Staff member barricades himself in office at troubled Friendship Centre

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/05/2017 (3104 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Troubles at the Indian and Metis Friendship Centre came to a head Monday when an employee locked himself inside his office, Winnipeg police were called and the building was closed until further notice.

On Monday morning, youth program co-ordinator Deven Dewar contacted the Free Press to say he had “barricaded” himself in his office at work at the Robinson Avenue centre in Winnipeg’s North End.

“These people are trying to call the police on me and get me arrested for trying to come to work,” he said in a voice-mail message. “If you guys can send someone here that would be great.”

Several police cruisers were at the centre Monday morning with officers talking to people in the parking lot and employees inside the building who refused to leave. Police told everyone else to leave the facility, which runs bingos, a soup kitchen, food bank and an after-school drop-in centre for kids.

Interim president Bill Greenwalt said an employee of the centre changed the locks on the building on the weekend without permission. Greenwalt, the former maintenance manager at the building, said he was elected to the board during an interim election on Apr. 4. Since then, just two of the nine elected board members were able to pass criminal record checks that were required within 30 days of being elected.

“We don’t have a board,” said Greenwalt.

On the weekend, an employee tried locking out the new regime, which required Greenwalt to change the locks again Sunday, he said.

When Dewar arrived at work Monday morning, acting executive director Garrett Courchene said he tried handing him a notice informing him he was being suspended. Courchene said Dewar pushed past him and locked himself in his office.

Police instructed everyone to leave the building while they spoke with Dewar and another employee holed up inside.

Greenwalt, who left work to find out what was happening at the centre, broke into tears.

“I’m resigning,” he said Monday morning. “I have to. This is too emotional. I’m 63 and I don’t want to end up in the hospital. We’re here to help these people,” he sobbed. He and other members of the American Indian Movement, an indigenous-rights group, stepped up to help run the centre, and Greenwalt believes they’ve been misjudged because of their affiliation with the movement.

“It doesn’t mean we’re radical. We’re cultural and spiritual,” Greenwalt said, adding they wanted to improve and expand the facility that has experienced years of high staff turnover, tension on successive boards and allegations of mismanagement.

The Manitoba Association of Friendship Centres (MAC) pulled its funding earlier this year — estimated at $370,000 annually in federal and provincial money — over issues related to the organization’s stability and its ability to deliver programs and services. When the new interim board was elected last month, MAC celebrated.

“We wanted a fresh start and our funders wanted a whole new board,” president Muriel Parker said at the time. No one at MAC responded to a request for comment Monday.

“This was a bad day,” said Courchene, who added he was resigning too. “I was hired to try and help straighten out the place.”

The police were there all day.

“It’s an unresolved internal dispute between staff there,” said Winnipeg police spokeswoman Const. Tammy Skrabek. “We’ve been asked to monitor the situation. There are some safety concerns, but police are not involved in the the dispute. We’re monitoring and standing by in the event anything else escalates. When the staff leaves (for the day) at 4:30, it will discontinue their involvement.”

Outside the centre Monday, former employees such as secretary Carolyn McKay, who said she held the job for two weeks, protested the closure of the centre, especially the drop-in program where kids get fed.

“The poverty in this community is so bad, it’s probably the only meal they get in a day,” she said.

Protesters gathered on the sidewalk after they were ordered off the property by police. They set up a demonstration on the sidewalk carrying American Indian Movement flags and were calling for supporters to join them.

“We’re not here to beat anybody up,” said one of the men in the group who did not give his name.

Dewar could not be reached for comment inside the building.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca