Latest news with #KirstenWurmann
Winnipeg Free Press
30-07-2025
- General
- Winnipeg Free Press
East edition news in brief — week of July 30, 2025
Transcona East KildonanSt. Vital Transcona Library hosting talk on Prison Library Project on Aug. 7 The Transcona Library (1 Transcona Blvd.) will host a meeting on Thursday, Aug. 7. The meeting starts at 6 p.m., and features a guest speaker, Kirsten Wurmann, program co-ordinator with the Manitoba Libary Association. She will be discussing the Prison Library Project. File photo by Simon Fuller St. Vital Centre will play host to the Children's Hospital Book Market's latest pop-up book sale, which will be held on Aug. 16. For more information, visit Munroe Library to host presentation on Canadian governance The Munroe Library (489 London St.) will host a presentation on Canadian politics and government on Thursday, Aug. 14. Presented by Dr. Royce Koop and Dr. Ardith McGeown Plant of the University of Manitoba Centre for Social Science Research and Policy, the free talk will run from 6:30 to 7:3o p.m. The discussion will include how government works in Canada, and how people can become involved in the process, as well as how the current federal government is responding to issues today. The event is free, and will also be streamed online. For more information, or to register to attend in-person or via Zoom, visit St. Vital Museum to hold barbecue, open house on Aug. 16 Anyone with an appetite for local history might want to stop by St. Vital Museum's upcoming barbecue and open house. According to the museum's website, the annual event will be held at the museum at 600 St. Mary's Rd on Saturday, Aug. 16. The open house part of things will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the barbecue portion of the event will be held between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Proceeds from food tickets will used to fundraise for the historic museum. Food tickets are $10 for adults, and $5 for kids 12 and under, and include a hamburger or hotdog, a drink, chips, and a dessert. Activities on the day will include tours, games, music, and special guests, organizers say. Mondays A weekly look at news and events that matter in your communities. Visit for more information. St. Vital Centre to host pop-up book sale on Aug. 16 The Children Hospital Foundation of Manitoba's latest literature-themed fundraiser is coming up. According to St. Vital Centre's website, the foundation's pop-up book sale will be held at the centre (1225 St. Mary's Rd.) on Saturday, Aug. 16 during mall hours. Visit for more information.
CTV News
11-06-2025
- CTV News
Library association says rise in violent incidents ‘not a surprise' after Community Connections closure
A new report shows incidents at Millennium Library are on the rise this year. CTV's Joseph Bernacki takes a closer look at the data. A new report shows incidents at Millennium Library are on the rise this year. CTV's Joseph Bernacki takes a closer look at the data. A concerning rise in violent incidents at the Millennium Library came as no surprise to a group that fought to save the facility's community resources space after its funding was cut last year. According to an administrative report before the city's standing policy committee on community services, incidents at the downtown library jumped nearly 70 per cent in the first three months of 2025, with spikes in assaults, harassment, and vandalism. Kirsten Wurmann, with the Manitoba Library Association, said the rise correlates to the shuttering of Community Connections – a resource hub housed in the Millennium Library that lost its funding in the 2025 budget. 'It's not a surprise, and I don't think that it's a coincidence,' Wurmann said. Community Connections had operated in the library since 2022, offering access to librarians, library assistants, crisis workers and safety hosts trained in de-escalation. The Downtown Community Safety Partnership (DCSP) has since moved into the space, hoping to offer similar support. 'This space gives (library users) somewhere to meet privately, in a safe space,' DCSP director of operations Matt Halchakar told CTV News Winnipeg on Monday. 'They come into the space with our staff to talk about their needs and how they can work towards them.' Wurmann said Community Connections' range of services are sorely missed—services that are tantamount to a library's function within a community. 'It's all about equity access to information and knowledge and guided by the trauma-informed and harm reduction principles and community development, as well,' she said. 'This is very much a library service. This is what libraries do.' CTV News Winnipeg requested comment on the matter from Coun. Vivian Santos, who chairs the community services committee, but did not receive a response. - With files from CTV's Joseph Bernacki
CBC
10-06-2025
- CBC
Millennium Library safety incidents spike in first quarter of 2025
The number of concerning incidents at Winnipeg's downtown Millennium Library increased sharply in the first few months of this year. From January to March, there were 309 incidents, compared with 183 during the same period the year before, a 68.9 per cent increase, according to a report to be discussed at the community services committee meeting on June 13. That increase occurred despite a 7.5 per cent drop in attendance, which the report attributes to City of Winnipeg's decision to cut opening times on Sundays and Monday evenings and to close Community Connections, the service hub which had operated in the library since 2022. Across the entire library system, there were 498 safety issues, compared with 361 last year, an increase of 38 per cent, while attendance rose marginally by 0.9 per cent. Funding for the Community Connections space, which provided low-barrier information services and crisis intervention inside the lobby of the Millennium Library, ended after Dec. 31, 2024. The space had library staff, community safety hosts and crisis workers who could help de-escalate people and refer them to outside agencies and resources. Kirsten Wurmann, a librarian and program co-ordinator with the Manitoba Library Association, isn't surprised to see the increased number of safety incidents. "This coincides exactly with the closure of Community Connections," she said. "I said this in my last delegation to members of council back in January, and not just me, but many, many other people said that staffing is really important to make a safer space in which to work and to visit." About half of the incidents at Millennium Library from January to March this year related to inappropriate behaviour, with 156 incidents, a 110 per cent increase from the year before. There were 32 incidents involving intoxication, 433 per cent higher than last year. Since the closure of Community Connnections, the number of referrals to outside agencies has plummeted. Workers in the space made 5,886 referrals from January to March last year. Since the closure, library staff at all other service desks in the library began tracking the same referral data, recording a total of 812 this year. "This decrease … implies that, since the closure of Community Connections, people may not be entering the library, past the metal detector gates, for their information requests," the report states. Despite that decrease, the workload of library staff at the service desks has increased substantially. "When Community Connections closed, we knew that incidents were going to increase, because now there's nobody serving the community," said Mary Burton, executive director of Zoongizi Ode Inc., a non-profit which trains community safety hosts to work inside the library. After closing Community Connections, the Downtown Community Safety Partnership announced plans to set up an office in the space. But Burton said that office is not open as much as Community Connections was, and doesn't offer the same services. Referrals made by community crisis workers in Millennium Library rose 245 per cent in the three-month period, according to the report. "That is because there is nobody at the front line being the go-between between the community and the crisis workers," Burton said. Mayor Scott Gillingham and other council members have said the front lobby of the library was not the appropriate space for the Community Connections hub, and argued the provincial government should help fund it, since it mostly referred people to provincial services.
