiting the extent to which a victim’s sexual history could be brought into a rape trial. Both moves were seen as positive steps forward with regards to altering “blame the victim” attitudes often prevalent in sexual assault cases. But as they say, one step forward…

Rulings such as Dewar’s and comments such as Sanguinetti’s not only reinforce negative stereotypes about rape victims who “ask for it,” but will likely dissuade further victims from coming forward and pressing charges. As is, just one in nine cases of sexual assault is actually reported to police; and I can see why victims may want to avoid having their tube tops as Exhibit A and their flirtatious texts as Exhibit B. As long as we keep blaming the victim, we can expect few to come forward.

So let me reiterate: a tube top doesn’t mean “yes.” Falsies don’t mean “yes.” Nor does a smile, or a wink, or a hair toss or twirl. The clothing of the victim in the Manitoba case shouldn’t have been used as the basis for Dewar’s ruling. Those of us who know that shouldn’t less the grass grow under our feet. And mine, I can assure you, will be wearing some killer heels.

New programs for medical and law students are about getting professionals where they’re needed, not student aid

This summer, Dawson City, the second largest community in the Yukon, lost half its doctors when one of them decided to take a year-long sabbatical. The territorial government is currently building a hospital in the town, since the 1960s anyone who has to be held overnight for medical treatment has to be airlifted to Whitehorse, but many in the community question who’s actually going to work there.

Whitehorse, home to the territory’s only hospital, is facing a severe and growing doctor shortage and specialists only pass through a few times a year. Serious cases requiring emergency specialist care must be sent south, usually to Vancouver.

Throughout Northern Canada the story is the same: shortages of doctors and other professionals, like lawyers.

Certainly, there is a shortage of doctors throughout much of the country but not having a family doctor is one thing when there are hospitals and walk-in clinics nearby; it’s a whole different story when the nearest doctor–of any sort–is a several hundred kilometre flight away.

Manitoba recently introduced programs designed to encourage graduates of medicine and law to work in the province’s North, by giving them tuition refunds in exchange for work in isolated communities.

This isn’t about student aid, it’s about providing incentives to encourage grads to work in places that need their skills.

Some have criticized these programs on the basis that they put pressure on poorer students to work in the North, rather than pursue specialties. While I understand that some people have a sort of moral objection to student debt, if there are any graduates who can handle debt it’s medical specialists who will graduate to high salaries.

Medical students, just by the virtue of being medical students, have access to large loans and lines of credit. Banks are willing to lend because medical students are essentially guaranteed high salaries on graduation.

This new program doesn’t pressure students from poorer backgrounds into choosing the North over a specialty, it gives students a choice between paying off their debt by pursuing higher paying positions or working off their debt by practicing in areas where there is a great need.

If we want to talk about inequality, let’s talk about the fact that the far majority of medical students come from well-off backgrounds. At the Université de Montréal a full 45 per cent of medical students have backgrounds in the richest 20 per cent of the population, only five per cent come from poor backgrounds. The problem isn’t how medical students from poor backgrounds choose to pay off their debts, it’s about getting them in to medical school in the first place.

Or we can talk about the fact that Northern Canadians–a large percentage of whom are Aboriginal–are denied essential government services provided to southerners because few people want to provide them.

Let’s remember that medical education, while it may be expensive, is still funded by society, there’s nothing wrong with the state encouraging doctors to do the right thing and provide medical care to Canadians whose access to proper treatment is severely limited.

Other provinces with large northern regions would be wise to imitate these programs and the federal government should do the same for the territories.

Stiffer fines on the way for students who dropout

Manitoba is set to become the latest province to force students to stay in school until they either graduate or turn 18. It’s part of a growing national movement based on the belief that anything less than a high school diploma is not enough in today’s job market.

“We want to raise the bar,” Education Minister Nancy Allan said Thursday. “If you only have a Grade 10 education (minimum requirement), you can be slamming the door for these students, so we want to make sure that we’re preparing our students for the modern economy.” Allan plans to table a bill in the coming days to raise the minimum age for dropping out of school to 18 from 16. Students would only be allowed to leave earlier if they earned their high-school diploma or joined a recognized workforce training program.

Ontario and New Brunswick raised their dropout ages to 18 four years ago and there are signs other provinces may follow. The Toronto District School Board has also mused about paying poor students to attend school and get good grades, although the province’s education minister says she’s opposed to the idea.

The Alberta School Boards Association is to debate the idea this weekend. “High school completion is a minimum expectation for success in our global society,” reads a resolution put forward by the public school division in Edmonton. The idea has also been bandied about in Nova Scotia. The NDP government had been considering a recommendation from a working group that the dropout age be raised to 18, but it was not accepted when the government announced a new education policy earlier this month.

While there is widespread support for keeping teens in school, some question how far courts or schools will go to force kids to attend class. “What if the kid says, ‘I’m dropping out?’ How is this law going to have any teeth?” asked Mike Babinsky, a longtime school trustee for the Winnipeg School Division.

Manitoba’s current law allows school boards to take parents of truants under 16 to court, where judges can impose fines of up to $500. But Babinsky can’t remember any such measure being taken in the 15 years he has been a trustee. “For you to go do the investigation in regards to the child actually dropping out and actually taking it to the courthouse and getting representation … it’s not worth it. I don’t believe any school division in Manitoba has ever done that,” he said. “With everybody trying to stretch the almighty dollar as far as you can, you don’t want to go spend $5,000.”

Allan says the government is considering new enforcement measures, including stiffer fines. “That’s something we’re looking at,” she said. “We will be introducing the legislation in the next couple of weeks. There’s going to be an opportunity for a lot of dialogue with our education partners on this and we want to make sure we get it right.” Currently, one student out of every five in Manitoba doesn’t graduate from high school.

The Canadian Press

Province lifts decade-old freeze, allows universities to charge students up to 4.5 per cent more

As reported by The Winnipeg Sun:

For the first time since the 1998-99 school year, university and college students in Manitoba will see an increase in their tuition fees this fall.

The provincial government announced this morning that it is lifting its decade-old tuition freeze, and will allow universities to charge students up to 4.5% more for tuition this year. That amounts to an average of about $135 more for a typical arts or science student. Colleges will be allowed to charge students $100 more this year.

Starting this fall, universities could raise tuition by an average of $400 per student

Manitoba should strive to maintain lower-than-average post-secondary education fees and have the best student assistance in Canada as the province slowly lifts a tuition freeze, a commission recommended Thursday. The commission, which looked at how a gradual increase in tuition will affect accessibility to education, concluded students should help pay for their post-secondary studies, but fee increases should be modest.

The province’s NDP government froze tuition for almost a decade before lifting the ban last year in response to universities who said they needed the cash. Starting in the fall, universities will be able to raise tuition by an average of $400 a student.

The government established the commission last summer to make recommendations on how to keep post-secondary education accessible while thawing tuition fees.

Commissioner Ben Levin said Manitoba should set its sights well above the national average when it comes to participation rates, tuition fees and student assistance.

“Improving the situation is urgent,” Levin said in his report released Thursday. “Manitoba needs more post-secondary graduates, a change that will require government action.”

The province should be less focused on reducing tuition and concentrate more on ensuring the students who need help get it, Levin said.

“Students ought to pay a share of the cost of their post-secondary education,” the report stated. “The main reason is that individuals reap large benefits from this education; there is no justification for this personal benefit to be subsidized completely given the many other pressures on public expenditure.”

About 60 per cent of Manitoba students don’t have to borrow money to pay for their education, the report added. Most students who do borrow are able to repay the debts, it concluded.