Grand chief seeks collaboration on city’s housing strategy

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This article was published 04/03/2023 (960 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THE Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs has criticized Mayor Scott Gillingham’s promises to invest in 24-7 safe spaces and peace officers on Transit buses.

The assembly says those measures will be unable to “dismantle the underlying realities and circumstances contributing to the increased rates of violence and homelessness.”

Gillingham’s inaugural state of the city speech, which he delivered Thursday, includes earmarking $1 million of the 2023 budget for more overnight spaces for the homeless, and hiring peace officers to patrol buses and bus stops.

The assembly said while it agrees with Gillingham’s promise to focus on long-term support for Winnipeg’s most vulnerable, many of them are Indigenous, and solutions must be First Nations-led, Grand Chief Cathy Merrick said.

“We know that First Nations experience homelessness at rates disproportionate to other members of society,” she said in a statement.

“Our people will continue to dominate some of the worst statistics until there are First Nations-led solutions to the myriad issues plaguing our people.”

Merrick referenced N’Dinawemak, a low-barrier 24-7 warming shelter, as an example of a First Nations-led service that has gone beyond emergency support to provide long-term support.

“Homelessness and violence are not a ‘First Nations issue,’” Merrick said.

“These issues are the product of a colonial system that cannot ethically serve in the best interests of First Nations people, so why does this government continue to use its methods and systems to remedy the problems that same system created and continues to create?”

— Staff