Latest news with #WelcomingWinnipeg:ReconcilingourHistory
Winnipeg Free Press
22-05-2025
- Winnipeg Free Press
Councillors quibble over expediting Transcona park name change
A city park will be renamed to honour a long-time first responder and his family, though some councillors fear the expedited vote could attract calls to speed up other requests. On Thursday, city council voted 12-3 to rename Kildonan Meadows Park as Lucki Family Park, which required suspending usual city rules. Such requests would normally go through the Welcoming Winnipeg process, which is under review and not presently receiving requests. The 1120 Devonshire Drive W. site will honour Joseph Lucki, who served primarily as a police officer from 1959 to 1989, while also fighting fires and providing emergency medical care during his career. The new name also honours Isydora Lucki, his late wife, who helped beautify Transcona and won gardening awards in the process. Joseph Lucki, 90, told media his early years of work combined battling blazes with policing. 'We were jack-of-all trades. We used to do everything. We used to transfer people, injured people … We had to drive a fire truck, pump water, hook up to the hydrant, and then do policing after that,' said Lucki. During his years as a police officer, he said he recalls good relations with the community, even after giving out tickets. 'In the old days, we had good communication (with) citizens, especially in Transcona,' he said. Lucki said the park will also honour his late daughter Patricia, who was killed by a drunk driver in 1989. Several councillors shared their appreciation for the family's contributions to the city. However, some also expressed concern the immediate vote could set a precedent, since the decision didn't come through a standard Welcoming Winnipeg process. 'I would very much like to see a park named for this person. I would like to see parks named for people in my ward who were nominated three years ago … You just can't start exempting certain people from policies,' said Coun. Brian Mayes (St. Vital). The Welcoming Winnipeg: Reconciling our History policy was set up to name and rename places and historical markers, with a key goal to address names that negatively impact the Indigenous community. However, the policy soon faced a backlog due to a large number of requests and is now itself under review. Its request intake process is paused until the review wraps up. Coun. Cindy Gilroy said she's concerned this park renaming vote circumvented the rules of Welcoming Winnipeg, even though she didn't object to this particular honour. 'I feel really uncomfortable with … circumventing the rules in order to prioritize someone,' said Gilroy (Daniel McIntyre). Couns. Mayes, Gilroy and Sherri Rollins (Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry) voted against the change. While he opposed suspending council's rules to hear the vote Thursday, Mayor Scott Gillingham voted in favour of the park renaming. 'He's a gentleman who served the City of Winnipeg, the people of Transcona diligently, as a police officer, for decades. When we're honouring public servants, people who've done good work in our community, I think we should be supportive of that,' said Gillingham. The mayor said the Welcoming Winnipeg review will address the challenges faced by a committee of community members tasked with making naming recommendations to council. He said the group was 'inundated with a high volume of requests,' many of which didn't fit its original mandate. According to the city's website, a review of the naming policy is due back in July. X: @joyanne_pursaga Joyanne PursagaReporter Joyanne is city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. A reporter since 2004, she began covering politics exclusively in 2012, writing on city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in early 2020. Read more about Joyanne. Every piece of reporting Joyanne 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.
CBC
28-02-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Frustration, confusion over focus for City of Winnipeg committee focused on reconciliation initiative: report
Social Sharing 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.
