Discussions about mental health in the workplace have surged lately, driven by growing awareness of its impact on employee and organizational success. As occupational health researchers, these discussions have helped us shed light on the precursors and consequences of mental health challenges.

One such critical but often overlooked aspect is the relationship between mental health challenges and work injuries — a relationship that goes in both directions: struggling with mental health can increase the risk of work injuries, and work injuries can give rise to, or worsen, mental health challenges.

We aimed to shed light on this crucial bidirectional relationship because it undermines the sustainability of an organization’s most crucial asset: its people.

Mental health and work injuries

An emergency responder will tell you that the voices of a bad accident never leave the place where it happened. That pausing at a stop sign or a roadside memorial near an old accident scene can bring a lot of things flooding back.

Even time passing doesn’t change that: a year later, things can still be as fresh as when they happened, as if the intervening time has failed to change anything.

A year after a serious accident at Carberry lead to 17 deaths, first responders are still facing the fallout from that day.

Others are facing their own personal pain.

Books received by participants at the 22nd annual Milestones Preschool Wellness Fair were donated by Sunset Rotary and the Rotary Club of Brandon. Incorrect information appeared in the Sun’s April 24 edition.

Languages are the foundation of communication as we know it. Humans have always had ways of communicating, whether that be through sounds, gestures, or symbols. Language has evolved with complex syntax. Language allows us to express our thoughts and feelings. The internet has made it exponentially easier to communicate with people who speak other languages, whether that be in person, using translation software, or via a messaging app. Because of this vast web of communication and modern translation technology, it is easy to forget that not all languages are direct translations of one another and that some languages are vastly different from one another. In spite of this, it is possible to learn any new language. It may be difficult, but there are many resources and techniques that are available to help. There are many benefits to learning a new language, from improving cognitive abilities to increasing cultural understanding.

Before one learns a new language, it’s beneficial to understand the differences and intricacies of languages. They are determined and influenced by multiple things, which form the differences we see today. One of the key differences between languages is their grammar, or simply, the rules that hold a language together. For example, take French and English. In English adjectives go before the noun, whereas in French adjectives go after the noun. Furthermore, languages make use of tones, which are essentially when one changes the pitch or slightly alters their pronunciation and that changes the meaning of what is said. An example of a tonal language is Mandarin Chinese. If one does not use the correct tone, then the meaning one is trying to convey could be completely butchered. You could accidentally be asking someone to sleep rather than asking for a boiled dumpling. Another thing that differentiates the languages is their alphabets. There is Latin, which is used in both the Canadian national languages, French and English. According to worldstandards.eu, approximately 36 per cent of the world uses the Latin alphabet. Some other alphabets include Cyrillic, Arabic, and Bengali, all with their own quirks.

Now that the basic differences between languages have been established, understanding what resources are available for language learning is important. There are many ways to learn languages, but usually the best way is a balance between multiple resources. One resource is language learning apps. Regardless of the features that the app possesses, it is extremely difficult to learn a language to fluency using only an app. Usually, by only committing a few minutes a day, one can learn a few basic phrases but not be able to hold conversations with native speakers. This leads to the next point: if it is possible, you should be practicing with someone who speaks your desired language. Even if you can’t find someone in person, there are many websites where you can find tutors or coaches who are very helpful resources. Absorbing media, whether that be watching videos or movies in the desired language, is also very helpful; anything to get the language imprinted in the mind. It is important to note that becoming fluent in any language takes a considerable amount of time and dedication, ranging from hundreds to thousands of hours.

But why learn a language if it takes so long? There are many benefits associated with learning a new language. According to a study at the University of Edinburgh, people aged 18 to 78 studying a language improved their attention span. Furthermore, as language learning requires memorization of words, a language learner’s memory is also improved. However, there aren’t just cognitive benefits; more job opportunities are available to those who speak multiple languages. In addition, learning languages can also help increase understanding and eliminate prejudices towards other cultures. It is important to remember that even with all these benefits, you should only learn a language if either you need to or you really want to, and if you’re passionate about that language.

We have to express one major point of contention with the process followed by the administration and council this year, particularly when it comes to the city’s 10-year capital budget documents.

On Jan. 17, we sent a request via email to city manager Ron Bowles and several other city staff asking to get a copy of the full capital budget document that Mark Allard, the city’s general manager of development services, had been showing excerpts from during a previous council meeting.

As we stated in the email, we were hoping to take a look through the document to see how the administration had categorized projects into the essential, primary amenity and secondary amenity designations.

We were told by Allard that this document is not typically made public. Yet considering the nature of the information, and the city’s stated ambition of being open and transparent, we would ask for it.

It’s a significant gap that makes it impossible for voters to be confident that they know the background of those seeking election to school boards and municipal councils throughout Manitoba.

As the Sun reported this past Saturday, the recent Brandon School Board by-election has exposed flaws in the newly-amended Municipal Councils and School Boards Elections Act with respect to who is responsible for verifying information provided by aspiring candidates, and what the consequences are if that information is not accurate.

The report discussed the case of Scott MacMillan, who ran for election in Ward 1 in the October by-election. Though he finished last among the eight candidates, it now appears that information he provided within his nomination document was not accurate.

Under recently-passed amendments to the Municipal Councils and School Boards Elections Act, each candidate’s nomination papers must include a statement disclosing any offence they have pled guilty to or been found guilty of under the Criminal Code, the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, The Income Tax Act (Manitoba), the Income Tax Act (Canada) “or any other law related to financial dishonesty that the Lieutenant Governor in Council has, by regulation, designated for the purpose of this section.”

‘I think everyone in Manitoba recognizes that we can do better than what we’re seeing right now.”

Those were the words of Premier-designate Wab Kinew following his first more-or-less-official meeting last Tuesday with Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham. And while it’s not surprising for both Kinew and Gillingham to adopt conciliatory postures at this delicate stage in the transition of a new provincial government, it’s still an important moment.

How important? Kinew’s pledge to “do better” should be welcomed news for anyone living in the city of Winnipeg who cares about the state of this community and all who reside here. In many ways, it would be hard for Kinew to do worse. The previous seven years of provincial-municipal relations have been marked by cynical austerity and bald betrayal. Former Tory Premier Brian Pallister crippled grants to municipalities shortly after taking office in 2016. Critical funding to support core municipal services such as police, fire and transit, along with capital investments, were essentially frozen for most of that time, putting enormous pressure on local governments to find ways to make do.

Those ways included larger than necessary property tax increases, and drastic reductions in the scope of municipal services. The provincial PC government channeled some of the savings that it achieved by freezing municipal grants into tax cuts, but even for homeowners it was a high price to pay for the diminution of civic services.

How about some new trees?

Please, City of Brandon, plant new trees bordering the Assiniboine River. Once new trees are established with roots securing the riverbank, then please remove those old skeleton dead trees dating back to previous floods. The First Street entrance is naturally beautiful except for the riverbank of dead skeleton trees.

ELIZABETH SUMNER

Neepawa

The recent collision between a bus and a semi-truck near Carberry, which killed 16 seniors, is the latest fatal incident to raise concerns about bus and road safety in Canada. The crash shares similarities to other fatal bus crashes like the 2018 Humboldt Broncos bus crash and the 2019 bus rollover on Vancouver Island.

Buses are one of the safest modes of transportation. However, these tragic incidents show that major crashes can result in significant loss of life, severe injuries and profound grief for entire communities.

Safety investigations into such collisions need to be conducted at a national level and by an independent body in the same manner air and rail occurrences are investigated.

A provincial responsibility