Irony holding Winnipeg back
In the July 2 Free Press (City awards sole outreach contract to Main Street Project), Marion Willis rightly expresses outrage that Street Links was 'frozen out' of a city contract to provide mobile outreach services. The contract went in a competitive bid process to the Main Street Project.
The irony is that the City of Winnipeg has non-profits competing with each other (and at $275,000, a paltry amount of money compared to what it spends on responding to people who are homeless).
To make a serious run at addressing homelessness, rather than having non-profits compete with each other, the city should set up process to see non-profits competing with costs the city is incurring.
I'm not talking about privatizing city services which would result in private companies delivering services now offered in the public system (firefighters and paramedics, for example).
I'm talking about reducing pressure on city services by inviting all non-profits to be paid when they get a job done. In this case it would be successfully housing someone who would otherwise be homeless.
The city could go further and pay them for every month that person stays housed and does not return to interacting with municipally funded emergency services.
This way we can get more non-profits attacking the problem rather than cutting the number by two-thirds, which is what the city is doing.
Yes, this is very different from how governments engage non-profits now, but given the state of the city when it comes to homelessness, I would argue that the only thing that will work is different.
I live in St. Boniface. I can testify that Street Links does an amazing job getting people into housing.
They treat our unhoused sisters and brothers with kindness and respect to get them transitioned into housing, then proudly clean up the site for all Winnipeggers to enjoy.
Main Street Project is also doing amazing work across the city. We need as many non-profits as possible working flat out.
Actually addressing homelessness offers huge financial benefits to the city.
But having non-profits competing with each other is like taking a squirt gun to a forest fire.
With such a major homelessness problem, and so much money being spent ramping up paramedic, firefighting and policing services, wouldn't it make more sense to deploy all our options to address homelessness? The city's approach results in capacity to respond sitting idle.
Meanwhile our downtown struggles, police response times are unacceptable and our tax dollars are not being spent effectively.
Now some will argue that this sounds like 'mission drift.' They will say that the city should leave addressing homelessness to the province. To them I offer two thoughts.
The first is that the city is already deep into our coffers responding to predictable and repeating crises. Winnipeg spends a higher percentage of its budget on emergency services than almost any other city in Canada.
I'm not suggesting the city spend more. I'm suggesting the city spends less.
The second argument is that yes, the province is also guilty of keeping non-profits under-resourced when it comes to addressing homelessness. Just look at justice and health expenditures over the last decade or two. Our courts and emergency wards are overwhelmed responding to folks who are homeless. These departments too have nonprofits competing with each other for paltry resources.
Manitoba Justice could be paying non-profits for their success at cutting court appearances and nights in jail.
Manitoba Health can cut wait times in emergency wards by paying non-profits for their success at preventing visits. This is what effective government looks like.
Imagine the progress we would see with the city working with Manitoba Health and Manitoba Justice to partner with nonprofits in this modern way.
Instead of non-profits lamenting being frozen out, they'd be busy doing what they do best — housing people and keeping them there.
Shaun Loney is the author of An Army of Problem Solvers. He was awarded EY Entrepreneur of the Year for his career in the social enterprise sector. He ran for mayor of Winnipeg in 2022.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Winnipeg Free Press
10 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Author urges resisting efforts to clean up ‘image routes'
Last month, city Coun. Jeff Browaty proposed banning encampments along what he called 'image routes' like the Disraeli Freeway just before Main Street, along with Pembina Highway, McPhillips Street, St. Mary's and St. Anne's roads, Kenaston Boulevard and Regent Avenue. The reason he gave for the proposal was safety, and also for esthetics — they make Winnipeg look bad. The question left hanging seemed clear: Who wants to see encampments on the side of the road on their way to work, shopping or to see a movie? David Driedger, lead minister at First Mennonite Church in Winnipeg (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press files) An editorial in this newspaper discounted Browaty's proposal, suggesting it was more about optics than addressing the issue of safety — out of sight, out of mind. And, if applied, all it would do is move encampments to another part of the city and make it someone else's problem. Like the editorial writer, David Driedger isn't in favour of the councillor's idea. When it comes to encampments, Driedger, lead minister at First Mennonite Church in Winnipeg's West End, doesn't think moving them to less visible locations is the solution. Instead, those tents and tarps and shopping carts should be seen because they might be showing us a way to salvation. That's the argument he makes in his new book Nothing Will Save Us: A Theology of Immeasurable Life (Pandora Press). According to Driedger, the 'nothing' he refers to in the title are those people and places often seen as being of no importance. Yet these 'nothings' in the eyes of society are people loved by God. Not only that, they can hold the key to spiritual well being for people of faith — if they only pay attention. 'I want to call us to pay attention to those who are regarded as nothing in the eyes of the world,' said Driedger, adding that he isn't trying to romanticize the poor or poverty. 'Everyone is created by God, and we can see God in everyone and everything.' Through the book, which is aimed at Christians, Driedger argues that these 'nothing' places are where people can encounter God, discover truth and see how some structures of society are set up in such a way that some people, despite their best efforts, simply can't move forward or get ahead. Citing the Old Testament prophets who 'proclaimed that every king, regardless of his actions, caused the people to sin,' Driedger says structural sins like the old regulations that required Indigenous children to be sent to residential schools continue to have consequences that can be seen on the streets of Canadian cities today. Driedger's challenge to Christians is to not only support charities like food banks and soup kitchens, but to also think about how laws and structures that disadvantage and oppress certain segments of society can be changed. This includes laws that impact sex workers. When Driedger asked to meet with some, they were at first surprised a pastor wanted to talk with them. During the meeting, they spoke about the dangers of criminalizing their work, the lack of police protection and the Church's tendency to either 'rescue' or condemn them, instead of listening to them. In the book, Driedger compares their experiences to the women in the Gospel of Matthew's genealogy of Jesus. They were also women who transgressed social and sexual norms — people like Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba — in order to survive, but who are not discounted when it comes to telling the story of Jesus. Driedger goes on to wonder if Christians today can find ways to not discount women caught up in sex work, but to hear their voices and stories instead of judging them. The book is rooted in Winnipeg, using Winnipeg examples. For Driedger, that's also a good illustration of what he means about being overlooked and underestimated. 'Winnipeg seems neither small town nor big city, often discounted as nothing by insiders and outsiders alike,' he said. Weekly A weekly look at what's happening in Winnipeg's arts and entertainment scene. The same goes for the West End, where he lives and which he loves. 'Like many discounted neighbourhoods and their real challenges, there remains something welcoming and inclusive about the West End, resisting the measures of the upwardly mobile,' he said. Overall, the book is a reminder to Christians to take seriously what the Apostle Paul writes in the second chapter of Philippians. That's where he says that although Jesus was in the very nature of God, he did not use that to his advantage but rather 'made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant.' (New International Version.) Similarly, Driedger said, Christians should also 'empty themselves' of their preconceived ideas and stereotypes about people who are poor and marginalized in order to truly see and hear those who are seen as 'nothing' in this world. And, for him, that would include resisting efforts to clean up 'image routes' in the city of Winnipeg. faith@ The Free Press is committed to covering faith in Manitoba. If you appreciate that coverage, help us do more! Your contribution of $10, $25 or more will allow us to deepen our reporting about faith in the province. Thanks! BECOME A FAITH JOURNALISM SUPPORTER John LonghurstFaith reporter John Longhurst has been writing for Winnipeg's faith pages since 2003. He also writes for Religion News Service in the U.S., and blogs about the media, marketing and communications at Making the News. Read full biography Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Winnipeg Free Press
21 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Despite cross-border tensions, it's mostly business as usual for International Peace Garden staff, volunteers
INTERNATIONAL PEACE GARDEN — From fentanyl and asylum seekers to trade wars and talk of annexation, the Canada–U.S. border is a pressure point in our countries' squabbles right now. On Thursday, President Donald Trump's executive order raising tariffs to 35 per cent on exports that are not compliant with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade agreement kicked in, adding to the economic pain Canada has been feeling from its longtime neighbour and ally. CONRAD SWEATMAN / FREE PRESS On Saturday, U.S. and Canadian residents are invited to the garden to shake hands across the shared border. CONRAD SWEATMAN / FREE PRESS On Saturday, U.S. and Canadian residents are invited to the garden to shake hands across the shared border. It's only the latest salvo targeting Canada since Trump declared a national emergency in February at the U.S.-Canada border in response to what his administration alleges is a flood of human and drug smuggling from Canada flowing south. Yet, for all this tension, the fact remains: the 49th parallel traces the world's longest undefended border. Customs agents have grown twitchier, but there's still limited border walls and fences and certainly no turreted watchtowers, standing army presence or demilitarized zone. Historically, 'friendship' has been a watchword for our soft borders. Its most potent symbol is rooted at the International Peace Garden, nearly 1,000 hectares of stunning landscape at the border just south of Boissevain that attracts 100,000 tourists, music students, nature lovers and conference attendees every year. The fault line between Canada and the U.S. crosses through the garden, but visitors move back and forth across it without an inspection by a customs agent. On Saturday, U.S. and Canadian residents are invited to the garden to shake hands across the shared border in what the garden's CEO Tim Chapman describes as a show of dedication to peace and co-operation between Canada and the U.S, despite the recent friction. 'It's something we want to do every year,' Chapman told the North Dakota Monitor. He said he hopes that as many as 1,000 Americans and 1,000 Canadians will participate in the handshake, scheduled for 11 a.m., in a ceremony that includes singing both national anthems. It's probably not coincidental that the garden's origins dovetail with the countries' strengthening security alliance. In 1938, on the brink of the Second World War, U.S. president Franklin Roosevelt announced that the U.S. would not stand idly by if the Canada were attacked by a foreign power. Prime Minister Mackenzie King meanwhile pledged that Canada would do everything it could to ensure its soil could never be used to stage an attack on the U.S. The agreement had a resounding effect on U.S.-Canadian defensive co-operation and is considered a foundation for the North American Aerospace Defense Command. The binational partnership — the Canadian command is headquartered in Winnipeg — has continued to monitor and defend North American airspace since early in the Cold War. FRED MCGUINNESS COLLECTION/SJ MCKEE ARCHIVES/BRANDON UNIVERSITY The grand opening of the International Peace Garden in 1932. FRED MCGUINNESS COLLECTION/SJ MCKEE ARCHIVES/BRANDON UNIVERSITY The grand opening of the International Peace Garden in 1932. The International Peace Garden, like NORAD, is also descended from an interwar agreement. Only it was gardeners, not statesmen, who led the charge. 'A few of them were just fascinated by the world's longest unfortified border,' Chapman tells the Free Press. 'And (it's) like… 'What do we have in common? Oh, we're one of few countries in the world with a massive border, and we're not constantly attacking one another.'' Spearheaded by horticulturist Henry R. Moore, the idea attracted the support of powerful philanthropic families on both sides of the border and the Manitoba and North Dakota governments. An estimated 50,000 people travelled to the site to witness the groundbreaking and dedication ceremony on July 14, 1932. CONRAD SWEATMAN / FREE PRESS The Hands of Peace at the International Peace Garden. CONRAD SWEATMAN / FREE PRESS The Hands of Peace at the International Peace Garden. Today, the non-profit's garden is a site of international conferences, music and cultural camps and meetings between American and Canadian officials amid calming flora and monuments with cosy names such as the Peace Chapel, the Friendship Rock and the Hands of Peace. 'If people can solve differences in more natural settings than your typical G8 setting… your thought process is better. You're less likely to jump down someone's throat,' says Chapman. Those who work at the International Peace Garden — some 120 yearly volunteers and 50 staff members during the summer season — describe a uniquely binational culture there. Many of them are gardeners, helping to cultivate the 100,000 or so flowers planted each year, often in striking patterns. They work on the GPS-run floral clock with its estimated 3,000 blooms, the Don Vitko Conservatory — home to thousands of rare and beautiful cacti and succulents — and other areas. Some fly in just for the spring or summer, others live in the neighbouring towns of Boissevain and Dunseith, N.D.; places with similar, and generally conservative, cultures. TIM SMITH / THE BRANDON SUN FILES The International Peace Garden attracts 100,000 tourists, music students, nature lovers and conference attendees every year. TIM SMITH / THE BRANDON SUN FILES The International Peace Garden attracts 100,000 tourists, music students, nature lovers and conference attendees every year. Volunteers and visitors from either side of the border can access the garden without passing through Customs, though they do so on their way back. Some, like Chapman (who's American), even send their kids to school across the border. At the southernmost corner is its music camp. At least a dozen flags fly in its centre, representing the nationalities of the students, staff and faculty assembled and the camp's cosmopolitan spirit. 'It's the life of the camp,' says Randy Hall, the camp's director of student activities. 'This was my 49th year dealing with the music camp and it couldn't be a more fitting place (for his daughter's wedding),' he says, as volunteers finish setting up for the ceremony. 'She's been here at camp every summer since she's been born.' The strain of cross-border unease is nevertheless beginning to show a little for those who tend the garden and its programs. Chapman recalls Canadians calling the office in the spring to say they wouldn't be visiting the garden in protest against Trump's trade policies and rhetoric. 'Not that I needed to be right, (but) all I was saying is, 'The garden will still be here. It's going to exist and have the same mission,'' he says. 'But also, think about the local economics of it.' He's referring to the benefits that tourism brings to nearby towns. The site recently offered Canadians 20 per cent off at its gift shop due to the weaker loonie. Some Americans objected to the gesture and defiantly swiped their cards in the Canadian terminal. Debra McCollum, IPG's education volunteer coordinator. Debra McCollum, IPG's education volunteer coordinator. Debra McCollum, IPG's education volunteer co-ordinator, who lives in southern Manitoba, finds these subtle ripples on everyday relationships troubling. 'It's my 33rd summer here and it's a part of who I am. The peace it represents, the peace (it) symbolizes between Canada and the United States — that's a part of me as a Canadian,' she says. For a stereotypically polite people, Canadians' 'elbows up' rhetoric seems excessive to her. 'I mean, it's strong. It's almost bordering on physical aggression…. That's just not something that we would even think about here,' she says. 'We're in this beautiful nature setting, and we love people coming to see us, and people love coming for a lot of the same reasons — so you're not in that frame of mind.' A complex web of cross-border institutions bridge the United States and Canada, covering not just trade, border security and continental defence but seemingly everything in between. Civil servants and representatives have often worked closely with their counterparts across the 49th parallel. Despite their cordiality and their constituents' history of close trade, Premier Wab Kinew and North Dakota Governor Kelly Armstrong also remain, inevitably, at cross-purposes. Liberal economists may insist that steep tariffs violate modern Economics 101, spreading inefficiencies and dragging countries into cycles of self-defeating brinkmanship. Yet, rational or not, here we are in a 'trade war,' with Armstrong strongly endorsing Trump and his tariff policies. CONRAD SWEATMAN / FREE PRESS Tim Chapman, CEO of the International Peace Garden CONRAD SWEATMAN / FREE PRESS Tim Chapman, CEO of the International Peace Garden Regarding the garden's future — funded equally by the North Dakota and Manitoba governments and depending heavily on their co-operation, Chapman is confident the centre will hold. 'That's one thing that's always really impressed me here. Even if North Dakota's government tends to lean right, Manitoba left… it seems like going back decades, the province and the state have really set an awesome example of cherishing the fact that it is a shared space,' he says. The IPG may seem like a comparatively low-stakes collaboration. But Chapman says its relaxed quality also makes it an ideal setting for many deliberations and negotiations. 'There are good studies out of Japan… about the intersection of peace and nature,' he says. 'You get people outside or in more natural settings, in general, human thought process improves.' Premiers and governors have met on the garden's grounds, and Chapman says that the International Joint Commission, a bilateral governmental organization addressing the extensive waters and waterways along and across the border, often meets there. He adds that representatives from North Dakota's trade office have reached out to the IPG about using it for future meetings with their counterparts in Manitoba. Though both offices have their hands tied by Ottawa and Washington when it comes to tariffs, he hopes reason — friendship even — will steer co-operation within those tricky limits. 'I think regardless of politics, people who really are involved in cross-border business and understand trade prefer that rhetoric not be where it is right now,' Chapman says. 'Especially if you live in a border town or a border state or province, you know the impact. 'We do really depend on each other.' Conrad SweatmanReporter Conrad Sweatman is an arts reporter and feature writer. Before joining the Free Press full-time in 2024, he worked in the U.K. and Canadian cultural sectors, freelanced for outlets including The Walrus, VICE and Prairie Fire. Read more about Conrad. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Winnipeg Free Press
a day ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
First Nations demand end to wildfire ‘cycle of failure'
Four wildfire-affected First Nations in northern Manitoba urged the federal and provincial governments Friday to do more prevention work and collaborate to avoid future mass evacuations of the fly-in communities. More than 6,000 evacuees from the remote Island Lake region — composed of Garden Hill, Red Sucker Lake, St. Theresa Point and Wasagamack Anisininew nations — have been out of their homes since July. 'We demand that emergency-response investments are made to Anisininew nations, which is only a small component of our unfinished business,' Alex McDougall, grand chief of Anisininew Okimawin told reporters in Winnipeg. Anisininew Okimawin is a council that represents the four First Nations. The chiefs of the communities, also backed by the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, called on Ottawa to spend more on wildfire-prevention measures such as community-led fire breaks and local firefighting teams. They called on governments to fund infrastructure projects, including an all-season road, that would reduce the need for evacuation flights. Other demands included a tripartite emergency accord, regional evacuation and national Indigenous fire strategies, and respect for Anisininew leadership. The chiefs said prevention measures could have been implemented, but weren't, after a mass evacuation in 2017. 'This is not an emergency system. This is a cycle of failure. Our chiefs in Anisininew nations are saying to Canada, 'The cycle ends now,'' he said. The Free Press has requested comments from the federal and provincial comments. The Island Lake region is about 600 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg. Several fires were burning in the area Friday. The largest was an out-of-control blaze, measuring 37,857 about hectares, that forced a full evacuation of Garden Hill. The fire was caused by human activity and detected July 6, the Manitoba Wildfire Service said. The Manitoba government extended a 30-day provincewide state of emergency, which was set to expire Friday, to Aug. 22. It is the second Manitoba-wide state of emergency since late May. About 14,000 Manitobans were displaced as of Friday. The wildfire service reported 159 active fires as of Wednesday, for a total of 403 since the season began in April. Almost 1.7 million hectares of land has burned. That is the most since 1989's record of more than three million hectares. Chris KitchingReporter Chris Kitching is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He began his newspaper career in 2001, with stops in Winnipeg, Toronto and London, England, along the way. After returning to Winnipeg, he joined the Free Press in 2021, and now covers a little bit of everything for the newspaper. Read more about Chris. Every piece of reporting Chris produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
