Service-driven space remains closed

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This article was published 10/03/2023 (912 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The community connections space for vulnerable people at the Millennium Library has been shuttered for nearly three months, after a fatal stabbing death led the city to review security.

Opened in April 2022, the space was designed to help people secure food, shelter and mental health and addictions services with the help of community crisis workers and/or other library staff.

Several months later, the city shut down the downtown library on Dec. 11 following the fatal stabbing of 28-year-old Tyree Cayer on the main floor.

The city let patrons return to browse for books and use other library services on Jan. 23, with new temporary security in place, including a metal detector, two on-site police officers and four security guards.

The community connections space has remained closed.

Some advocates say that means much-needed services have been cut off for months.

“It’s one less place for (vulnerable people) to go and feel welcome and (address) whatever needs that can be met. It was a place where people could go and then be ushered into the library, but it was also a place where people could find out where different services are,” said Kate Kehler, executive director of the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg.

The site was one of the few downtown places where people could spend time without buying anything, Kehler said. She argues the city should redirect its funding for extra interim security, which cost more than $10,000 per week, to get the community connections space reopened.

“What actually has the chance to be transformative in the Millennium Library is that space as opposed to a return to (extra security that) hasn’t worked in the past,” said Kehler.

While she believes multiple similar spaces are needed downtown, the advocate said the city’s flagship library is well-suited to providing social supports.

“The library is a community service and so it needs to meet the needs of the community that is around it. Gone are the days that libraries were just there for books and research,” said Kehler.

Simply reopening the community connections space isn’t as simple as it may appear, said anti-poverty advocate Al Wiebe.

“(The city is) trying to figure out what is the best way of doing that and it’s a bit of a conundrum. They want safety to be No. 1 and that makes total sense to me,” said Wiebe.

He is an enthusiastic supporter of the community connections space, which he believes would have helped him find a home sooner when he was homeless more than a decade ago.

However, Wiebe said the community connections’ location outside the current metal detector and screening area to enter the main library complicates efforts to safely reopen it while library staff and patrons remain shaken by the deadly attack.

“The murder changes everything. I don’t care how it happened, it happened in the library… and people saw it and there’s that trauma,” said Wiebe, who supports using the security measures temporarily.

A member of the library’s community advisory board, Wiebe said he has heard plenty of options discussed for community connections, such as moving the space to a new location outside the library, which he hopes won’t happen.

“Decision-makers are still in a tough position to really figure this out and honour everybody’s rights,” said Wiebe. “(But this space) belongs in the library. The library is a community service place and they already have the crisis workers there helping people with social issues.”

The head of the union that represents Millennium staff said employees have “mixed” views on the interim security measures but he’s heard plenty of support for the community connections space.

“My understanding is that’s a valued service, it was utilized … I hope that that resumes,” said Gord Delbridge, president of Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 500.

Delbridge believes the city should seek provincial funding to help support the facility, noting addictions and housing traditionally fall within that government’s jurisdiction.

In an emailed statement, city spokesperson Adam Campbell said no date has been set to reopen the community connections space, though the city is working to do so “as soon as possible.” Campbell noted community crisis workers can still meet with residents on the second floor of the library while community connections is closed.

Coun. John Orlikow, the head of council’s community services committee, said a Millennium Library security audit that’s underway will help determine how best to safely reopen the social support space.

Orlikow said he supports the community connections concept but believes there are some unanswered questions about how best to operate the service.

“I personally think the space has merit… Is it in the right location? Is it properly staffed?… (For) those details, I don’t (have) answers,” he said.

Since the reopening, library security has seized 244 items from patrons. Between Jan. 23 and March 5, that included six pocket knives, 53 tools, 43 bullets and 53 pairs of scissors.

In recent months, library attendance has declined from previous years. The city counted 6,308 individual visits to Millennium in January 2023 (when most services reopened on Jan. 23). That compares to 31,814 visits throughout January 2022.

There were 25,869 visits in February this year, compared to 32,314 visits during the same month last year.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga

Joyanne Pursaga
Reporter

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.

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