Your forecast
Sunny. Wind from the west at 20 km/h becoming south at 30 gusting to 50 late this afternoon. High 11 C. Wind chill -8 this morning. UV index 3 or moderate.
What’s happening today
🎧 As part of send + receive, record-bending artist Maria Chavez, an “abstract turntablist” performs at the South Sudanese Community Centre (129 Dagmar St.), for a DJ set, with performances by Cairo-based electronic producer 3Phaz and Winnipeg trio Compost. For info and tickets, click here.
📕 At McNally Robinson Booksellers Grant Park location at 7 p.m., author, screenwriter and University of Manitoba distinguished professor George Toles launches another collection of his micro-fictions, All the People in My Head, where he’ll be joined in conversation by longtime collaborator and Manitoba director Guy Maddin.
Today’s must-read
Just steps from city hall, two significant challenges facing Winnipeg play out every day.
But despite the proximity to the ongoing homelessness and toxic drug crises that have become woven into the fabric of Main Street, front-line service organizations worry civic leaders have lost sight of what needs to be done.
Marion Willis, executive director of St. Boniface Street Links, says the situation has deteriorated under current Mayor Scott Gillingham and council, with inadequate support for outreach services and an unwillingness by the city to take greater responsibility for addressing homelessness.
Front-line organizations say restrictions on temporary encampments resulted in dispersing people into other areas of the city. (John Woods / Free Press files)
“If you look at the last four years, I haven’t seen things get better in our sector. I’ve seen things become amplified in the most negative of ways,” Willis says.
Despite the high-visibility of the overlapping crises on city streets, they have received little attention on the civic election campaign trail. Scott Billeck has the story.
On the bright side
Zoongizi Ode, a non-profit organization that assists and advocates for Indigenous youth and families, showed off its new home Thursday.
Calling it a home is fitting for executive director Mary Burton, because she prefers to call her clients family members.
“When people walk in our doors, they’re greeted warmly. We sit with them. We listen to their story. We don’t ask questions. We just listen. And then once they’re done telling their story, we then start asking the questions that we need to know, and once that’s done, we start,” Burton said walking through the new space, which is nestled on the fifth floor of 112 Market Ave. in the Exchange District. Nicole Buffie has more here.
Mary Burton, director and co-founder of Zoongizi Ode, which means “strong heart” in Anishinaabemowin. (Ruth Bonneville / Free Press)
On this date
On Oct. 16, 1976: The Winnipeg Free Press reported the Shriners had decided to close their Winnipeg hospital for disabled children on Wellington Crescent. U.S. senator Walter Mondale criticized U.S. domination of Canada’s economy in a televised vice-presidential debate.
Today’s front page
Get the full story: Read today’s e-edition of the Free Press.
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