Frustration, confusion over focus for City of Winnipeg committee focused on reconciliation initiative: report
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A report commissioned by the mayor's office on a Winnipeg reconciliation initiative has revealed uncertainty around the initiative's core purpose.
The Welcoming Winnipeg: Reconciling our History initiative, run by the City of Winnipeg's Indigenous relations division, was created in 2020 to better reflect the history of Indigenous people in the city, and includes a volunteer committee that considers applications to change the names of city sites like parks and trails.
But the report states there are conflicting views on what that means — and whether the intent is that "Indigenous perspectives, experiences and contributions must be reflected in all re/naming," or whether "each naming opportunity should consider, but may not necessarily result, in an Indigenous name."
Frustration around how the initiative's purpose should be interpreted has placed Indigenous perspectives in competition with non-Indigenous naming opportunities, the report says.
The report also says the committee, half of which must be Indigenous members, "feels it has experienced racism and misogyny when presenting … recommendations to council."
Coun. Sherri Rollins (Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry) said she isn't surprised to hear that.
"I've seen first-hand how the council has disrespected Welcoming Winnipeg," Rollins said Thursday, adding that it can be difficult to be a citizen member on a community committee.
"I know first-hand how upsetting it is to be a citizen body that is created by council, to go to that council and be not only misunderstood, but disrespected."
The lack of political leadership to spearhead the work of the committee was also identified as a problem area by the report.
"There has been generally negative and demoralizing commentary from the public," the report states.
"The level of community support and involvement in this process is generally low."
Lack of budget
Other problems identified by the report include a lack of resources for the committee to complete its work, as well as a lack of clarity on what work the committee should take on.
"They don't have a budget.… Everyone, including council, often has ambitions on their behalf, and it implies budget," said Rollins.
"I think it is reasonable that if there are a great many ambitions, that that work plan be accompanied by a budget."
Mayor Scott Gillingham said the committee has become overburdened with work and lacks clear direction.
The report recommends measures to pare down the initiative's application process, like putting a cap on how many applications for renaming are accepted, setting eligibility times to apply and limiting the number of applications that can be proposed by each applicant.
"They were receiving applications that weren't even complete, and then they were doing the work of completing the application," said Gillingham.
"I think we were saddling the committee with work that really was never intended to be theirs."
Clarity needed around purpose: mayor
Despite the problems identified in the report, the committee has advised the city on the naming and renaming of sites around Winnipeg, and helped to rename Bishop Grandin Boulevard to Abinojii Mikanah in June 2024.
The report, which reviewed the last five years of Welcoming Winnipeg, was written over four months in the fall by a consultant who conducted confidential interviews with Welcoming Winnipeg committee members and city staff.
It makes over 20 recommendations and identifies five themes of areas that need to be addressed: clarity around policy, identification of a political lead, providing necessary budgets, a review of committee terms of reference and redefining the application process.
"Welcoming Winnipeg is not working as it could and I want it to be successful. We need clarity around the roles and responsibilities of everyone involved — really, clarity, first of all, around the purpose of Welcoming Winnipeg," Gillingham said.
"I believe that we can ultimately hit the goals of the policy, which is to advance reconciliation, to recognize the importance of Indigenous places and names," but "still have opportunity to recognize other … names in our city, in a city that is increasingly diverse," he said.
Gillingham has put forward a motion to call for a review of the Welcome Winnipeg policy, which will be debated at council next month.
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