The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
As mentioned last week, the Manitoba High School Athletic Association is a great organization. But it received a bum rap over the Pasternak twins episode in which two girls fought for the right to play on their school's boys' hockey team. The MHSAA, headed for decades by organizational genius Morris Glimcher, has an elected board of school principals who are or were active in athletics, and active phys ed teachers and supervisors. There are no political appointees, unlike the Human Rights Commission, which decided it would be okay if the girls played with the boys. As a member of the board for several years, this writer had a firsthand look at the operation of the MHSAA. To repeat there is no gender discrimination, as girls' sports receive as big a play as that of the boys. The policy that girls cannot try out for a boy's hockey team when they have a girls' team makes sense and is for the young women's safety. There are a couple of girls playing goal on rural teams in the province, as their school did not have a girls' team. Girls' hockey is different than boys' hockey in the high school leagues, as the Pasternak twins found out. As expected, they were cut from the boys' team. They were neither big nor good enough to make the West Kildonan club. Reports say the twins' hockey careers are over, but they could go and play in a minor league. They certainly had their 15 minutes of fame, appearing on the front page of Winnipeg newspapers several times. The disturbing thing about this issue is the criticism unnecessarily levied at the MHSAA by those who should have known better. That includes the West Kildonan superintendent, the school administration and the parents for encouraging this nonsense. As mentioned earlier, the Human Rights Commission is made up of a politically appointed board and paid staff, with its objective to protect the rights of Manitobans, especially in the job market, and to enforce the Human Rights Act. The key also is to make decisions based on common sense, keeping in mind that occupational qualifications are a major factor in hiring. After Sterling Lyon became Premier and Gerry Mercier Attorney-General, a number of right-thinking Manitobans were appointed to replace the New Democrats on the Commission. This writer was among them. On staff were such people as Gordon Mackintosh, now a longtime NDP cabinet minister, and future Winnipeg city councillor and great charcoal artist Roger Young. The only commissioner not replaced was Tom Olenick, a prominent businessman of Jewish ancestry who, we found out, was the NDP's token businessman. Tom became a friend and quickly let it be known that he was, like us, a PC supporter. The pay was I believe something like $25 or $30 for each meeting. We'd meet once a month, with some meetings held in Winnipeg, Thompson, Brandon and Dauphin. It was a great learning experience, and the commissioners' opinions greatly differed, but all were willing to compromise on issues. As chair of the Education Committee, this writer was responsible for some training sessions and matters dealing with education. Some cases were strange indeed. One involved a teacher who had quit his Winnipeg job, left his family and hired on in a "Bible Belt" school in the south of the province, where he was living with another female teacher. When the school board found out about this living arrangement they did not renew his contract and provided no stated reason. The teacher filed a complaint with the Commission based on marital discrimination, which neither he nor we could prove. My personal opinion was that knowing the district and its family feelings, the teacher should have been smarter and more discreet Ð he was really fired for stupidity! When the NDP took over government and ex-communist Roland Penner became attorney-general, we were all quickly replaced. Maybe we should have filed a complaint for political discrimination! Roger's Right Corner runs Wednesdays.
