Rita Richard (second from right) accepts money from Jill Smith
and her father, Terry Smith, and Neil Cohen (right).
When there's a will, Winnipeg finds a way.
Norquay Community Centre will be the proud owners of
a spanking new drink cooler in the next few days, thanks to generous
donations by Free Press readers.
On Thursday, I told you the Point Douglas club was
having its cooler reclaimed by Coca-Cola. The company will either move the
machine to a new location or use it for parts. Norquay general manager
Rita Richard asked Coke to consider selling them the 10-year-old cooler.
She really hoped they'd donate it.
Point Douglas is an impoverished neighbourhood.
Their kids can't afford to buy pop or much of anything else. They've been
using the cooler to store juice and food donated by Winnipeg Harvest. A
lot of kids arrive at the after-school program hungry. Richard tries to
take the edge off.
She knows the cooler is Coke property. She was just
hoping they'd make an exception.
Coke refused. Norquay would either have to spend
$500 to stock the machine with Coke products or the cooler was gone.
That's policy, they said, and if they give a machine to one organization
it would cause a tsunami of requests. It was strictly a business decision.
Case closed.
The case reopened when the Free Press hit doorsteps
and computer screens Thursday morning. My first email was from Charlie
Spiring, founder of Wellington West Capital. He offered a cut-to-the-chase
business guy solution.
"Could I buy 500 bucks of Coke products and help the
problem today?" he wrote. "Happy to help the kids if that is a solution."
Buy the Coke, keep the cooler. Seemed like a good
idea to me. Richard could give the pop away if she wanted to.
Then I got a call from Terry Smith, founder of Boyd
Autobody. He now owns Cars, a used-vehicle business. Part of his business
model is doing things that help children.
"People are trying their best and we want to support
that," he said.
He was in for $1,500. A new cooler will cost about
three grand.
Next up was Neil Cohen, representing the Joe Zuken
Memorial Association. For those of you too young to remember, Zuken was a
larger-than-life lawyer, school trustee and city councillor. He defined
the North End work ethic and character.
Cohen offered $1,500 toward the purchase of the
cooler.
"We provide gifts for projects that support Joe's
values and ideals," he said. The foundation has bought books for
inner-city schools and helped other community centres and folks carry on
the principles of social activism.
Bam! We had $3,500.
That wasn't the end of it. Morris Henoch of Able
Sales offered Richard a refurbished cooler. Her need was met but she was
grateful to talk to him.
Someone else offered the community centre three
fridges. She's taking two. One will be used for overflow from the centre's
kitchen. The other will go into the youth outreach building.
Jason Bryk, whose family owns Sunrex Management,
also offered used fridges. The centre doesn't need them now. Bryk's still
going to pass the hat at work. Another local organization has pledged
$500.
Spiring wants his $500 to go to the purchase price
of the cooler.
If there's any money left over, Richard says, it
will be used to buy helmets for young skaters and to support its organized
sports programs.
I love this city. The problem was simple if you
looked at it the right way. These people needed help. Other people lined
up to share what they have.
More donations will come in. I'll send them to
Norquay or to any other organization you choose.
I want to leave you with the quotation that runs
under Morris Henoch's email signature:
"Be kinder than necessary for everyone you meet is
fighting some kind of battle. Live simply, love generously, care deeply,
speak kindly... leave the rest to God. Life isn't about waiting for the
storm to pass... It's about learning to dance in the rain."
Mynarski Coun. Ross Eadie will donate $3,000 of his
transportation allowance to help buy bus tickets for people on social
assistance.
Eadie will present a cheque to the
North Point Douglas Women’s Centre’s bus ticket loan program on Wednesday.
In a statement, he said that the recent transit fare hike will be a burden on
low-income individuals and seniors. Eadie said that most people do not know
that bus fare is not covered by employment or income assistance.
In November, city council voted on a last-minute idea to
add 20 cents to a planned five-cent transit fare hike in 2012. Fares increased
five cents at the beginning of January, and are set to rise by an additional
20 cents in June.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press
print edition January 3, 2012
Kevin Chief (foreground) at
his constituency office with volunteers and portraits of
volunteers. Saturday special story on Kevin Chief and how he
engaged the community to vote, including recruiting local
residents to volunteer at his office.
Dan Lett story
(WAYNE GLOWACKI/WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Winnipeg Free Press Nov.4
2011
The photos spread out on the table in NDP
MLA Kevin Chief's constituency office on Selkirk Avenue tell the
story.
Each one shows a smiling face. Men and
women, old and young, white people and people of colour,
aboriginal and non-aboriginal, all volunteers who helped Chief win
the provincial seat in Point Douglas, one of the poorest and least
politically active ridings in the province.
Chief knows each and every one of them.
"Every time someone came into our campaign
office, we'd greet them, give them something to eat and then take
their picture," he said.
"We got to know them. They got to know us.
We had a relationship with them that made them want to be part of
what we were doing."
When it was all said and done, Chief and his
team pulled off several remarkable achievements. They recruited
350 volunteers to work on the campaign and raised more than
$40,000 in campaign donations, an unheard-of amount in such a poor
riding. To put the volunteer recruitment into perspective, most
candidates are lucky if they can pull two or three dozen
volunteers.
And for the first time in decades, the voter
turnout went up in Point Douglas.
A total of 1,177 more people voted in the
riding, an increase of more than 25 per cent over the votes cast in
2007. The percentage of eligible voters who participated also went up
four points to 44 per cent, the single biggest jump in voter turnout
in the province. Of course, 44 per cent is still well below the
provincial average but significant when you consider that overall
voter turnout went down this election.
It is very difficult to make direct,
riding-by-riding comparisons with the 2007 general election because
the electoral district boundaries were changed prior to this most
recent vote. However, Point Douglas was one of only seven ridings that
saw increases in both total votes and turnout. Only three other
ridings saw a larger increase in turnout.
How did this happen? Opinions vary of course but
Chief's campaign rejected wholesale political tactics and tools -- the
phone bank, recorded voice-mail blasts -- and focused on direct
contact with people. Rather than just identifying possible voters, he
and his team focused on recruiting volunteers on the theory that it
was more important initially to get people involved in the process,
rather than just handing them a pamphlet, telling them to vote and
hoping for the best.
Based on his experience in the 2010 federal
by-election in Winnipeg North, in which he lost to Liberal MP Kevin
Lamoureux, Chief said he believes every time you bring in a volunteer,
you have a chance to reach a new network of prospective voters. So he
and his team set a goal of 350 volunteers.
"When I looked at my riding, I realized the big
challenge wasn't going to be getting people to vote for me," Chief
said as he scanned the volunteer photos.
"It was getting them to vote at all."
In mid-September, as the provincial election
campaign picked up speed, Chief organized a fundraising social at a
North End community hall featuring the two things he knew would draw a
crowd: good food and good music.
Many of Chief's supporters were accomplished
square dancers, and he had convinced JJ Lavallee, a well-known
musician in the Métis and aboriginal communities, to provide the
music. That alone would have ensured a good crowd. But when supporters
showed up for the big party, Chief had arranged a special surprise: a
skinny bespectacled guy in dress slacks and a fashionable pale blue
dress shirt sitting in on the drums: Mark Chipman.
The principal owner and chairman of the Winnipeg
Jets of the NHL was jamming with Lavallee and his band. A
self-confessed "garage-band" drum enthusiast, Chipman got to know
Chief through the Manitoba Moose Yearling Foundation and its work with
the Winnipeg Aboriginal Sport Achievement Centre, an outreach program
that Chief headed up. "Mark called me when I decided to run and he
said, 'OK, what do you want me to do? Write a cheque, an endorsement?'
I told him I needed him. I wanted him to play drums at our fundraiser.
He said, 'Are you kidding me?' But when I explained, he immediately
got on board with it."
Chipman said he initially thought Chief was
joking about the drums. But when he arrived at the fundraiser, Chief
pointed towards the stage and told him to sit in.
"I told Kevin, 'If you want me to play some
Springsteen or some basic rock 'n' roll, I'll jump in for a couple of
songs.' "
Chipman said his support of Chief is not a
partisan gesture; the two have become good friends through work trying
to get North End kids playing hockey.
"I wasn't trying to do anything in any overt
way. My support for Kevin has been as a friend, and out of respect for
him and the good things he has done, I think he has a very bright
future, whether it's in politics or elsewhere."
Chief's relationship with Chipman is just one
example of how incredibly well-connected and regarded he has become
among Manitoba's opinion leaders. Young, educated, charismatic and
aboriginal, Chief is in many ways a natural politician. Prior to his
decision to run for the NDP in the November 2010 federal byelection in
Winnipeg North, all three major political parties actually courted
Chief.
There were some observers who suggested that,
having lost to Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux in the byelection, Chief may
have lost some of his lustre. Undaunted, he handily won the provincial
NDP nomination in Point Douglas, following veteran MLA and legislative
speaker George Hickes' retirement.
Lloyd Axworthy, former federal cabinet minister
and Liberal MP who is now president of the University of Winnipeg,
said Chief has always shown great talent for mobilizing large groups
of people through his work at the university and WASAC. Even so,
Axworthy said he was stunned to see how the vote had gone up in Point
Douglas.
"I think he's bringing fundamental change to the
way we do politics in this community," he said. "In a way, it's a
throwback to earlier days when you couldn't get elected without a
couple of hundred volunteers in your camp. What Kevin is proving is
that you cannot replace those volunteers with phone banks and recorded
messages."
Robert Ermel, a former top-level political
organizer who now teaches at the University of Manitoba's Institute
for Policy Research, said Chief's campaign pulled off a remarkable
feat in Point Douglas. In a riding where people are often given very
little reason to vote, Chief managed to connect with hundreds of new
voters, many of whom had never cast a vote before. In an era when
voter turnout is plummeting, Chief has proven old-fashioned,
street-level campaigning is still more effective at driving engagement
than the "wholesale" politics of phone banks, mass advertising and
phone blasts.
"My advice has always been to... rent a church
basement, drop invitations to 100 houses in the neighbourhood and have
coffee with them," said Ermel. "Say you have 20 people show up and
only three of those people volunteer to help run your campaign. That
is still an important connection to the community. And you can build
on that."
Lindsay CAMPBELL doesn't mind telling you it was
a magnificent victory. Not the election-night win, but her team's
victory in the advance poll race. Volunteers at Chief's campaign
office were divided into eight different groups, each focusing on a
different strata of the Point Douglas electorate. The goal was simple:
Each team was to try and get at least 90 advance voters to the polls
during the eight-day advance-polling period.
Campbell co-ordinated a team going after
constituents who originated from, and still had family in, the Duck
Bay-Pine Creek area. Campbell's family has strong connections to Duck
Bay and believed if prospective voters were approached by someone with
a strong cultural connection, chances were better they would actually
show up to vote.
"Our target was 90, but we actually got close to
160 people to vote," said Campbell. "And I'm proud to say we won the
eight-day challenge."
Similar efforts were made with seniors, young
people and those living in Manitoba Housing projects. Each
constituency had its own advance-poll SWAT team. As the votes grew,
the volunteer base also swelled, incorporating more and more people
who had not only never worked on a campaign, but had never actually
cast a vote.
"I never thought there was anybody worth voting
for before," said Scott Ballentyne, 38, who had never voted before
this election.
"Nobody made a connection with me until I met
Kevin."
Elaine Ranville a volunteer
for Kevin Chief. Saturday special story on Kevin Chief and how he
engaged the community to vote, including recruiting local residents
to volunteer at his office.
Dan Lett story (WAYNE GLOWACKI/WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Winnipeg Free
Press Nov.4 2011
Elaine Ranville, 63, said she became a
first-time volunteer after meeting Chief during his byelection
campaign. "I learned everything he's done for the community and how he
told everyone it was important to vote. I started to realize that I
had to get involved."
Ranville, who worked organizing seniors in the
riding, said her big challenge was many of the older voters did not
have the proper identification to register to vote. "That was a big
challenge. But once we got their ID, many of them were very excited to
vote."
Chief said his challenge now is to continue
building the volunteer base as a way of boosting voter turnout. That
will require a constant effort to keep people involved in programs and
initiatives run out of his constituency office.
The enthusiasm that built during his campaign
has not waned. When Chief rose last week to give his first speech in
the Manitoba legislature, nearly 60 of his volunteers were in the
gallery bursting with pride.
"Can you imagine that?" Chief said. "Sixty
people at my first speech.
"They were there because they earned it. They
worked for that privilege. This is just as much their victory as
mine."
When the Manitoba legislature returns to session there
will be 13 news faces and among them is Kevin Chief, who has big
expectations for himself and the area he represents.
Kevin Chief, the new NDP MLA for Point Douglas, built
an unlikely campaign team in a place where few people show interest.
Chief's operation was part campaign, part drop-in
centre. He attracted more than 350 volunteers and raised thousands in
donations, all with no help from the party's central headquarters.
And the turnout in Point Douglas, traditionally one of
the lowest in Manitoba, rose by 1,000 votes View
article and links
In Winnipeg's
Point Douglas, fighting crime is everyone’s business
view article online
john ibbitson WINNIPEG —
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
Last updated
William Reimer, a retired farmer, moved into the Point
Douglas neighbourhood about 10 years ago with his daughter
Point Douglas is one of the toughest parts of
town: a North End neighbourhood of small, dilapidated homes, seedy
hotels and dogs – everywhere, dogs.
But there’s almost no garbage littering the
streets. On every block, it seems, work crews are fixing roofs,
painting, mending broken steps. Crime is down. You can thank Sel
Burrows for some of that.
The Point Douglas resident and community
activist rails against both the NDP and the Progressive
Conservatives as they fight over the crime issue during this
election campaign.
“If only they’d realize it’s not about being
tough on crime,” he said, pointing to a former crack house that is
now back to being a regular home, in part thanks to his efforts.
“It’s not about being soft on crime. It’s about being smart on
crime.”
Everywhere this year, in federal and
provincial elections, crime has been an issue, with conservatives of
various stripes vowing to crack down, and other parties trying to
match them even as they point out that crime rates are actually
falling.
In Ottawa, the opposition is howling after the
Conservatives decided to limit debate on the government’s sweeping
new omnibus crime bill to two more days.
Here in Manitoba, Progressive Conservative
challenger Hugh McFadyen is vowing to bring down Winnipeg’s crime
rate, one of the highest in the country, by creating a new gun unit
for police, by making temporary police postings permanent and by
requiring sex offenders to wear GPS-monitored ankle bracelets.
Greg Selinger, not to be outdone, is promising
to put 50 more cops on Winnipeg’s streets if the NDP is re-elected
Oct. 4. He, too, would expand the existing ankle-bracelet program,
which is currently used on car thieves.
It prompted Liberal Party candidate Paul Hesse,
who is running in the Winnipeg riding of Fort Rouge, to accuse the
NDP of “trying to out-Tory the Tories on crime, and failing.”
Although Mr. Burrows is an ardent NDPer, he
doesn’t believe there is much to choose between the his party and
the Tories on crime issues. Neither, he says, understand the causes
of crime in the community, and how to fight it.
After a lifetime of working on poverty and
justice issues, Mr. Burrows, 67, is now retired, sort of. He and a
small band of volunteers have spent the last few years fighting to
clean up Point Douglas, which has a large aboriginal population
grappling with poverty, drugs, crime and unemployment.
They created Powerline, a number and website
people can use to report anything they think needs reporting. He
encourages residents to point out houses where drugs are being sold,
and then gets the tenants evicted under a recent Manitoba law that
makes this possible.
“Eviction is far worse than conviction for
minor criminal offences,” he says. The practice also fosters
community self-policing, because residents see gang members being
forced out of the neighbourhood.
Powerline’s volunteers harass the city to pick
up discarded furniture, clean up laneways and enforce building
codes. Mr. Burrows works with residents to deliver food to those who
need it and to match jobs to those looking for work.
“There have been a lot of positive things
going on” in Point Douglas, said Constable Jason Michalyshen, a
spokesman for the service. “The people there have taken ownership of
their community.”
Michaëlle Jean, when she was governor-general,
took an active interest in the neighbourhood’s efforts to clean
itself up, celebrating the 70-per-cent drop in crime there over the
space of a single year, with 32 crack houses put out of business.
The community was scarred, though, when a
deliberately set fire killed five people in a rooming house in July.
A crime agenda written by Mr. Burrows would
focus on giving police the power to remove alcohol from disruptive
houses, encouraging private-sector summer jobs for unemployed kids
and fixing up and funding community centres.
“Kids who don’t wear team colours wear gang
colours,” he maintains.
None of that is likely to sway middle-class
voters in suburban ridings, however. Instead, the political parties
will continue to compete over who will hire the most cops and crack
down hardest on offenders.
Even if none of that will mean much to Point
Douglas.
Rick Caslake
prepares the renovated Barber House for its official opening today as
the North Point Douglas Seniors Association centre.
One of Winnipeg's oldest and most
storied houses will finally reopen today after more than 30 years of
neglect and two fires that almost destroyed the historic building.
Barber House was once the home of
19th-century journalist and businessman E.L. Barber and is Winnipeg's
oldest residence on its original property.
The house, built in 1862, stood vacant
and was left to rot for decades before a Point Douglas community group
called Sistars decided to breathe new life into it.
Firefighters at
Barber House after the June 7, 2010 blaze. (KEITH CAMPEAU PHOTO /
WINNIPEG FREE PRESS ARCHIVES)
Sandy Dzedzora, chairwoman of Sistars,
said the building is fully restored and ready to open its doors as a
community hub. It will function as the home of the North Point Douglas
Seniors Association, a group of area residents over 65 who deliver food to
inner-city seniors, and will provide activities such as gardening, crafts
and bocce. A daycare behind the two-storey log structure will make it an
inter-generational facility.
"It is so important to have a space
where children can learn from their elders and a place where seniors can
meet and socialize," Dzedzora said. "When they have a place where they can
meet new people and network, they ultimately feel safer in the community."
The revitalization of the historic
house at 99 Euclid Ave. has been in the works for five years and Sistars
is the second community group trying to do so, she said.
In the 1990s, plans to make the
historic home a community centre were cancelled after the house caught
fire. Eerily, when Sistars gained possession of the land from the city
last year, the house was set ablaze again the very next day.
"I thought, 'Oh no, this is the end of
Barber House,' " Dzedzora said. "It was horrible. I first heard about it
on the news, actually, and I was in front of my TV, just devastated."
But the fire helped speed up efforts to
restore Barber House, she said. The blaze burned off the roof and
destroyed the interior, meaning only the exterior could be restored,
saving the community group close to $15,000.
"The house is a phoenix and it has
risen from the ashes," Dzedzora said, adding she calls Barber House a
"stubborn old lady."
"She is just wanting for us to get it
done and restore her to her former glory," she said.
Wins Bridgman, the architect of the
renewed Barber House, agrees.
"The Barber House has become a symbol,"
Bridgman said. "It was never that important of a house and the Barbers
weren't one of the important founding families in Winnipeg, but it's
become important because of its phoenix-like quality."
Because of that, Bridgman decided to
expose all the house's original wooden beams -- even the one charred by
the fires.
"The history of the wood is very
important," he said. "When a community fights to survive and fights to be
revitalized, much like the Barber House has, it has certain scars, and you
could wear those scars with honour and even celebrate them."
Bridgman, along with members of Sistars,
federal cabinet minister and Provencher MP Vic Toews and Barber family
members will be at the house today at 2 p.m. to commemorate its grand
reopening.
Dzedzora said descendants of E.L.
Barber will present a 400-year-old Bible that belongs to the family, which
will be put on display to maintain a link between the family, the building
and its history.
Barber House will eventually contain a
historical collection by area residents relating to its origin.
Tom Denton, left, Gay Sul and Ross Eadie plant petunias on Main
Street. (GORDON SINCLAIR JR. / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)
I've seen Coun. Ross Eadie (Mynarski) many times, but I
keep coming back to this one freeze-framed memory of a moment.
He's standing alone on north Main Street, white cane in
hand, waiting for a bus.
I guess the reason it's so memorable is because I've
never seen a city councillor -- a sight-impaired one at that -- taking the bus
to work.
What's even more memorable and inspiring, though, is the
way Eadie has been standing up for north Main of late. Earlier this week,
Eadie was looking for people willing to get their hands dirty to send a
message to city hall.
Eadie already has.
The message is that the blighted and all-too-often
bloodied North End deserves to be beautified, too. Or as Eadie puts it: "The
North End deserves to have flowers, too."
Last Friday, by way of delivering that message, Eadie
and three helpers dumped soil into seven planters along the north Main Street
median and filled them with petunias where weeds had been growing all summer.
The now-planted planters are located at Main Street and Magnus Avenue, the
same corner where Tom Denton works. It was Denton who brought the neglect of
weed-infested planters along north Main to public notice last week. It's the
kind of neglect that symbolizes city hall's attitude to an area that, as
Denton suggested, can use all the care and beautification it can get.
Or, at the very least, what a lot of other regional streets
are getting and what so-called "image routes" that feed directly into downtown
are supposed to be getting as a matter of documented city policy. To the
city's credit, it did respond to last week's column on the issue by sending
someone to weed the 98 planters that stretch from Sutherland Avenue, on the
north side of the Higgins underpass, to St. John's Avenue. Although, according
to Eadie, the city's first instinct had been to remove them. Until he said no.
So on Saturday, with the help of anyone who wants to
volunteer, Eadie intends on filling the rest of the planters with flowers.
Phil Sheegl, the city's chief administrative officer,
made it known Wednesday that he doesn't think that's a good idea. As he wrote
in an email to Eadie:
"Given the extremely busy nature of the location ... we
have serious safety concerns for the volunteers who would take part without
blocker vehicles or the appropriate personal protection equipment, and would
urge that volunteers not be encouraged to undertake this task."
Eadie knows it can be hazardous, which is why he wants
the city to block off one lane because they have that equipment and authority
to do that.
So far, I don't get the feeling Sheegl sees it that way.
Talk about the blind leading the truly blind.
Anyway, Eadie says he already has volunteers who are
committed to do what he, his wife Patty, his assistant Aaron Mcdowell and
local resident Gay Sul did Friday when they planted, watered and brought seven
planters to life. In 22 minutes.
Just 91 planters left now.
"I'm not happy that we're going to plant them," Eadie
told me this week, "because I still believe the city could have done this."
But he'll be there planting, anyway. He's using some of
his councillor's allowance to pay for the soil and Free Press
gardening columnist Colleen Zacharias helped Eadie source some flowers.
So if you can help Saturday starting at 8 a.m. -- if
you'd like to get your hands dirty to make a statement for the people who live
in the area -- call Eadie at 391-6259.
You can even just show up and cheer them on.
After they're all planted, he hopes city hall will feel
obliged to help maintain them. And who knows, maybe they will. Sheegl also
said this in his email to Eadie.
"I appreciate your concern for the aesthetics of Main
Street, as a major route, and in response to your email, asked staff to
determine the status of the planters to which you referred, and suggest an
appropriate course of action."
If that "action" doesn't include watering, Eadie may
need more volunteers with watering cans. When I showed up last Friday, Patty
Eadie was using a watering can to finish the planting and I was wowed by what
a difference the flowers made. And even more impressed by the courage of
watching Eadie working on a narrow median with cars whizzing by. Yeah, it can
be dangerous, but that's why the city should be doing it, not a man with a
white cane.
It was as we were leaving that something happened that
suggested the true beauty of this story.
A passing bus driver, obviously one who's had to drive
by all the weed-glutted planters and who had given the city councillor a ride
before, shouted out his window.
Talia Syrie with her dog, Michael
Bunny Feathers Sandwiches, or Bunny for short.
OUR WINNIPEG
DELICIOUS Point Douglas
I’m married to it — it’s my family now
By Talia Syrie
BY 26, I had moved over 30
times.
I wanted to own a home but my wage as a part-time banquet server made that
unrealistic until my friend, Walter Lewyck, let me know of a house for sale
across the street from his in North Point Douglas.
I was scared at first. The neighbourhood had a terrible reputation. I was
told I would have trouble even getting house insurance. But Walter assured
me I would love the quiet neighbourhood and its diverse inhabitants. Best of
all, the asking price for the 120-year-old, 2,400-sq.-foot house was $27,000
($200/month).
Point Douglas ruins you for anywhere else. There I feel comfortable and safe
— at “home.” Sometimes it feels like the street is my living room; my house
is my bedroom, my neighbours are my roommates and we all live together in a
little bubble the city forgot. Neighbours here are watchful yet unobtrusive,
honest but respectful, private and unaffected. I remember one afternoon a
few years ago after a “heated” argument on my front porch with a friend —
“North End style”, shouting and flailing around, she left and I went inside.
Half an hour later, I came back out to find that some anonymous neighbour
had left two bottles of beer on my front step. In other neighborhoods
someone might have called the police.
A roommate once said, “You talk about Point Douglas likes like it’s a friend
you’ve known for a long time’.
And I do. I’ve often caught myself saying “P.D. won’t like that” or “well,
we’ll see what Point Douglas has to say about that…” Certainly it is the sum
of its parts but also it is an entity unto itself, complete with brain, body
and heart. After two failed marriages and a myriad of messy relationships, I
have realized that it is PD who I really love — kind and generous, popular,
consistent, complicated and genuine, welcoming, tough, funny, messy and
fiercely loyal — everything I’d been looking for in a partner. I am married
to Point Douglas now; it is my family.
It changes and we grow together.
My life is very hectic; I own a restaurant; I work long hours and rarely
take days off, but every Sunday afternoon “no matter what” the NOPODOSOCO
(North Point Douglas Social Committee) hosts a picnic in our beautiful
Michaëlle Jean Park. There, we gather beside the river for a few hours and
share a meal. The food is generally quite elaborate and picnickers can be a
little competitive about the snacks they bring to share. Challenges are
made, themes proposed. Laughing, playing with the dogs, catching up from the
week and watching the neighbourhood kids running around in shoes that don’t
fit, falling down, being kids.
I admit, this particular flavour of living does not suit all tastes; but for
us, equally sweet and salty, Point Douglas is delicious. It’s not for
everyone — which is maybe why I love it so much.
Reprinted from The Winnipeg Free Press, May 29, 2011
Annie Bergen,
centre, is a local South Point Douglas artist who plans to be painting
murals with kids in Point Douglas
A dash of colour in the heart of
Elmwood
Kids paint MCC mural designed by local
artist
By: Nick Martin
Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press
Emily Walsh, Kayla Perkin, Annie Bergen, Rebekah Pchajek and Cassie
Hunter (from left) work together to complete a 7.6 metre mural for MCC.
Enlarge Image
Picture the fence-painting scene in Tom
Sawyer -- and then picture a vast, vivid vista of villages and lush fields
and flowing clean water and happy school children, all thanks to kids with
paint brushes in the heart of Elmwood.
With paint, brushes and hard work,
students of Elmwood High School will transform the walls of the Mennonite
Central Committee's thrift shop at Chalmers Avenue and Watt Street into a
two-storey-high magnificent mural.
Not to mention the vision of muralist
Annie Bergen, who's designing the project just west of the school on
Chalmers Avenue.
"I've done a number of murals with
kids, and they've never been on this scale," said Bergen. The project
takes up two exterior walls at least 7.6 metres high.
Teacher Briony Haig, Elmwood High's
one-person art department, said the MCC approached the school last year
about a mural project.
"I saw Annie painting a mural on Watt
Street and stopped to talk to her," Haig said.
Gosh -- what do you think happened
next?
Using grants from Neighbourhoods Alive
and Take Pride Winnipeg, Bergen is designing an extensive sweeping mural
that will show MCC work -- she'll do a design in conjunction with the
students, project it onto the walls of the building and then the students
will paint it.
"It's huge," Bergen said.
She expects students will work
throughout the summer on the lower part of the project, which will depict
MCC work throughout the world. Next winter, they'll paint small chunks of
the skyscape -- birds, clouds, sky, trees and hills in the distance --
which Bergen will later assemble on the building's walls.
Bergen said that many property owners
are eager to accept murals on their buildings, because they reduce
graffiti and other vandalism.
One big section of the mural will show
women creating a quilt -- colours and designs of each square to come from
the imaginations of young Elmwood.
"I see this being the fun part," Bergen
said. "Kids from the community can fill in a piece of the quilt."
Haig said that some students will take
part to earn credit in their art course, some will come for a day, some
long-term after school this spring, Saturdays in June and throughout the
summer.
"There'll be some keeners that will be
steady throughout," Haig said.
One of Bergen's works is the Red Road
Lodge at Main Street and Logan Avenue, but this is by far the Winkler
native's largest and most ambitious work.
Haig said that the visibility of the
MCC and the proximity of the thrift shop to the high school should engage
kids: "It's very public. It's where tons of our kids walk home from
school."
Mural artist Annie Bergen and young volunteer painters
have some fun Wednesday working on a large mural on the
MCC building at the corner of Chalmers Avenue and Watt Street.
Shawna Dempsey outside the old Watkins Building
at Annabella Street and Higgins Avenue in Point Douglas
South.
From 2000-2009, about 10 of us artists
shared a studio in South Point Douglas. It was a magical
building; the old Watkins factory, complete with its own
private park. Legend has it that as the owner's wife passed by
in her buggy, she was teased by the prostitutes and madams who
lived on Annabella Street. She prevailed upon her husband to
buy the block and make it into a park where she could meet him
for picnic lunches.
Fast-forward over 80 years, and this
park was the magic garden outside of my studio! As well as
being beautiful (designed by the same architect that designed
Eaton's and one of the first cement-poured building in the
city), it was the most creative space in which I have ever
worked. My art partner Lorri and I used it as the set for our
Consideration Liberation Army "art terrorist" project in 2007.
With the freight trains rumbling by and neighbouring scrap
yards, it was the perfect backdrop for artistic insurrection,
real and imagined.
Every day on the way to the studio, I
would pass through the bustle of Osborne Village and downtown,
and emerge onto Waterfront Drive, pre-condoville. It was the
most beautiful avenue; it was outside of time. The end of
Waterfront Drive remained unchanged for decades, dominated by
industry and the presence of the river. The best view in all
of Winnipeg is still looking east from Waterfront Drive as the
Red curves around the point at Alexander Avenue.
Where Waterfront curves into what was
May Street, one can continue straight ahead on the foot and
bike path. Suddenly you're in the woods! People camp there in
the summer. It's just 10 minutes from downtown, yet you feel
like you're out of town. At the end of that footpath on
Annabella Street is the most magnificent cottonwood tree -- at
least 100 years old. Every spring its snow-white fluff drifts
and piles into every corner of the neighbourhood.
My friends Lorri (and her family),
Jordan (and his family), Sylvester (and his family) and Herman
share that end of Annabella. The first time my dad visited Lor,
he said her place reminded him of the farms he visited as a
boy in the 1920s, in communities with poetic names such as
Golden Stream. It is a magical enclave. Fortunately, it was
spared the wrecking ball in the misguided Katz/Asper football
stadium deal, and hopefully will stand for another 130 years,
raising kids who like to play in cottonwood fluff and poke
sticks in the river.
Shawna Dempsey is a
Winnipeg performance, video and installation artist, now
working in North Point Douglas. Her alter egos include a
Lesbian Ranger, a Talking Vulva, and a roving fortune-teller
with the Winnipeg Tarot Co. She is also co-executive director
of Mentoring Artists for Women's Art (MAWA) on North Main.
Don't miss MAWA's Clothing Swap on April 15 from 7-9 p.m. Just
$10 at 611 Main.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free
Press print edition April 3, 2011 A8
At the start of the season, some of them
could barely skate, never mind stick-handle or dent the twine
with a wrist shot.
Now, the last-place North End's Norquay
Knights have become the Cinderella of sports -- winning six
games in a row, taking a run at the championships and putting
the naysayers in their place.
"We were the bottom-feeder," laughed
Nicole Braun, manager of the minor Atom A3 Winnipeg Minor Hockey
Association's Norquay Knights.
"The kids have never played on a team,"
said Braun, whose nine-year-old son, Evan, just learned to skate
last year. "At the beginning of the season, they were all over
the place. Now they've learned the rules and how to play."
Her son Evan, a Grade 4 student, was
almost breathless talking about Monday night's cliffhanger. The
Knights were down 2-0 to Selkirk.
"My friend Steven, he had the puck, he was
on a breakaway and he crashed into the goalie. (The puck) went
in and he didn't know it."
And the next goal was thrilling -- not
just because it tied the game, said his mom. The player who
scored, Michael Henderson, normally plays defence.
"He wasn't in his normal zone but he got
the puck and went for it," she said. "He was super-excited."
Again, the underdog team came back.
Coach Will Hudson said his team is proving
they're not just another inexperienced North End team taking a
shellacking from south-side kids who sprang from generations of
organized hockey.
"We are a Cinderella team and the clock
hasn't struck midnight yet," he said before Tuesday night's game
that might have seen them eliminated.
"My kids have character, they have heart."
Some of the teams they've beaten can't
believe it.
"We have people calling in to complain
'Check their roster,' " said Braun. They weren't expected to
win, or get this far. "We're from the North End."
She'll take accusations of them bringing
in ringers as a compliment. "It makes me feel really good and
glad that it is legit," said Braun. "These are kids who're on
the ice every night till the lights turn off. I know one mom who
has two of the boys on the team and she's trying to get them off
the ice playing in the dark. They love the sport."
The fledgling hockey mom is learning the
basics, such as the definition of an icing call. "The ref blew
the whistle and I had no idea what it was so I went home and
Googled it."
The mother of three, who works part-time
at Norquay School, says all the parents pitch in. "There was a
fear at the beginning of how are the kids going to get to and
from games and practices," Braun said. "These parents have
pulled together" and formed a team of their own, she said.
"When our kids win, we go out to
celebrate," she said.
Now they're planning a fundraiser/social
April 16 at the Indian and Métis Friendship Centre to get team
jackets and possibly to send the players to a summer hockey
camp.
"Our community came together," said
Norquay School principal Nancy Dyck.
"They want opportunities for their
children. They want their children to be involved in healthy
lifestyles. If we put it there, they'll take it.
"Every day we give students an update and
the score and everyone cheers," she said.
Chris Burrows and husband Sel Burrows
sketched hard-hitting ads against drinking while pregnant.
The number of Winnipeg women who say they drank
while pregnant is on the rise, with especially alarming rates in Point
Douglas and Transcona.
In 2003, about 12 per cent of women admitted to
consuming alcohol while expecting. In 2008, that number inched up to
14 per cent, according to data collected by public health nurses
during routine interviews with every new mother in Winnipeg.
Provincial health experts say a better question
was created in 2007, which could account for the spike. Public health
nurses got some new training and a new script that helped them ask the
tricky question in a non-threatening way that might have encouraged
more women to answer honestly.
But others say the increase raises questions
about the effectiveness of an $11-million strategy by the Manitoba
government to prevent and treat fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, the
range of brain damage caused by alcohol exposure in the womb.
FASD affects more people than Down syndrome and
autism combined and costs Canadians at least $5.3 billion a year. It
is virtually invisible and mired in stigma. Diagnosis is tricky,
services are spotty and schools, the courts and the job world are
almost perfectly set up for people with FASD to fail.
The Inkster neighbourhood saw a heartening drop
in the number of women who admitted to drinking while pregnant, but
Transcona saw a whopping 175 per cent increase.
As of 2006, the last year that
neighbourhood-by-neighbourhood data is available, nearly 21 per cent
of women in Transcona said they consumed alcohol while expecting.
That's up from 7.6 per cent in 2003.
The heart of Winnipeg, Point Douglas, has the
city's highest number of moms who admit to drinking while pregnant --
nearly 25 per cent.
That proves prevention strategies aren't
working, said a Point Douglas community activist.
"The social marketing on maternal drinking is
atrocious," Sel Burrows said. "There's a need for advertising
specifically oriented to the inner city."
The spokesman for the North Point Douglas
Residents Association sees a small group in the area with a huge
problem that's spreading.
"Their culture is being replaced by the culture
of the party and horrible binge drinking." The fallout from that
hard-core boozing often leads to shootings and stabbings that make the
news -- and domestic violence and unwanted pregnancies that don't.
"Poverty's a huge piece of it," Burrows said.
"Most people who are poor aren't involved in crime and aren't having
FASD kids... but we have a subculture where the normal checks and
balances of society aren't being used."
"Wimpy" advertising by the province and the
Manitoba Liquor Control Commission targeting pregnant women won't cut
it, Burrows said.
One magazine ad captioned Girls Night Out shows
two pregnant women in an upscale living room with apples and cookies
on the coffee table.
Burrows and his wife, Chris, came up with
something more direct.
"It's a woman holding a baby and a beer bottle
with a nipple on it and the caption 'This is child abuse.' Another is
a pregnant woman drinking a beer -- 'So is this.' "
Burrows said they've pitched the ad to community
services and the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.
"People who support choice are petrified that
once the issue of defending fetuses is raised in any way, anti-choice
people will restrict access to abortion," he said.
Sel Burrows says there are more than a dozen
vacant units in this building at 817 Main St.
An inner-city activist is accusing Manitoba Housing
of taking too long to fill vacancies.
Sel Burrows, president of the Point Douglas Seniors
Association and a spokesman for the North Point Douglas Residents
Association, said there are more than a dozen vacancies alone at the
Manitoba Housing highrise at 817 Main St.
As well, Burrows said he knows of four three-bedroom
houses in the North Point Douglas neighbourhood that have been vacant for
more than three months and a four-bedroom home empty for two years.
Burrows said when he has brought up the issue with
the province, he has been told he is wrong.
"I can show you the vacant units," he said on
Friday.
"It's just ridiculous. They have these excuses. Yes,
they have a fairly high turnover rate, but it takes them months to get
people back in.
"My friends in the private sector bring vacant units
back to availability in five days -- Manitoba Housing is very lucky if
they get a vacant unit available within two months."
Darrell Jones, chief executive officer of Manitoba
Housing, said the provincial organization does have a four per cent
vacancy rate in Winnipeg, but he said the reasons are not that simple.
"It's a combination of some units not having a
strong demand and the type of unit or the location," he said.
"People have preferred locations because of the
proximity to employment. Others become comfortable in a neighbourhood and
want to stay there."
Manitoba Housing, the province's largest landlord,
has 45,000 units across the province, with 7,700 it directly manages in
the city.
Jones said the vacancies at 817 Main St., which he
said is actually about 10 units, are all studio apartments.
"Studios have become less and less popular through
the years," he said, noting it was recently announced a housing block on
Pacific Avenue was being converted from having a number of studio units to
multi-bedroom suites.
Jones also said part of the turnaround delay in
recent years is because the provincial government has been pumping in more
money to renovate suites than it had for years.
But Jones said to address the delay for renovations
and the painting of suites, the province has been hiring more personnel to
its in-house resources.
"We're moving more and more in that direction," he
said.
"We feel we can do a certain blend with in-house
resources and contract people."
Meanwhile, the province announced Friday it has
signed an agreement with the Sagkeeng First Nation to have Sagkeeng take
over property management for the complexes at 2339 Pembina Hwy. and 25
Gaylene Pl.
The two projects consist of 15 one-bedroom units, 51
two-bedroom, 31 three-bedroom, five four-bedroom, and two five-bedroom
units.
"This is a proud day for the people of Sagkeeng,"
Chief Donavan Fontaine said in a statement.
"With this partnership, we can begin to immediately
provide affordable housing to our people, particularly those who have come
to Winnipeg to complete higher education at the nearby University of
Manitoba."
Josh Coy holds a photo of his
father Greg Coy and his wife Susanna, who died during a landslide in
Panama. Greg has returned to Winnipeg to recuperate from injuries he
suffered in the landslide.
WINNIPEG - A Winnipeg family that
relied on the media and public sympathy to raise enough money to bring
their critically injured father home from Panama now wants to be left
alone.
The family of Greg Coy released a
statement through the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority this morning
stating that they returned to Winnipeg Sunday and Coy is now in stable
condition and recovering in a local hospital.
"We would like to sincerely thank
everyone who has supported us emotionally and financially through this
difficult journey," the Coy family said in their statement. "Your
overwhelming support has helped us ensure our father will be taken care
of.
"While we know the road to recovery
will be long, we are happy he will be taken care of and that we can be
close by."
Greg Coy suffered critical injuries in
a Dec. 9 mudslide that killed his wife, Susanna Mureil, her son, his wife
and their infant daughter.
The Central American country had been
hit by heavy rains and floods for several days. At least 10 people were
killed and thousands others evacuated. The weather conditions forced the
closure of the Panama Canal.
Coy’s children, Kristin, 27, and Josh,
20, began a public plea for help to raise funds to purchase airline
tickets so they could be with their father. Once in Panama, the children
went public again, claiming their father wasn’t receiving necessary
treatment because he had no health insurance.
Now safely back in Winnipeg, the Coy
family said they are grateful to the media for its help in raising the
necessary funds but they are now asking for privacy while their father
recovers.
"Until then we are asking (the media)
refrain from contacting us either by phone, text or email so that we can
continue to focus on our Dad and his road to recovery."
City funding key for Women’s
Centre operation, says official
$50,000 injection would come
just at right time
By:
Rob Brown The Times, Canstar News
Posted: 01/19/2011
A civic committee’s pledge of additional financial support for a north
Winnipeg-based women’s resource centre could not have come at a better
time, according to its executive director.
Members of the Lord Selkirk-West Kildonan community committee recommended
at a Jan. 11 meeting that the city provide a one-time $50,000 grant to the
North Point Douglas Women’s Centre.
The matter will now be considered by the city’s standing policy committee
on community service at its Mon., Jan. 31 meeting. Elaine Bishop,
executive director of the centre, said additional funding is desperately
needed to address a recent increase in demand for services.
Bishop said the number of women who visited the centre
this past fall rose by more than 30% compared to the same period from
2009. "There are ebbs and flows but if we keep this up we will be looking
at somewhere between 12,000 or 13,000 visits for our fiscal year," she
said. "Without this funding we would be challenged to keep up standard of
services."
The centre, which was initiated in 2000, provides
access to social networks, resources, programs and activities for women in
the community and their families.Bishop said the additional funding would
provide the centre with "some breathing space and will allow us to do some
forward planning." The money would be used specifically to bolster
drop-in, safety and volunteer programs.
Bishop said the centre has generally been
self-sufficient until recently. Couns. Mike Pagtakhan (Point Douglas) and
Ross Eadie (Mynarski), who both sit on the Lord Selkirk-West Kildonan
community committee, noted the facility is a hub of activity. Pagtakhan
said it’s time the city stepped up and showed some support for the centre.
Manitoba Housing’s director of security Kevin Gamble address
the crowd. (ROB BROWN)
Some North End seniors will have a little more
romance, mystery and intrigue in their lives courtesy of a new library
that recently opened in their apartment complex.
Residents of the North Point Douglas Manor at 817 Main St. welcomed a new
chapter in the block’s history with the official opening of a 4,000-item
library on Jan. 2.
The opening was attended by residents of the 65-plus Manitoba Housing
block, members of the Point Douglas Seniors Association and
representatives of the provincial government.
Resident Ned Claspert said he welcomed the opportunity to brush up his
base of knowledge. "It’s one of those things really I thought of as work
when I was younger and now realize I’ve got catching up to do," he said
when looking at new selection of fiction.
Another resident said the library will be a great addition for seniors in
the block who have mobility issues. "Many residents don’t go out too far
because of health or money issues," she said. "This helps them out."
(Read full story)
Time in rink is time not on streets
Volunteers coach hockey to provide positive youth
opportunities in North End
Const. Gerard Allard, left, and William Hudson are
both involved in the North End Hockey Program.
Knives or hockey sticks?
A North End hockey coach is hoping the kids he mentors
make the right choice -- focusing on the fastest game on ice and not falling
prey to a life of crime and violence.
William Hudson coaches the Norquay Knights hockey team,
made up of more than 18 kids from the neighbourhood. The team is one of five
that participate in the North End Hockey Program, consisting of about 75 boys
and girls from five to 10 years old.
Hudson, who works as the Positive Athletic Cultural
Experience (PACE) co-ordinator at the Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre, said giving
kids the chance to skate and take a wrist shot might seem simple enough, but
could make a world of difference in the choices they make away from the rink.
"It's a great opportunity for children to be a part of
something positive in life," says Hudson, a lifelong resident of the North
End.
"Far too many times in our area, all we hear about is
violence and gang initiations."
Const. Gerard Allard, a 24-year veteran officer with the
Winnipeg Police Service, also coaches two of the teams in the program. The
teams are based out of the Norquay Community Centre in Point Douglas.
Allard maintains keeping kids and their families active
and involved, can mean North End residents aren't isolated from the rest of
the city.
"I practise crime prevention through social development.
I love that stuff... believe in it," said Allard.
"Hockey in the North End is no different from hockey in
River Heights. When you bring a team together, it's like a petri dish that you
study, and there's things happening left, right and centre. There's divorces,
there's separations, there's all kinds of bad things that occur... but you
take it and you move through the entire season. And you're actually teaching
the kids how to deal with problems and still concentrate on the task at hand."
Hudson says kids need to be introduced to sports
programs at an age when they're "easily targeted and easily influenced."
"What I do for my hockey club is let them know that
we're a team... I try to preach that we're one unit."
Allard hopes the program will grow to include older
kids.
"Instead of building another drop-in centre, let's get
the parents involved," said Allard.
"In any area, there's more good people than there are
bad people... but it's the bad people that own the streets because the good
people are staying indoors.
"I'm trying to draw the good people out, because they
will take ownership."
Allard and Hudson are helping to organize a charity
hockey game Thursday to raise money to support the North End Hockey Program.
The charity game will pit the Winnipeg Police Patrolmen
Hockey Club against the North End All Stars, and includes former NHLers such
as Perry Miller, Ray Neufeld and new city councillor Thomas Steen.
It starts at 7 p.m. at the Billy Mosienko Arena at 709
Keewatin St.
Tickets for the game cost $5 and are available at
Spartan Sports at 1952 Main St., the Win Gardner Place at 363 McGregor Ave.,
and the Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre at 94 McGregor Ave.
After the game, there'll be a party and charity sports
auction at Boogies Diner at 1125 Main St. That event costs $10.
Proceeds from the events will help cover registration
fees, transportation, ice time and jerseys.
The program is always in need of new or used hockey
equipment, and is also looking for experienced coaches. People who are looking
to help out can call 334-8342.
WINNIPEG - Canada Post kicked off its
annual "Letter to Santa" program Tuesday morning at the
Manitoba Hydro Gallery.
Mr. Claus
himself was in attendance to help kids from Norquay School
get a head start on their letter writing.
Every year more than 11,000 Canada Post
volunteers assist with the campaign. Last year over 1-million
letters and 39,000 emails were sent to the North Pole.
Send your Santa letters to: Santa Claus,
North Pole, H0H0H0, Canada or send an email by
clicking here.
Healthy Living, Youth and Seniors Minister Jim
Rondeau and Housing and Community Development Minister Kerri
Irvin-Ross announce plans to convert the Sharon Home Kanee
Centre on Magnus Avenue into an addictions treatment centre.
The province will spend $25 million to
redevelop the former Sharon Home Kanee Centre on Magnus Avenue as
part of a plan to expand and integrate addictions services.
An older section of the existing facility
will be demolished while the remainder is to be renovated.
A range of addictions services will move
into the new space when it’s completed in late 2012, including:
— Centralized intake and assessment for all
government-funded addictions services;
— 20 new beds for adult detoxification,
serving an additional 720 clients annually;
— 38 beds for the relocation and expansion
of the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba’s men’s residential
treatment beds, serving 456 clients a year;
— 10 new beds for post-treatment
transitional housing; and
— Community-based pre- and post-treatment
support.
There will also be 24 two- and three-bedroom
temporary housing units for rural and northern Manitobans who must
travel to Winnipeg for medical treatment.
Supporters Chris Burrows, Sandy Dzedzora and
Angel Peterson are excited about the Barber House renovation
plans, pictured below in artist’s rendering.
An icon-turned-eyesore in North Point Douglas is
on track for a long-awaited revamp, with federal funding in place to
help turn the burnt shell of Barber House into a seniors' centre.
And the summer fire that razed part of the
rundown heritage building has turned out to be an unexpected blessing
for the people trying to preserve it.
The
federal government has announced more than $270,000 in Heritage Canada
funds will be provided to help restore Barber House. Sisters
Initiating Steps Towards a Renewed Society (SISTARS), a community
group that was given ownership of the home and property by the city
this past summer, still needs to match that figure, but the group has
promises of funding from other sources, said board member Chris
Burrows.
A fire in June destroyed the roof and second
storey of the home at 99 Euclid Ave., which dates back to the 1860s
and is believed to be the city's oldest home on its original property.
"We were completely devastated," said Burrows.
But the blaze didn't eat through the sturdy
frame of the house, a rare remaining example of Red River frame
construction. The roof and second floor were torched, but they would
have been dismantled regardless, said Burrows.
In fact, the effects of the fire meant the
group's revised request to the federal government asked for less money
than they'd sought previously.
"It's almost unheard of that people would do
that, so I think it drew even more attention to us," Burrows laughed.
Work on the house is expected to start in short
order.
The exterior should be finished by the end of
December, said Burrows, while interior work is aimed to be finished by
April 2011.
The revamped home will be true to historic form
on the outside, said architect Wins Bridgman. The traditional Red
River construction will be left visible inside, he said, with no plans
to hide places where wood has been burned or replaced in past fires.
"We believe part of the story of the Barber
House is that it has survived for so long, and we don't want to erase
that long history of its restoration," he said.
Bridgman's firm, BridgmanCollaborative
Architecture, also designed the $1.3-million daycare currently being
built on the same property. The daycare and seniors' drop-in centre
will be connected by a glassed-in 'playtrium' usable by both groups,
said Bridgman.
Chris Burrows is the spokeswoman for the
Dufferin-area Citizens on Watch program.
Drugless and thugless.
That's how residents of the Dufferin area want to
see their neighbourhood, after turning to some friends in Point Douglas
for help.
This Saturday, about 500 residents of the inner-city
neighbourhood will get posters advertising a new phone line dedicated to
collecting anonymous tips that will hopefully clear out crack dealers,
slum housing and gang houses.
"It's a very tough area," said Chris Burrows.
The 70-year-old former kindergarten teacher is the
spokeswoman for the Dufferin-area Citizens on Watch (COW) program and also
the wife of Sel Burrows, a community activist credited with cleaning up
Point Douglas with its own COW program.
Chris Burrows said the couple who will be running
the new phone line have to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation.
"We don't want them to be identified because it
could be dangerous for them," she said.
"If it was found out what was happening, they
might... at the best, get a brick through their window, but in that area
of town it's just as likely to be a bullet," said Burrows.
The roots of the new citizens program came after a
couple who were living in Point Douglas moved to the Dufferin area, and
noticed gang activity and drug dealing as they took their children to
school.
They contacted Burrows for help, and the program was
born late this August.
It will cover the area from McPhillips Street east
to Salter Street, and from Selkirk Avenue south to the CP Winnipeg Yards.
The group doesn't only report crimes but also
derelict properties with boarded-up windows, so they can use city bylaws
to crack down on problem properties. Burrows said properties have already
been nailed for infractions such as improperly boarded windows.
Invisible COWs coming :
New crime watch group forming in
Dufferin area
By ROSS ROMANIUK,
Winnipeg Sun
Watch out, Mad Cowz — the Invisible COWs are on
your trail.
That might be one way of looking at a new crime
watch group getting up and running in the North End, to report criminal
activity in and around what it calls the “Dufferin area” to police.
The “Invisible COWs” — what group spokesman Sel
Burrows describes as a light-hearted name for the “citizens on watch”
effort — is an off-shoot of the so-called Powerline project he has used
with other volunteers to report to cops on crime in Point Douglas.
“The people in Dufferin want to get to the same
stage — where all the good people have a system to report the bad ones,”
Burrows said, noting the district is generally in the area of, or close
to, where Gerald Dumas and Tiffany Johnston were recently murdered in
separate incidents.
Though Burrows said he’s not actively involved in
the Dufferin group, he’s speaking for its few members — mainly former
Point Douglas residents — for now. He and his wife Chris are acting as
“advisers” to allow them to remain anonymous, he said.
“They want to stay anonymous. It’s dangerous over
there,” Burrows said while preparing flyers to be distributed Friday and
Saturday to announce the group’s launch.
“When they moved to the Dufferin area, they couldn’t
believe the crime over there. They called us and said, ‘Hey, can we set
this up?’ So we’ve been working with them for a couple of months now. The
flyers are going out on the weekend.”
The Dufferin-area COWs will target an area bounded
roughly by Salter Street, Selkirk Avenue, the Canadian Pacific Railway
tracks and a point near Arlington Street, he said.
They’ll report to police on not only outright
criminal activity, but on property violations that could prompt action
from the city on a “livability” bylaw. He pointed out that because many
gang members “live like pigs,” the group’s members can use that bylaw to
make their lives uncomfortable and to hold their landlords accountable.
“The good landlords haven’t got a problem. The
rougher landlords find out it’s not in their best interests to rent to
gangs and people having out-of-control parties,” he said. “The whole
theory behind this thing is that the good guys are in control, and the bad
guys are on the run.”
Police Const. Jason Michalyshen said such watch
groups offer residents a way to “get involved and take some of their
communities back” from crime on their streets.
“We don’t condone any form of vigilantism, or
anything like that,” Michalyshen said. “If these groups are organized and
have a particular mandate or goal in mind, they can be very, very helpful
to police. And I think it’s a way of people taking ownership and a certain
amount of control of their neighbourhood.”
THEY look like wanted posters and that's
pretty much what they are.
Wanted, yes, wanted in school, yes again,
and pretty young people to be the subject of a wanted poster -- but that's one
way to get adults helping out when they see a kid out on the streets during
school hours.
Winnipeg School Division has launched a
campaign inspired by Point Douglas community activist Sel Burrows to find kids
hanging out on the streets and get them into school.
The photos on the poster are staged but
they get the point across -- be on the lookout for children on the streets who
should be in school.
"We'd like to call it attendance
follow-up," said WSD's north area superintendent Dushant Persaud. "Parents are
often the last people to know their kids aren't in school.
"We sent it to all the schools."
Persaud said Burrows came to the division
and said, "There's no way to notify the school division if kids are just
hanging out in the community."
The division met with the community and
with Child and Family Services, said Persaud.
Now, "Folks can phone the division and give
a heads-up" if they see kids on the street during the school day.
Seen once, maybe there's an in-service to
explain the kid's not being in a classroom. But spotted on the street
frequently, chances are the child is skipping school, or he or she has just
arrived in the neighbourhood, or maybe the parents haven't even registered the
child.
Ideally, people calling WSD at 789-0400
or emailing
attendancehelpdesk@wsd1.org should have as much information as
possible: where the child has been seen hanging out, a name, an address,
anything that will help the local school and WSD's attendance officers figure
out how to make a home visit, Persaud said.
Will
Frame is the Canadian Champion Arm Wrestler in the Grand Masters category and
second place finisher in the Masters category.
Frame, who had won Canadian
championship arm wrestling titles in the 1980s, came out of retirement to
challenge the title in the Canadian Arm Wrestling Championships held in Winnipeg
Sept 4th & 5th.
Saturday, Frame won the Grand
Masters title as Canadian Champion for over 50, beating his last challenger from
Saskatchewan in two bouts that lasted 25 minutes and 15 minutes. The third-place
finisher was from Montreal.
Earlier, Will Frame, 53 was
defeated in the final of the Masters level by a 39-year-old, giving Frame the
2nd place trophy.
These victories qualify Will for
the World Arm Wrestling Championship, to be held in Las Vegas in December 2010.
The idea of coming out of
retirement came last year when Mike Pagtakhan was invited along with all the
Manitoba Champions to do an arm wrestling demonstration at Norquay Community
Centre in Point Douglas.
Will soon found that even though
he hadn’t been training, he was able to hold his own and defeat much younger arm
wrestlers.
After a year of training, Will
was ready for the Canadian Championships.
A long-time resident of Point
Douglas, Will was proudly sponsored by the North Point Douglas Seniors
Association, who consider him a Junior Senior.
Will exemplifies the positive and
the powerful forces that live in the beautiful and safe neighbourhood of North
Point Douglas.
For more information
contact: Sel Burrows 956-4090
Reprinted from the North Point Douglas Seniors
Association Newsletter
Much has been said about Michaëlle Jean's
qualifications, or lack thereof, for the office of Governor General, as
though to say a Canadian whose vocation was something other than
constitutional affairs is ill-suited to the job of royal proxy in
Canada. Ms. Jean has proven herself capable of the honour of the office
repeatedly, as Winnipeggers know well.
Ms. Jean, on a final swing to the city in her
remaining vice-regal days, returned to spend much of her time this week
in the Point Douglas neighbourhood that is evidently near to her heart.
The relationship dates to a plaintive letter in 2007 from school kids in
the crime-ridden enclave that has, of its own grit, rehabilitated the
Point as a place fit to live.
Ms. Jean can take no credit for the tough, shrewd
work of residents to wrestle back their playgrounds, school yards and
streets from the plague of drug dealers and street gangs. She told
residents, in fact, that their work has led her to launch a foundation
to support similar projects among youth across the country.
View
photos of visit
Her attentiveness, though, was singularly
inspiring to the children and the activists worthy of eminent
recognition. Her visits served to say that Canada took note of their
struggle.
Such doting recognition holds intangible value,
and across Canada there are many ordinary Canadians who will remember
Ms. Jean, set to leave Rideau Hall next month, for her gallant love of
the land and people.
Her sojourns into the country's isolated and small
communities, its community clubs and the places where children play, in
addition to the international forays, set a fine example for her
predecessor and those who follow. A prime minister must exude political
wisdom and steadfast leadership to cut the country a robust, affluent
future; the governor general is one who binds the citizens in love of
the national being, a mutual patriotism.
Ms. Jean's command of the office was undeniably
steadfast and she smartly acquitted her responsibilities, tested during
the constitutional crisis of 2009.
But the imprint of her tenure, her place in Rideau
Hall's history, will be her unabashed compassion for ordinary folk.
Canada was fortunate to have known a demi-royal
who exuded honest enthusiasm for eating raw seal meat, with the natural
grace that made her at home in a uniform, rubbing shoulders with dusty
soldiers in a faraway theatre of war. It can be said Ms. Jean has given
as much as she took from her time as Governor General and that is a job
very well done.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press
print edition August 28, 2010 A18
Gov. Gen. Jean's love of Point
Douglas keeps on flowing in latest visit
By: Larry Kusch
Winnipeg Free Press, August 26, 2010 - PRINT EDITION
Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean with Premier Greg Selinger and
neighbourhood children at a ceremonial planting of an oak tree to
mark the naming of a park in her honour. Photo by Phil Hossack
♦♦♦
Michaëlle
Jean returned to one of her favourite Canadian neighbourhoods Wednesday
to thank its residents for inspiring a nation.
On a visit that will be her last to Winnipeg as
Governor General, Jean spent most of the day in North Point Douglas --
talking to kids at the Graffiti Gallery, lunching on braised elk shank,
speaking (and listening intently) to community residents at a town
hall-style meeting and presiding over the naming of a city park in her
honour.
"You are an inspiration to the nation," she told
the more than 200 community residents and activists who jammed the tiny
Norquay Community Centre along with such dignitaries as Mayor Sam Katz,
his rival in this fall's civic election, Judy Wasylycia-Leis, and
several provincial MLAs and cabinet ministers.
Jean's love affair with Point Douglas began three
years ago when she met several grades 5 and 6 students from Norquay
School who read to her a poignant letter they had written about the grim
realities of living in the inner-city community. They told the Queen's
representative they didn't feel safe in a neighbourhood in which they
were constantly threatened and where the streets were littered with drug
needles, shotgun shells and broken glass.
The letter inspired the police and government
officials to help local activists tackle the community's formidable
problems head-on. One technique they used was to establish a Power Line
in which tips could be passed on to police and landlords anonymously.
Before long, 32 crack houses were shut down and crime plunged a whopping
70 per cent.
Jean has kept in touch with Point Douglas's
progress and extols the community's successes in speeches across the
country and around the world.
(read
full article) View
photos of visit
Single Lazy Unemployed Guys, the SLUGS of the inner city,
are the main cause of crime and social dislocation. As we have worked on crime
suppression in Point Douglas, certain themes began to emerge.
One was the huge number of healthy young men who do not
work or go to school. At any time of day or night you see these guys walking,
riding their bikes or chatting, as if being unemployed was normal, which is
not the Point Douglas norm.
One of our outreach workers, who had always worked
herself but most of her friends did not, was given the job of delivering
"welcome cart" packages to people moving into Point Douglas. She discovered
that no one was home during the day at most of the homes she visited. "I had
no idea so many people worked," she said.
As we moved in on more and more crack houses, we
discovered another phenomenon: Couch surfers, young men who moved in on
families, mothers, girlfriends, cousins and lived off the income of the woman.
Many of the younger crack dealers did pretty well. No rent, food provided,
sleep in, and a good income from selling crack.
It was very difficult for the woman whose home was
invaded to get rid of this big, strong, young man, who not only lived off
them, he set a horrible role model for any kids in the home.
(read
full story)
Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION - 27/07/2010
Here's the number to call
if you want to report a SLUG on your block - 945-4437
(Income Assistance)
Governor General returning to Point Douglas Aug. 25 for
a daylong celebration
Graffiti Gallery's Stephen Wilson says Jean is coming to give area
residents 'a pat on the back.'
Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean has a soft spot in her heart
for Point Douglas, extolling the community's courageous and successful
battle against crime in speeches around the world.
And the inner-city Winnipeg neighbourhood loves her
right back.
On Aug. 25, in likely her last visit to Winnipeg
before her viceregal term ends this fall, Jean will spend the entire day in
Point Douglas, a community she played a major role in transforming three
years ago.
"The reason for her return is to come and congratulate
the residents for a job well done -- to give them a pat on the back. That's
why she's coming back," said Stephen Wilson, executive director of the
Graffiti Gallery on Higgins Avenue.
It's at Graffiti in June 2007 that Jean, then on a
national tour of urban art forums, met a group of grades 5 and 6 students
from Norquay School, who wrote her a poignant letter about the grim
realities of living in Point Douglas. They told the Queen's representative
that they didn't feel safe in a neighbourhood in which they were constantly
threatened and where the streets were littered with drug needles, shotgun
shells and broken glass.
The visit and the letter made national headlines and
lit a fire under the provincial NDP government and city police. Three weeks
later, several cabinet ministers, police officials and justice department
representatives, including current city police Chief Keith McCaskill, met
with the community to listen to its concerns first-hand.
Community leaders who had long struggled to reclaim
the neighbourhood from drug dealers and other thugs suddenly had friends in
high places. Sel and Chris Burrows were able to establish the Powerline
phone line, through which community members provided anonymous tips about
bad guys, whom the police then investigated. (read
full story)
By Larry Kusch, Winnipeg Free Press,
July 24, 2010
Student finds her
groove during hip-hop classes at Graffiti Gallery:
"When I'm dancing ... I feel so free!"
As
the bass beat pumps in the background, 12-year-old Raven Michelle breaks
into a grin and starts to dance.
Although she only has a few years under her belt,
Raven holds complicated breakdance poses like a natural.
"I love dancing because it gets all my stress out and
keeps me out of trouble," said. "Who wouldn't want to do the thing they
love?"
Raven started dancing a year-and-a-half ago after
attending one of the Graffiti Gallery's free hip-hop classes.
"I came to the class and I just thought it was so much
fun," she said. "So I started coming back every Saturday."
While Raven is enthusiastic and dedicated, she is also
very talented, gallery project manager Jill Ramsay said.
"We've awarded her a bursary and scholarship to attend
contemporary dance classes. She's really one of the best young dancers in
the city," she added. (read
full story)
Britt Harvey, Winnipeg Free Press print edition,
July 23, 2010
The City of Winnipeg has named a Point Douglas green
space around Norquay Community Centre after outgoing Canadian Gov.-Gen.
Michaelle Jean.
City council's protection and community services
committee voted this morning to name the green space -- which had no name --
after the GG.
The name change will take effect as soon as protocol
officers in Ottawa determine whether it should be named "Gov.-Gen. Michaelle
Park" or "Michaelle Jean Park."
The GG will next be in Winnipeg Aug. 25. Graffiti
Gallery director Steve Wilson said he hopes she will attend a naming ceremony.
Last Updated:
Monday, July 12, 2010 | 11:34 AM CST
CBC News
Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean has often noted Point Douglas in speeches about
renewed hope and transforming neighbourhoods. (Pawel Dwulit/Canadian Press)
Winnipeg is naming a park in Point Douglas after
outgoing Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean.
The standing policy committee on protection and
community services voted Monday to honour Jean — and her philosophy of
bringing communities together to address crime and renew hope — by naming a
section of riverfront green space for her.
The park, which does not currently have a name, is
adjacent to Norquay Community Centre, just off Granville Street and Rover
Avenue.
The city hopes to time the naming of the site with
Jean's next visit to Winnipeg on Aug. 25.
The naming process does not require a vote by city
council but it does need approval from protocol officers in Ottawa.
The motion that proposed the naming of the park cited
Jean's connection with the Point Douglas neighbourhood:
In June 2007, she held an event in the area as part
of the Governor General's Urban Arts Forum.
In a September 2008 speech in Toronto as part of
the Youth Arts Policy Forum: Ignite the Americas, Jean referred to North
Point Douglas as a successful example of bringing communities together to
address crime and promote strong neighbourhoods.
At the inauguration of the Jeanne Sauvé Lecture
Series in Montreal on Feb. 18, 2010, Jean referenced the youth from
Graffiti Art Gallery, located in South Point Douglas, as an example of how
youth and the arts can help lower crime rates and transform
neighbourhoods.
On May 10, 2010, in her opening address at a
DiverseCity event in Toronto, Jean referred to the North Point Douglas
neighbourhood as a place where residents care and a place of renewed hope.
"She's brought a lot of light on various areas that
haven't seen that light before, and North Point Douglas is definitely one of
those areas that she's brought light to and I thank her for that," said Coun.
Lillian Thomas, a member of the protection and community services committee.
Winnipeg - A ribbon-cutting ceremony will
take place at the revitalized, reopened Manitoba Indigenous Cultural Education
Centre in Winnipeg's Point Douglas area this morning.
The centre located at 119 Sutherland Ave.
houses more than 10,000 books and videos and hundreds of artifacts and works of
art. (Read
full story)
Staff Reporter, Winnipeg Free
Press, June 30, 2010
Heritage house wracked by fire
Point Douglas residents vow salvage
KEITH CAMPEAU PHOTO
Firefighters watch the flame-engulfed house burn Monday
morning.
Point Douglas residents are vowing to find a way to save Barber House after
the historic home was heavily damaged by fire early Monday morning.
"The goal is still going to be to bring that building back to life in a
historically acceptable way," Point Douglas resident and community activist
Sel Burrows said of the long-vacant two-storey home at 99 Euclid Ave., which
is believed to be the oldest frame house in Winnipeg.
"Right now we're in a bit of a state of shock," Burrows said of the members
of Sisters Initiating Steps Towards a Renewed Society (SISTARS), a community
group that obtained possession of the house and surrounding property just last
week from the city.
He said SISTARS plans to build a new $1.3-million community daycare centre
on the Barber House property and to redevelop the house into a drop-in centre
for area seniors. He added the two buildings will be physically connected to
one another.
"I spoke to most of the board members this morning (Monday) and I don't
think there's a question in anybody's mind that it is salvageable," he said.
"It has to be salvaged. It's just too important historically."
A fire department spokesman said Monday the cause of the fire was still
under investigation and a damage estimate had not yet been determined.
(Read full story)
By: Murray McNeill - Winnipeg Free Press,
June 8, 2010
Local Leaders Needed -
There have been killings, rapes and shootings in the West End before --
lots of them -- but nothing like the series of horrifying events that unfolded
this week. It started on Sunday with the brutal sexual assault of a six-year-old
girl, followed by a gang war that left one teenager dead, another wounded and
two young girls also injured by gunfire. The fact that the suspects in the
shootings are also teenagers is just as disturbing.
There's nothing to compare it to in the city's history and
it has traumatized not only the families affected by the violence, but the
entire community. Something has to be done, but what?
Let's start by acknowledging the obvious. There are no quick and easy fixes, but
there are useful precedents from around the world on how crime-ridden
communities took control of their fates.
One of them can be found in our own Point Douglas
neighbourhood, which showed ordinary people can fight back.
Just three years ago, it was plagued with violence, gangs
and 32 crack houses. A group of residents rallied the neighbourhood and
established a system that made it easy for people to report problems. Police,
city hall and the province were suddenly swamped with demands to clean up
garbage and derelict housing, or close down drug operations or homes that were
fronts for prostitution and crime.
Working with the authority of the municipal Livability
Bylaw and the provincial Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act, officers shut
down centres of criminal activity and forced landlords to clean up their
properties and evict problem tenants. All of a sudden, it was the criminal who
felt uncomfortable.
Point Douglas still has crime, but the gangs and crack
houses are gone and people feel safe walking the streets.
Point
of Pride? - A city committee will consider a
request Tuesday to “point” a few roads in a new direction.
But a proposal to remove “Avenue” from the names of the
northernmost streets in Point Douglas — Magnus, Burrows, Alfred and Aberdeen —
and replace it with “Point” is already being shot down by the councillor who
represents the area.
“I don’t think much of that idea,” said Coun. Harry
Lazarenko, whose Mynarski ward includes the four streets. “What would ‘Point’
mean to people not familiar with the area? I’d rather see something like ‘Avenue
East.’ (Read full story)
Coun. Harry Lazaranko (Mynarski) at Alfred Avenue — Alfred Point? — and
Main Street. He wants to consult residents. (MARCEL CRETAIN/Winnipeg Sun)
New life for North Main --
Major retail complex planned
Work is to get underway this July on a major retail
development that will breathe new life into a struggling section of north Main
Street.
That's when construction crews are to begin work on Neechi
Foods Co-op's $5-million redevelopment of the former California Fruit Market
property on north Main Street.
Bridgman Collaborative Architects From left, Russ Rothney,
Neechi Foods Co-op president Louise Champagne and Wins Bridgman in front of
the old California Fruit Market, which is to be transformed into a retail
complex, seen above in artist�s rendering.
Although details still have to be completed, Neechi Foods
has lofty plans for the property it acquired last September.
Not only will its Neechi Commons development be home for a
much-expanded Neechi Foods supermarket, but also for 10 to 15 retailers and
several office tenants. And if everything falls into place, it could also be
home to a culinary-arts school, a hydroponics operation and a year-round farmers
market.
Astrid Lichti, administrator for the Mosaic Business
Improvement Zone, said BIZ officials and area residents can't wait for the new
development to open. (Read
full story)
Murray McNeill - Winnipeg
Free Press, April 5, 2010
Elmwood gets
access to inner city program
--
Representatives of Elmwood are cheering the province’s decision to include the
neighbourhood in an inner city program that has helped other similar
neighbourhoods in the city.
The provincial government announced that Elmwood will soon be eligible to join
the Neighbourhoods Alive! program as part of its March 23 budget announcement.
The program is aimed at giving inner city neighbourhoods more of a say in
determining how they need to rebuild, rehabilitate, and improve the quality of
life in their communities. It works with community organizations, including
schools and businesses, to plan and secure funding for projects.
“I’m ecstatic about it,” said Martin Landy, executive director of the Elmwood
Community Resource Centre and Area Association.
“Elmwood is a sister community to the inner city and we’ve been experiencing all
of the same issues as the other Neighbourhoods Alive! communities.”
(Read full story)
Ryan Crocker,
"The Times, a Canstar Community Newspaper",
Apr 1/10
Crime can be beaten --
There is no silver bullet in the battle against crime, but the
residents of Point Douglas in Winnipeg's inner city have shown neighbourhoods
can fight back and win. Three years ago, the
community was plagued with violence, gangs and 32 crack houses. Today, the gangs
and crack houses are gone, and people feel safe walking down the street.
Criminals are still a challenge, but they no longer rule
or define the historic neighbourhood. Point Douglas activist Sel Burrows
explains the dramatic turnaround in a column in today's View
from the West (H11).
Fighting crime and anti-social behaviour begins with the
realization that police and governments cannot solve every problem, but they can
be partners and agents of change in communities that mobilize for action. That's
what happened in Point Douglas. (Read
full story)
Staff writer - Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press
print edition March 13, 2010
Point Douglas natives SAY
NO TO CRIME -- And because of that, Point
Douglas has gone from being a high-crime area to a low-crime area in three
years.
Many people have followed our struggle as we went from a
community with 32 crack houses, a recognizable gang presence, where kids were
afraid to go out in the evening, to one with crime but where the criminals are
afraid of the community.
What most people aren't aware of is the crucial role
aboriginal people living in Point Douglas have played. When the Powerline system
was first dreamed of, it was a Métis elder who suggested the strategy. I
remember Sandy Dzedzora sitting in our living room, glass of homemade red wine
in hand saying: "There are five crack houses on my block. Why don't we start
with them."
Two months later the dealers were evicted or arrested and
people were phoning: "I've got a crack house on my street, why don't you close
that one." And we would, and the Powerline was born. (Read
full story)
Sel Burrows is a Point Douglas community activist.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print
edition March 13, 2010
Treatment Centre Doomed: Driedger -
A plan by the province to turn a
seniors' home in Point Douglas into an addictions treatment centre may be on the
ropes because of escalating costs to renovate the building, Progressive
Conservative Health critic Myrna Driedger said Wednesday.The plan called for the
former Sharon Home at 146 Magnus Ave. to be turned into a 78-bed residential
addictions treatment centre and outpatient facility, but a 2008 consultant's
report obtained by Driedger said renovation costs would total $10 million and
the annual operating cost would be about $8 million. Manitoba Health and Healthy
Living would pay for the renovations.
"It sounds like the centre is doomed," she said. "That's
too bad. There's a desperate need for more treatment beds." (read
full story)
Point Douglas to get early childhood education centre
An economic
development co-op based in Point Douglas is moving ahead with plans to build an
early childhood education centre and community space in the neighbourhood.
Sisters Initiating Steps Toward a Renewed Society
(SISTARS) recently completed raising the $1.6 million needed to build the Eagle
Wing Early Education Centre and Point Douglas Community Room.
On Feb. 11, SISTARS invited residents to view a model of
the facility, discuss its design, and share in the excitement.
“It’s been a long time coming and it’s all very exciting,”
said Angel Peterson, SISTARS co-chair.
She said the facility will be located at 99 Euclid Ave.
and will add to the ongoing revitalization of the area.
“It’s really going to impact the community and open it up
for families with children. Everyone is very positive about it.”
Bridgman Collaborative designed the facility, which
features three early childhood education spaces: an infant room with a capacity
of 12 and two preschool rooms with a capacity of 16 each. There will also be a
kitchen and even am ice-cream vendor with a window.
(Read
full story)
Ryan Crocker,
"The Times, a Canstar Community Newspaper", Feb
25/10
Artist's
portraits of women confrontational, challenging -- This brash new
exhibit at the High Octane Gallery attempts to counteract centuries of dewy,
idealized images of femininity.
Given the crushing weight of art history, that's not
really something that can be accomplished in one show. But Winnipeg artist
Arlea Ashcroft does her darnedest, with aggressive technique, in-your-face
subject matter and a whole lot of screw-you attitude.
(Read full story)
Alison Gilmour, Winnipeg Free Press, February 25, 2010
A new non-profit organization in Point Douglas aims to
rehabilitate the neighbourhood’s few remaining notorious residential properties.
Still in the planning stages, the Point Douglas Housing
Initiative is in consultations with potential partners and financial
backers. Co-ordinator Heather Geddie said the objective is to purchase
residential properties, renovate them and rent them out. (read
full story)
Ryan Crocker,
"The Times, a Canstar Community Newspaper", Feb
18/10
Greyhound Rescue
Centre Makes Urgent Appeal for Help - A Point Douglas-based canine
rescue operation is in urgent need of donations after receiving an influx of 18
new dogs.
Hi-Speed Hounds, a non-profit, volunteer-run greyhound
rescue organization, took in the dogs following the closure of a race track in
Wisconsin.
President Michaela Lamoureau said the organization
desperately needs monetary donations in addition to donations of extra-large
crates, premium dog food, dog clothing, blankets and toys. (read
full story)
Ryan Crocker,
"The Times, a Canstar Community Newspaper", Feb
4/10
Derelict building bylaw lacks teeth, councillor says - A veteran city councillor
says efforts to revitalize the North End continue to be hamstrung by an
ineffective vacant and derelict building bylaw.
Mynarski Coun. Harry Lazarenko said the majority of the city's derelict
properties are in his ward. He said the city needs the province to adopt tougher
legislation to address the problem.
Lazarenko said it takes far too long for the city to seize derelict properties
and the process needs to be shortened. It currently takes the city at least 450
days to take the title of a derelict property.
"How long would these vacant and derelict buildings stand if they were in
Tuxedo?" Lazarenko asked. "I know for a fact there's no way that people there
would ever stand for it. But in the North End, it's different."
(read full
story)
Ryan Crocker,
"The Times, a Canstar Community Newspaper", Feb
4/10
Point Douglas rises to
Haiti's aid - Like many other
Canadians, residents of Point Douglas shared Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean's grief
when they saw her weeping about the recent devastation in Haiti. Few communities
share the emotional connection with Jean, the Queen's official representative in
Canada, that Point Douglas does.
Jean was warmly embraced as a member of the community when she visited the north
Winnipeg neighbourhood in June 2007. And she has never missed an opportunity to
praise the neighbourhood as an example of positive change when she travels
abroad.
Seeing her distress prompted Point Douglas residents to join together to help
Haiti in her honour. At a meeting held at Norquay School on Jan. 27, members of
the community reached a consensus on how best to do just that. (read
full story)
Ryan Crocker,
"The Times, a Canstar Community Newspaper", Feb
4/10
Point Douglas Residents
Thank Police - Residents of Point Douglas recently offered their
heart-felt thanks to the Winnipeg Police Service for its efforts in helping
dramatically reduce crime in their neighbourhood.
Members of the community collected dozens of signatures
and messages on a thank-you card that they recently delivered to officers at the
District 3 service centre on Hartford Avenue in West Kildonan.
The gesture was a token of appreciation for the police
service’s assistance in the operation of the community-led Powerline crime
prevention initiative. Residents can call the Powerline number (956-4090) to
report criminal activities which are then passed on to the police service or
other authorities.
Ryan Crocker,
"The Times, a Canstar Community Newspaper", Jan
28/10 (read
full story)
Open
Concept - Artist welcomes guests into her one-of-a-kind
home/studio, which perfectly reflects her free spirit - You've got to be a
little loony to choose the artist's life.
This weekend, local artist Aliza Amihude and her
husband are celebrating their dedication to living creatively by throwing open
the doors to what they call "the Loonie House."
Seven years ago, the couple paid one loonie for a filthy,
condemned, circa-1915 two-storey on Grove Street in North Point Douglas. Now
transformed -- but still an eccentric work in progress -- the unique house is a
stop on the In Plain View tour of artists' studios taking place this weekend.
Alison Mayes, Winnipeg Free Press, November 5, 2009
(read full story)
Little solutions go a long
way in the Point ─ Society is the loser when youngsters choose
gangs: The awful truth was driven home about halfway through my
tour of North Point Douglas. It was just over a year ago, and I was trying to
put together a longer feature article on the troubled inner-city community. It
was a great yarn, in large part because the people of the Point had started to
take back their community from the purveyors of drugs, prostitution and
violence. Point Douglas was not rid of those problems, but the community had
evolved beyond a well-earned stereotype. Dan Lett, Winnipeg Free Press,
September 24, 2009
(read full story)
Neechi's expansion
will bring another food store to Main Street
- A North End institution is branching out from
its long-time home in hopes of creating a destination location that can provide
healthier food options to many of its patrons.
Neechi Foods Co-op has finalized plans to expand from 325
Dufferin Avenue to 865 Main Street to be the anchor tenant in a retail,
restaurant and food complex to be known as Neechi Commons. Geoff
Kirbyson, Winnipeg Free Press, September 16, 2009 (Read
full article)
With well over 100 citizens
involved in Crime Prevention through the
Point Douglas Powerline (an anonymous phone
and email line run by volunteers), our
community has been working closely with the
Winnipeg Police Service and the Police
Community Support Unit.
This week that relationship showed
amazing results. Neighbours on two streets
had identified the leaders of small groups
of youth who were selling crack from between
houses. In two different actions the police
arrested the ring leaders. One was found to
have 32 ‘rocks’ of crack in his possession.
The police officers involved were searching
one apartment after the arrest when there
was a loud knocking at the door and a man
yelling...”open up...I want a couple of
rocks”. You can imagine his surprise
when the police opened the apartment door
and invited him in.
Two days later another guy was
pounding on that apartment door. A neighbour
asked him if he needed any help. The fellow
said, “I’m looking for my buddy so I can
score some crack”. The neighbour in the
lovely bluntness one finds in the inner city
replied. “Your buddy is in jail. Get the
F*** out of here or I’ll call the cops and
you’ll join him.” The fellow was last seen
scurrying down the street.
There is real power for neighbours knowing
they aren’t alone in wanting to stop crime .
The Point Douglas Powerline has
enabled neighbours who want a safe
neighbourhood to communicate their concerns
with no threat of retaliation.
Recently a gang member told one of
our residents, “we stay out of Point
Douglas, Too many people watchin.”
The Police in District 3 , have
incorporated a new structure so that the
police officers work the same community on
an ongoing basis. This allows the Powerline
to provide more detailed background of
criminals or alert them to incipient crime.
The response time to concerns has increased
immensely. When we first set out to “Make
Point Douglas A Crack Free Zone” two years
ago, it would often take months to deal with
an issue. Now, with improved police systems
and an active community, most situations are
dealt with in days or weeks.
I say most because we know there are
certain criminals in our community that are
skilled or sneaky enough to escape our ‘eyes
on the street’. However, just keeping the
bad guys nervously looking over their
shoulder protects the community. We know the
main crack supplier doesn’t live in Point
Douglas but in a large house in a very
pleasant neighbourhood. Could she be your
neighbour?
Recently Point Douglas Powerline
has added a whole new tactic to our toolkit
to keep the bad guys on the run. Previously
we had a few landlords we worked with who
would actively cooperate with us in evicting
criminals. Now we have discovered that the
huge majority of landlords are willing to
work towards making our community safe.
Many of the younger ganglet members are
couch surfers. They move in with relatives,
girl friends and use that address as a base
for their criminal activities. We now have
many landlords, including several very large
ones, who will go to their legitimate tenant
and tell them they are responsible for what
goes on in their suite. Get the bad guy out
or you face eviction. Many tenants find this
really empowering , having a concrete reason
to tell the kid to get out. This saves the
police a lot of time so they can focus on
the more serious criminals.
One landlord recently evicted a
young man and his friends who were caught
with crack. While one will probably spend a
long time in the youth centre the other two
have indicated they want out of the ganglet
subculture.
We have learned in tackling crime
that no one solution fits all. We need the
police for the heavy lifting, for the
dangerous ones. However, when the community
sends a strong message that criminal
behaviour is not accepted, a lot of crime is
prevented.
We occasionally face criticism
with our crime prevention methods. We know
they aren’t perfect, but with the increased
community orientation of the police and over
100 neighbours involved, Point Douglas is
fast moving from a high crime area to a low
crime area.
Residents cautious about park plan:
Point Douglas group waiting to
learn more - POINT Douglas residents
seem to be waiting for a concrete proposal
from Premier Gary Doer before getting too
excited about the idea of a provincial park
in their midst.
Doer's surprise
proposal -- made some time ago in a
breakfast meeting with a few community
activists and revealed last week by the
Free Press -- wasn't mentioned once at
a community meeting sponsored by the Point
Douglas Residents Committee Thursday
afternoon. (read
full article) - Winnipeg Free Press,
July 24, 2009
Point Douglas
getting rid of drug dealers one at a time --
Point Douglas has had its problems but in the last two
years, in response to the appeals from grade 5 and 6
kids at Norquay School, the community has taken back its
streets from drug dealers.
Point Douglas has over 100
anonymous people who keep an eye around their own homes,
watching for crack dealers, gangs, ganglets and other
stuff that degrades a community and report it on a phone
line we call "Powerline." As a result, we have had our
share of drug busts and gang arrests in partnership with
the police and Manitoba Justice.
(read full article) - by Sel Burrows,
Winnipeg Free Press, July 19, 2009
King Gary Decrees a Park
-- KING Gary has revealed yet another point in his unilateral plan
to improve Winnipeg, this time plopping a provincial park in the
middle of a vibrant, rejuvenating heritage neighbourhood in the
North End.
The Point residents have
worked hard to turn around a once-dismal, seedy area into a place
where people can raise kids, go to school, start a business. Home
ownership is rising, but still sits at about a third of residential
properties. Some absentee landlords own three or four properties,
some of which sit empty. The war against the crack houses and the
street gangs is being won. There is hope.
(read full article) - Editorial, Winnipeg Free Press, July
18, 2009
Point Douglas Park? - Doer touts provincial designation for
historic riverside -- Point Douglas won't be home to the new
Blue Bomber football stadium, but if Premier Gary Doer gets his way,
it will get a provincial park.
"I want
to get the debate going, I want to get the discussion going and I
want us as a community to seize the opportunity," Doer said in an
interview Wednesday.
He said a formal plan has yet to be developed,
but his goal is to preserve and develop the area along the Red River
in Point Douglas as a public asset for "walking, cycling (and)
viewing the river." (read
full article) - Winnipeg Free Press, July 15, 2009
Province boosts rec centre hours:Funding aimed
at inner-city kids -- The provincial government is spending $1.3
million to extend the hours that 10 Winnipeg inner-city recreation
centres are open by more than 50 per cent. Many of the centres will
soon be open seven days a week, instead of five, and will stay open
later in the evening. The new funding will also allow for the hiring
of 20 full- and part-time recreation leaders who will develop and
help deliver programming for kids. (read
full story) - Winnipeg Free Press, July 10, 2009
Tries to save friend, city
artist drowns: 'Passionate about working with
children' -- Darryle Caribou didn't hesitate to jump into the
raging Red River to try to save a friend last Friday afternoon.
Three days later, his body washed ashore. On Wednesday, police
identified Caribou, 26, as the man who went missing Friday
afternoon. They had recovered his body Monday afternoon near the
Provencher Bridge. Caribou was an aboriginal artist, well-known in
the Point Douglas community. (Read
full story) - Winnipeg Free Press, July 11, 2009
Empty houses should not be left to ruin:
Two very
different articles shared a common theme that I feel must be
addressed, and quickly. In the article City in a growth spurt
(June 17) it is stated that "Winnipeg desperately needs more
multi-family housing to accommodate this growth ..." and further
notes that "Winnipeg already has a housing crisis, as the
residential vacancy rate now stands at less than one per cent." An
article in a subsequent paper (Fire at vacant house no shock:
neighbours, June 20) notes that the house destroyed by fire was
a derelict eyesore for years, and the city does nothing to resolve
the situation.
(read full story)
Facility spurs area concerns:
Addictions treatment in old nursing home - A proposal to build an addictions
treatment and mental health centre in an old North Point Douglas nursing home
has some area residents worried aobut everything from drug dealers to parking.
(read full story) - Winnipeg Sun, June 23, 2009
Point Douglas takes much-needed coffee
break - When Christine Shuwera decided to open a business in her new
neighbourhood of Point Douglas, she didn't concentrate too much on the things
she wanted to sell. Her focus was on the things it wouldn't offer.
Read full story - The Times, June 18, 2009
Great review of Metro Meats
in Marion Warhaft's column in the Free Press - Winnipeg Free Press, May 29, 2009
Women's Centre Volunteer Honoured -Bishop one of 10 Women of Distinction.One of the key players in the
revitalization of Point Douglas in recent years has been honoured for her
commitment to the community.
Read full story - The Times, May 21/09
Put up a Plaque -
Letter to the Editor about the Winnipeg General Strike and the neglected but
very historically important Vulcan Ironworks. Written by Shirley Kowalchuk -
Winnipeg Free Press, May 6/09
Flooding Destroys Historic Cairn - Fort Douglas cairn swept away by ice
during flooding. Plaque marking cairn retrieved by Point Douglas resident Ernest
Cucheron - Winnipeg Free Press, May 5, 2009
A city with no design standards - article
by Rob Galston, Winnipeg writer and Point Douglas resident, on the new WRHA
building on Main Street - Winnipeg Free Press, April 28, 2009
Katz symposium on development stirs optimism -
Event pleases presenters, mayor (This event is not
about Point Douglas directly, but it does concern us) -
Winnipeg Free Press, April 26, 2009
.jpg "Manitoba Housing’s director of security Kevin Gamble address the crowd.")
The
federal government has announced more than $270,000 in Heritage Canada
funds will be provided to help restore Barber House. Sisters
Initiating Steps Towards a Renewed Society (SISTARS), a community
group that was given ownership of the home and property by the city
this past summer, still needs to match that figure, but the group has
promises of funding from other sources, said board member Chris
Burrows.
As
the bass beat pumps in the background, 12-year-old Raven Michelle breaks
into a grin and starts to dance.
Point
of Pride? - A city committee will consider a
request Tuesday to “point” a few roads in a new direction.
crime, but the
residents of Point Douglas in Winnipeg's inner city have shown neighbourhoods
can fight back and win. 
An economic
development co-op based in Point Douglas is moving ahead with plans to build an
early childhood education centre and community space in the neighbourhood.
Artist's
portraits of women confrontational, challenging -- This brash new
exhibit at the High Octane Gallery attempts to counteract centuries of dewy,
idealized images of femininity.
Greyhound Rescue
Centre Makes Urgent Appeal for Help - A Point Douglas-based canine
rescue operation is in urgent need of donations after receiving an influx of 18
new dogs. 
Open
Concept - Artist welcomes guests into her one-of-a-kind
home/studio, which perfectly reflects her free spirit - You've got to be a
little loony to choose the artist's life.
