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Protesters call for NDP to do more for poor, disabled
Protesters outside Saturday's NDP leadership convention called for the closure of the Manitoba Developmental Centre in Portage la Prairie. (DAVID LIPNOWSKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)
WINNIPEG - A decade of NDP government hasn’t ended poverty, nor has it closed the province’s largest institution for the disabled, dozens of chilled protesters charged outside the leadership convention Saturday.
While security guards kept the protesters from entering the Winnipeg Convention Centre, two overlapping groups pushed for the eradication of poverty and the closure of the Manitoba Developmental Centre in Portage la Prairie.
University of Manitoba Students Union president Sid Rahsid said 125,000 Manitobans live in poverty, including one in five children.
"Poverty in the province is staggering," said Rashid.
Education will help children get out of poverty, but to do so, they need better housing and they need reduced fees, right from child care through university tuition, said Rashid.
The Canadian Federation of Students has a petition campaign organized on campuses throughout Manitoba, and will present the petitions at the legislature Nov. 5, he said. "We’re aiming at getting 15,000 signed."
A few feet away, other protesters called for the closing of the Manitoba Developmental Centre, which houses about 300 people with disabilities.
Other provinces are closing such institutions, said Harry Wolbert, co-chair of the Manitoba League of Persons with Disabilities. Wolbert said that the MDC is like a prison.
"We want the residents to be moved to the community," he said. "It’s an inhumane facility" which denies the residents freedom, and is simply a way for the government to "warehouse" the disabled, he said.
Neither Greg Selinger nor Steve Ashton had come out to talk to the protesters, said Rashid and Wolbert.
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7 Comments
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Posted by:
October 25, 2009 at 6:38 AM
I'm sorry Paket, I just have to ask where you get you information? Do you not realize that the protesters are made up of people who have been in MB. institutions, who work with people who have been in institution and have not been? Not only that, but maybe you should educate yourself on who makes up the membership of People First of Canada as well as the multiple supporters they have. Sadly, your statement shows youir ingnorance on the topic, not the protesters. Do you work for MDC or the government? There could be so much more done in the community to support the closures of institutions like MDC & St Amant, this is a part of what is being asked for. Maybe you can justify how we can allow the government to give MDC $40 million instead of putting it to use in building better community supports and ending institutionalization like provinces such as BC, Ont & New Brunswick have done? I beg you to educate yourself on the topic before you go on to spread the opinions you hold out of ignorance.
Posted by: MyEyeIsOnYou
October 18, 2009 at 9:48 PM
... Soon the police will be out on the streets, in force, carrying machine guns. .... LONG OVERDUE ANYWAY!!!
Posted by: kat
October 18, 2009 at 8:01 AM
NDP? and the Conservatives...hello?!
Posted by: drek
October 18, 2009 at 5:12 AM
Gee, I don't think a decade of NDP government CAN cure poverty. Neither can a decade of Conservative government...
or liberal....
Posted by: hsisme
October 18, 2009 at 1:29 AM
At least Ashton acknowledged that poverty is a serious issue. Selinger if memory serves offered the poor a 5 buck a month raise. I believe it is called an insult. He/they will spend tens of millions putting bandaids on the problem. More police and jails. Folks forgot one of the largest and most expensive institute for the disabled. The Stony Mountain institute. Estimates are that 20% of the inmates are there because of disabilities. Yep NDP keep up the great work. Soon the police will be out on the streets, in force, carrying machine guns.
Posted by: judithandrich
October 17, 2009 at 10:38 PM
Orphanages have been closed; Residential Schools have been closed.( We all know the horrors that occured there.)Now we NEED to close institutions that house people with developmental disabilities and move them into the community. All people can live successfully in the community with proper supports.
INSTITUTIONS ARE WRONG!!!
Posted by: paket
October 17, 2009 at 10:37 PM
The ignorance of these protesters is astounding. The residents of MDC are there because it is simply not possible to care for them properly anywhere else. They need 24/7 care, doctors of many different specialties, programs. You won't find these things, in a sufficient concentration in 'the community'.