'People don't know where to go': Financial woes lead to loss of Indigenous community spaces in Winnipeg

The number of spaces serving Winnipeg'sIndigenous community is dwindling, and leaders from non-profit groupsin the city are hoping to come up with a grassroots solution.

Ongoing financial issues at Circle of Life Thunderbird House on Main Street, combined with the closures of the Indian and Metis Friendship Centre and Neechi Commons last year, have meant fewerspaces and less programming for community members.

"Our people feel comfortable coming to us,"said LarryWucherer, program development manager at MaMawiWi ChiItata, an Indigenous family support organization.

"When we lose that, people don't know where to go. They wonder what to do and it gets frustrating."

The shortage of Indigenous community space was evident Tuesday, as a funeral forelder JosephMeconsetook place at Sergeant Tommy Prince Place, a recreation centre onSinclairStreet,Wucherersaid.

"Why are we at 90Sinclair? Because we don't have space," he said. "We're using a city community centre to hold a service for one of our eldersveteran elders, no less."

He said that shouldn't happen, because there are spaces available but they've been shut down.

"We're having to marshal our resources to go elsewhere, when we have enough already for us."

The community organizationwill host a "renewing our North End" community meeting, which will include adozen leaders from non-profits, on Friday night to strategize and come up with a way to protect the hubs that are left.

The meeting will run 6-8 p.m. at Ma MawiWi Chi Itata's community meeting space at 445 King St.

Thunderbird House 'a beacon'

Thunderbird House, which runs three sweat lodge ceremoniesa month for community members, has had to cut backother programming it offers due to financial problems.

The cultural hub, which has struggled with debt and a previous lien on thebuilding, is running out of supplies as it tries to move forward with its bank accounts frozen by the CanadaRevenue Agencyand without its charitable status, which it lost in 2015.

The building on Main Street provides space for events and is meant to be a welcoming place for community members to come for ceremony. It's a safe place to come and learn about the culture for Indigenous peoplewho may have lost their way due to residential schools and the Sixties Scoop, advocates say.

"This place is a beacon. It's like a light, so people are drawn to it for many different reasons, and we want to be able to keep our doors open so that can continue to happen," said Richelle North Star Scott, co-chair of Thunderbird House's board.

She said the organization, which is down to just two board members, is trying to operate normally. Things haveslowly been getting better, but Thunderbird House is stillgrappling with debt owed to the CRA.

The closure last year of the Indian and Metis Friendship Centre, which vandals recently ransacked, has left North End community members like Laura Chartrand with one less place to go for fun.

She loved the centre's bingo, and was sad to see it shut down.

"That was one of my favourites," she said. She used to take her nieces to Christmas parties the centre would put on, as well as itssafe Halloween parties.

"It meant a lot to them. It was good for them," she said.

The centre was also regularly used to hold funerals,fundraisers and powwows.

North End activist Kyle Mason, who is one of the people behind Friday's community meeting, said the goal is to come up with concrete steps to move forward.

"There seems to have been a bit of a trend that is not positive, so we're hoping this conversation can be a watershed moment to turn things around," said Mason, who was previously the executive director of the North End Family Centre. Itclosed down in 2018 due to funding issues.

"The trend of things closing down, or being close to closing down, has caused a strain on people. It has, in some ways,been demotivating, but we're not choosing to get stuck there," he said.

"We're choosing to have optimism. We're choosing to have this meeting so we can bring new life and new energy and new focus."

Indigenous leaders looking for grassroots solution to shrinking community space

6 years ago

Duration 2:12

The number of spaces serving Winnipeg's Indigenous community is shrinking and something advocates say is becoming a problem that needs to be fixed.