After reading an editorial, an article, and a letter to the editor on managed homeless encampments as well as an opinion piece on the drug crisis in Winnipeg — all featured recently in the Free Press — I’m having trouble understanding city council’s refusal to acknowledge that designated encampments could serve an important transitional purpose, and help address the mental health and drug crisis in our city. Aside from the comment that city resources should be directed to build more houses, and services that managed encampment would require are provincial, the city’s opposition to managed encampments as one way to address our homelessness problem doesn’t make fiscal or societal sense.

As the editorial “Designated encampments worth second look” suggests, it is too bad the idea for authorized homeless encampments that Coun. Cindy Gilroy (Daniel McIntyre) brought forward got no support from the city council, or the province. The editorial points out that managed encampments (as opposed to illegal encampments, which are being cleared) would move the homeless closer to safe place to live, and to the wraparound services provided by the provincial Your Way Home program.

According to an article “Call for managed homeless camp gets rough ride at city hall”, Marion Willis, executive director of St. Boniface Street Links, told council the groundwork has been done and it would take little effort to set up a camp; stating $1.5 to $2 million annually for the next three years would be enough to operate a managed encampment. Every dollar invested would generate savings by reducing demands on emergency services including paramedics, police and other public services, she contends, while also identifying two potential sites: near the former boat launch by the Louise bridge, or a vacant industrial land north of Higgins underpass.

Jules Rocque’s letter to the editor “Needs of unhoused are immediate” provided a bridge between the debate between housing and homeless encampments, by stating it is not an either/or choice: build more housing or deal with encampments. Building more housing will take years, and the homeless need a safe place to live now. A managed, supported encampments, as proposed by Willis, will provide a temporary solution for the homeless until housing is available, and transitioning can occur, while also urging the city, province and community agencies to work together to address both the short and the long term needs.

As Parliament breaks for the summer, it’s wonderful to be back home in Winnipeg South Centre. Summer is a time to enjoy local festivals, support community organizations, and spend time with family and friends. I am looking forward to seeing many of you as we celebrate everything that makes our community strong, welcoming, and vibrant.

As always, it was a great evening recently at the Corydon Community Centre family barbecue with time spent alongside families while handing out freezies — a tremendous downpour didn’t even manage to halt the fun! It was great to be at the Fort Garry Community Centre Carnival, where the giant bubble machine and petting farm were a big hit with everyone. Over at Riverview, I enjoyed connecting with board members, meeting residents and lending a hand in the kitchen assembling burgers at their Spring Carnival. It was a great evening filled with friendly conversations and plenty of community spirit.

A sincere thank you to the community centre managers, board presidents and members, and the many dedicated volunteers whose countless hours of hard work make these events possible and keep our community centres thriving all year long. Your commitment strengthens our neighbourhoods and brings people together in the very best ways.

Strong communities are built by the dedicated organizations and volunteers who bring people together every day. I am pleased that the federal government is investing in local initiatives through the Canada Summer Jobs program and the new Building Communities Strong Fund. My office reached out to many community organizations across Winnipeg South Centre to encourage them to apply and take advantage of this new funding opportunity. Applications for this fund closed on July 17, however, if your organization has a project that strengthens our community, I encourage you to reach out to my office — we’re always happy to help.

Youth are invited to apply for several scholarships available through the Golf Manitoba Scholarship Fund.

According to Golf Manitoba’s website, there are five named awards and a number of open awards available.

Exact eligibility criteria differs per award, but generally requires applicants to be involved in some stage of their post-secondary education, as well as being a Golf Manitoba member.

Visit www.golfmb.ca/scholarship for more information, or to apply.

They say that all good things must come to an end. In this case, the old adage has been proven true.

In 2022, the six weekly community papers — The Herald, The Lance, The Times, The Metro, The Sou’Wester, and The Headliner — were consolidated into the Free Press Community Review, with East and West editions published every Wednesday. That was a big change for many readers, plenty of whom still refer to the Community Review as The Herald (which had been publishing since 1917), The Lance (founded in 1931), or The Metro or The Times (both founded in 1973) to this day. For the past four-and-a-half years, we’ve worked hard every week to keep community stories arriving at your door each week, to keep that tradition of community journalism alive.

Last week, it was announced that the Free Press will no longer deliver flyer inserts to the more than 200,000 local households who receive them weekly. As a result, this week will also mark the last editions of the Free Press Community Review to hit your mailboxes.

The decision was made because of seismic changes to the flyer distribution business on not just a local but national level, making the business as it has operated for so long unsustainable.

An old adage is that all good things come to an end. For Memories of Sport, this is my final column. Who could have imagined that a freelance column about the history of sport with a focus on Manitoba would survive into its 14th year. It’s been an honour to bring stories about often forgotten events, teams, athletes, and builders to the Free Press Community Review readers every second week.

It’s safe to say that this final column will bring to an end a freelance sports reporting and broadcasting career (for lack of a better word) that began back in the early 1970s. After graduating from the first Creative Communications program at Red River Community College, I accepted a Prairie region public relations position rather than pursue a job in sports journalism that was my initial thought when I enrolled in the program.

Because of my connection to softball, I wrote game reports for the senior A men’s fastball league for both the Free Press and the Tribune. This led to my first freelance assignment when Trib sports editor Jack Matheson recruited me to cover the high school bonspiel that began each year right after Christmas. I remember asking Matty how much space I had and he said as much as I needed. Much different situation than the newspapers of today.

Matty later offered me a fuIl-time job as a sports reporter, but I chose to remain in my public relations position. I continued to cover both curling and softball on a freelance basis for the Tribune until the paper folded on August 1980. At the time, I also was writing a sports trivia column that usually ran weekly. My final column had been filed, but didn’t make it into the final edition.

Summer is here and in the Notre Dame constituency we are taking advantage of every bit of this time of year with community clean ups, barbecues for seniors and free summer camps for children and youth.

Community clean-ups

Our office is happy to help plan monthly community clean-ups from May to September. We are so thankful for the dozens of volunteers who show up the last Saturday of the month for a few hours in the morning to help clean up our streets, boulevards and back lanes. We are grateful for donations of food for breakfast and lunch for these clean-ups. Recently, Russell-Binscarth councillor Wes Anderson donated Tim Hortons coffee and donuts for our volunteers’ breakfast and Mar’s Sisig on Winnipeg Avenue (inside Lucky Supermarket) donated pansit and sisig for lunch for volunteers. Mr. Garbage donated the garbage bin and paid for the dump fees. The Clean Slate Team from the Downtown Community Safety Partnership also help out by picking up large, bulky items, such as illegally dumped old furniture, that our clean up volunteers identify during the clean-up. Our next clean-up will be in the Weston and Brooklands neighbourhoods from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, July 25. Our meeting place will be at the Weston Community Centre at 1625 Logan Ave.

Summer barbecues at seniors homes