Winnipeg housing for 2SLGBTQ+ community gets $2.5M in provincial funding for resources, programming
Manitoba is spending $2.5 million to continue developing a housing complex and resource centre for the 2SLGBTQ+ community in downtown Winnipeg.
The funding is part of a multi-year commitment to the Place of Pride that the province said will help create a safe and welcoming space for more than 270,000 Manitobans and their families.
It will help create a more inclusive society at a time where there's "a lot of" anti-transgender sentiment in Manitoba, Premier Wab Kinew said during a news conference on Thursday afternoon.
"This is one province, one Manitoba, and it includes everybody," he said. "It is still important to celebrate pride, even during a state of emergency."
The $2.5 million will be used to add resources for programming, support and gatherings at the 12,000-square-foot community space operated by Rainbow Resource Centre, the province said.
Construction of the four-storey building at 545 Broadway that provides affordable housing for 2SLGBTQ+ wrapped up in August last year.
About 30 people who are 55 and older have so far been housed, the province said.
"That's what pride is really all about ... it is about reminding people what we can achieve when we care for one another," Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said.
"Everywhere else in the country, if you can believe, they are a little bit jealous of Manitoba, they are jealous of what we have here."
Rainbow Resource said last year that the next phase of the project would include counselling rooms, a library, a café and permaculture gardens.
The new funding announcement is bringing Manitoba's total commitment to the Place of Pride to $5.5 million.
The announcement was part of a Pride Month celebration at the Manitoba legislature on Wednesday afternoon that included a drag show.
"This is about acknowledging the 2SLGBTQIA+ community in Manitoba, taking up rightful space in places that we were never meant to be, that the community was never meant to be," Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine said.
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