Latest news with #LongPlainFirstNation
Yahoo
27-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Province, city too slow to secure housing for people living in encampments, North Point Douglas residents say
Dozens of people have found homes through the Manitoba government's plan to end chronic homelessness since January, but one man living in a Winnipeg homeless encampment says many vulnerable people are waiting too long for a roof over their heads and the supports they need. Marcus Daniels-Francis, 26, has been living in a riverbank encampment near the North Point Douglas neighbourhood for the past two months. He says he's known about four or five people who have found housing through the provincial Your Way Home strategy. The province says 59 people have been placed into housing since the strategy was introduced in January. About 90 per cent of people have moved into social or affordable housing, with 10 per cent going to private, market-rate housing. In a statement to CBC News on Saturday Housing and Homelessness Minister Bernadette Smith, who is the MLA for Point Douglas, said the government is working with the city and Main Street Project to "move people from tents into housing with wraparound supports." Smith said all 59 people are still housed. "From what I've seen, the government definitely has been helping people out, getting people off the encampments. But they aren't helping enough people yet," Daniels-Francis said. "It's a slow pace," he said. Daniels-Francis, who is a member of Long Plain First Nation, said he will be moving into his own apartment on Aug. 1, without help from the provincial program. He said he is enrolled in school and will be studying to become a welder. He said he will also be undergoing treatment for alcohol addiction. He said ongoing support for addictions and mental health should be a key part of the government's strategy, otherwise people will fall into the same patterns — as he has in the past —of getting and losing housing. "It'll be nice. I'll be able to cook my own food. I'll be able to sleep when I want to go to sleep, wake up when I want to wake up," Daniels-Francis said, adding it can be difficult to sleep in the encampment due to loud fights and other noise from his neighbours. North Point Douglas resident Howard Warren said he has been struggling to sleep for two weeks as noise from a nearby encampment has kept him up at night. He said it's the "seventh summer of absolute chaos" living in his neighbourhood. Despite feeling encouraged that the province's strategy has found housing for some, Warren said it's not helping people fast enough and "we have to do more." "We want the best for them … we're very sympathetic to the situation," he said. Over the past few summers, Warren said he has been woken by a man trying to enter his home at 2 a.m., had property stolen, and even had a gun pointed at his head after trying to provide water to a woman on the riverbank. Last week, he wrote a letter to Mayor Scott Gillingham and city council asking for help. "This is such a regular, ongoing daily, nightly occurrence ... When you reach the end of your tether, you kind of snap. I thought I really need to address this in a different way than it has been so far," Warren said. In his letter, he questioned what he calls the outreach approach of Main Street Project, a local non-profit organization that received an exclusive contract from the city to handle all outreach calls at Winnipeg encampments earlier this month. Warren wondered why outreach group St. Boniface Street Links was cut off from municipal funding. The city had previously split outreach funding between Main Street Project, St. Boniface Street Links, and Resource Assistance for Youth. Warren previously spoke to CBC News in May after he said he witnessed Main Street Project workers set up an encampment along the riverbank in his community. "Following the 'human-rights approach,' as Main Street Project puts it, I don't see that as alleviating either the suffering and misery of the unhoused folks or the communities that are greatly affected by it," Warren said. Earlier this month, Coun. Cindy Gilroy tabled a motion to ban encampments from some public places like parks and pools. This week, Coun. Jeff Browaty said he would like to see tents barred beside major roadways as well. Mynarski Coun. Ross Eadie, whose ward includes the North Point Douglas neighbourhood, responded to Warren's letter on Friday in a document viewed by CBC News. Eadie wrote that he will allocate funding to St. Boniface Street Links and the city should do the same. "I am making the decision right here to use up the rest of the Mynarski Ward Community fund balance for this organization to deal with encampments in the Mynarski Ward. I shouldn't have to as other needs in my ward need this money, but my residents have spoken," Eadie wrote. Warren told CBC News he was "extremely encouraged" by Eadie's response and planned to write back thanking his councillor. He was also encouraged that Manitoba's Your Way Home strategy had housed 59 people since January. But at less than 10 people housed per month over the last six months, Warren said the province must pick up the pace. "It just fundamentally sounds like they could be adopting more of a model to get people in houses and get people the help they need, they desperately need," Warren said. "I know it takes a big ship a long time to turn, but it's seven straight summers of this and it's going throughout the winter now too."
CBC
27-07-2025
- Health
- CBC
Province, city too slow to secure housing for people living in encampments, North Point Douglas residents say
Dozens of people have found homes through the Manitoba government's plan to end chronic homelessness since January, but one man living in a Winnipeg homeless encampment says many vulnerable people are waiting too long for a roof over their heads and the supports they need. Marcus Daniels-Francis, 26, has been living in a riverbank encampment near the North Point Douglas neighbourhood for the past two months. He says he's known about four or five people who have found housing through the provincial Your Way Home strategy. The province says 59 people have been placed into housing since the strategy was introduced in January. About 90 per cent of people have moved into social or affordable housing, with 10 per cent going to private, market-rate housing. "From what I've seen, the government definitely has been helping people out, getting people off the encampments. But they aren't helping enough people yet," Daniels-Francis said. "It's a slow pace," he said. Daniels-Francis, who is a member of Long Plain First Nation, said he will be moving into his own apartment on Aug. 1. He said he is enrolled in school and will be studying to become a welder. He said he will also be undergoing treatment for alcohol addiction. He says ongoing support for addictions and mental health should be a key part of the government's strategy, otherwise people will fall into the same patterns — as he has in the past —of getting and losing housing. "It'll be nice. I'll be able to cook my own food. I'll be able to sleep when I want to go to sleep, wake up when I want to wake up," Daniels-Francis said, adding it can be difficult to sleep in the encampment due to loud fights and other noise from his neighbours. North Point Douglas resident Howard Warren said he has been struggling to sleep for two weeks as noise from the encampment has kept him up at night. He said it's the "seventh summer of absolute chaos" living in his neighbourhood. Despite feeling encouraged that the province's strategy has found housing for some, Warren said it's not helping people fast enough and "we have to do more." "We want the best for them … we're very sympathetic to the situation," he said. Over the past few summers, Warren said he has been woken by a man trying to enter his home at 2 a.m., had property stolen, and even had a gun pointed at his head after trying to provide water to a woman on the riverbank. Last week, he wrote a letter to Mayor Scott Gillingham and city council asking for help. "This is such a regular, ongoing daily, nightly occurrence ... When you reach the end of your tether, you kind of snap. I thought I really need to address this in a different way than it has been so far," Warren said. In his letter, he questioned what he calls the outreach approach of Main Street Project, a local non-profit organization that received an exclusive contract from the city to handle all outreach calls at Winnipeg encampments earlier this month. Warren wondered why outreach group St. Boniface Street Links was cut off from municipal funding. The city had previously split outreach funding between Main Street Project, St. Boniface Street Links, and Resource Assistance for Youth. Warren previously spoke to CBC News in May after he said he witnessed Main Street Project workers set up an encampment along the riverbank in his community. "Following the 'human-rights approach,' as Main Street Project puts it, I don't see that as alleviating either the suffering and misery of the unhoused folks or the communities that are greatly affected by it," Warren said. Earlier this month, Coun. Cindy Gilroy tabled a motion to ban encampments from some public places like parks and pools. This week, Coun. Jeff Browaty said he would like to see tents barred beside major roadways as well. Mynarski Coun. Ross Eadie, whose ward includes the North Point Douglas neighbourhood, responded to Warren's letter on Friday in a document viewed by CBC News. Eadie wrote that he will allocate funding to St. Boniface Street Links and the city should do the same. "I am making the decision right here to use up the rest of the Mynarski Ward Community fund balance for this organization to deal with encampments in the Mynarski Ward. I shouldn't have to as other needs in my ward need this money, but my residents have spoken," Eadie wrote. Warren told CBC News he was "extremely encouraged" by Eadie's response and planned to write back thanking his councillor. He was also encouraged that Manitoba's Your Way Home strategy had housed 59 people since January. But at less than 10 people housed per month over the last six months, Warren said the province must pick up the pace. "It just fundamentally sounds like they could be adopting more of a model to get people in houses and get people the help they need, they desperately need," Warren said.
CBC
17-07-2025
- CBC
Prairie Green landfill search for slain First Nations women ends
The Manitoba government says a search of a Winnipeg-area landfill for the remains of two First Nations women killed in 2022 has finished. The province began searching the Prairie Green landfill, north of Winnipeg, in December for the remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran, both originally from Long Plain First Nation. Both women were murdered in Winnipeg by a serial killer. Some remains of the women were found at the site in February. The province said at the time it would continue searching the area to recover as much of their remains as possible.
Washington Post
08-03-2025
- Washington Post
Remains of murdered Indigenous woman found in Canadian landfill
Canadian police on Friday confirmed that the human remains found last month in a landfill outside Winnipeg, Manitoba, are those of Morgan Harris, a member of the Long Plain First Nation who was murdered by a serial killer in 2022.
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Kyra Wilson wins vote to become new leader of Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs
WINNIPEG — Newly elected Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Kyra Wilson has vowed to offer the same support to First Nations leaders in the province that her predecessor once gave her in 2022. Wilson, who was then chief of the Long Plain First Nation in southern Manitoba, had called former grand chief Cathy Merrick asking for help advocating for the search of a Winnipeg-area landfill for the remains of two slain women from the community after police refused to conduct a search citing safety concerns. The two leaders would eventually stand side by side at the forefront of a movement that saw Canada-wide protests calling for political action to bring home the remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran. "I had reached out to her for her support ... and she didn't hesitate. She immediately said that she would support me in the work that I needed to do," Wilson recalled. "That's what I want to do for our leadership today ... I will make sure that they feel supported every single day." Wilson, 38, was elected the new grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs during a byelection on Wednesday prompted by the sudden death of Merrick last fall. She won by a landslide during the first round of voting by securing 37 of the 61 votes. Former York Factory First Nation chief Leroy Constant and Sapotaweyak Cree Nation band councillor Bava Dhillon, the two northern candidates, tied for second place with 10 votes each. Former Peguis First Nation chief Glenn Hudson received four votes. Following her win, Wilson was wrapped in a traditional blanket while First Nations chiefs formed a circle around her. Wilson stood with her eyes closed, at one point wiping tears from her eyes. A traditional honour song was played while dozens of leaders, community members and dignitaries formed a line to congratulate Wilson. Premier Wab Kinew offered words of encouragement at an unrelated press conference Wednesday afternoon. "On behalf of the province of Manitoba, I want to congratulate her. This is good news for all Manitobans because we're going to be able to work to advance living conditions and economic opportunity for First Nations people in Manitoba," he said. "When that happens, it benefits all of us." Kinew met with Wilson and the families of Harris and Myran shortly after his NDP government came into power in 2023, and made a commitment to search the Prairie Green Landfill. At the time, Wilson said the conversation was a welcome move following the previous Progressive Conservative government's opposition to a search, and their subsequent choice to highlight their refusal during the provincial election. Jeremy Skibicki was later convicted of first-degree murder in the deaths of Harris, Myran and two others — Rebecca Contois, whose partial remains were found in a different landfill last year, and an unidentified woman Indigenous leaders are calling Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe, or Buffalo Woman. A search of Prairie Green began late last year. Wilson said she will continue the work Merrick started, as well as advocate on the issues that matter to First Nations leaders in the province, including resource opportunities, economic sovereignty and support for mental health and addictions. Betsy Kennedy, chief of War Lake First Nation in northern Manitoba and the assembly's acting grand chief, said much work needs to be done to advocate for equitable resources for children and youth. "The next grand chief will listen to our leadership. Right now it's Jordan's Principle," Kennedy said, referencing the federal program that is supposed to ensure First Nations children receive timely access to educational and health supports. Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Grand Chief Garrison Settee said Wilson has big shoes to fill, but that the chiefs respect her ability to stand up and command attention. "(Wilson) will make her own steps," he said. "She'll make her own way as a grand chief. She will be able to take them in the direction that they need to go." This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 29, 2025. Brittany Hobson, The Canadian Press
