Those who follow my communications across various social media platforms will know I often focus on opportunities and challenges in Waverley West, along with the many great events and celebrations we share.

As I have done in previous years, I will be posting a series of updates on key local issues to help keep residents informed. Today, I am sharing data and facts about poverty in South Winnipeg. This information may come as a surprise to some but, next to downtown, South Winnipeg has the second-highest level of poverty in the city. This has been the case for many years – and the situation is worsening.

I have been working closely with Coun. Markus Chambers (St. Norbert-Seine River) to better understand the issue and determine how the city can take action, as both of our ward boundaries run along Pembina Highway.

Over the past year, Coun. Chambers and I have had many meetings and discussions with support agencies, as well as with MLAs Jennifer Chen (Fort Richmond) and David Pankrat (Waverley) and MP Terry Duguid (Winnipeg South), to better understand each level of government’s ability to respond to poverty. I will highlight what we’ve learned and the work being done in the coming weeks on my website, janicelukes.ca. I also hope to encourage residents to help where they can, whether by contacting governments or supporting local initiatives such as food drives.

I decided to write this column because it illustrates how misinformation spread by emails and social media can be very harmful and cause unnecessary fear.

Canada has seen a rise in hate-motivated crimes targeting religious and community spaces. Statistics Canada showed 4,777 reported incidents in 2023, marking a 32 per cent rise from 2022 (3,612 incidents) – the third consecutive sharp increase in four years, with the total number of hate crimes more than doubling since 2019.

During the last federal election Prime Minister Carney said he wanted to address the issue of hate-motivated crimes and last September, the government introduced Bill C-9, the Combatting Hate Act. Back then, I really thought the legislation would pass before the end of 2025.

Was I ever wrong. It turned into a hot issue as the Conservative Party decided to fight the legislation to the point that the government required other opposition parties to support closing debate on the bill. On March 10, the closure motion passed and we will now finally see the bill moving forward. What upsets me about the process is that hundreds of thousands of Canadians are being intentionally misled to believe the bill will do something that is just not true.