By Lynne Fernandez
Back in February, 2013, CCPA-Mb put out a Fast Facts titled Six Unions: One Voice* which chronicled the many problems faced by staff at the University of Manitoba campus . We explained how an intense process of corporatization was negatively affecting all manner of University employees, from tenured professors to caretaking staff. More and more private-sector companies are being contracted to do the work University staff used to do, resulting in poorer service for students and increased stress for employees. The six unions who represent University of Manitoba employees spoke out with one voice to protest the unhealthy work environment found throughout the campus.
Last week, the Winnipeg Free Press ran an important feature on a federal program that funds social housing across Canada, called the operating grants program (Rent hikes loom for thousands, August 16). The program covers part of the mortgage payments for housing agencies, but also part of the subsidy that allows agencies to provide subsidized rents for some suites. The issue has been a key concern for social housing activists across the country in recent years as the Federal government is planning to let these grants expire over the next 25 years. CCPA covered this issue with a recent Facts Facts article by Sarah Cooper, The Loss of Subsidized Housing Through Expiring Operating Agreements.
CCPA housing researcher, Josh Brandon, responded to the Winnipeg Free Press with a letter to the editor, which was printed in part in today’s Letters section. The full text of the letter is printed below:
By Kathy Mallet
Doctors are demonstrating their ethical duty to patients by working towards a society in which everyone has an opportunity to lead a healthy life. Last winter, the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) and Maclean’s magazine hosted a series of town hall meetings, including one at the Winnipeg Art Gallery specifically focused on issues of Aboriginal Health. The purpose of the dialogue is to understand what can be done to address the unfair circumstances that lead some people to be sicker than others. Earlier this month, the CMA released a report on the town hall proceedings, which includes a focus on the disproportionately negative health status of Aboriginal peoples due to systemic racism.
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Manitoba office
2013 Annual General Meeting
Friday, September 20, 2013, 11:30 am – 1 pm.
Anhang room, 2nd floor, Millennium Library 251 Donald St.
Keynote speaker: Larry Brown
Larry is Secretary Treasurer of the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) and the National President of the CCPA. He will be speaking on the attack on labour across Canada and what we need to do in response.
Please RSVP by September 17th to ccpamb@policyalternatives.ca or call 204-927-3200
We’re serving up his inspiring ideas with borscht and bannock!
(catering by Food for Thought and Neechi Foods)
by Sarah Cooper
Affordability of housing has been an important issue in Winnipeg for the last decade or so, with vacancy rates well below three percent and rents rising every year. In recent years, however, there has been an increase in discussion of housing, and a broader awareness that something needs to change to improve this situation. This is due in no small measure to a group of loud and persistent advocates for social and affordable housing in Manitoba: the individuals and organizations that form Right to Housing.
Right to Housing is a non-partisan Winnipeg-based coalition of individuals, community organizations and businesses that advocate for housing for low-income people in Manitoba. It got its start eight years ago, when a small group from some churches in River Heights got together in Winnipeg to talk about the then-empty housing on the Kapyong Barracks. Heating the vacant houses through the winter seemed preposterous when there were thousands of families needing good quality shelter in the city. The group decided it wanted to do something and set out to talk to government officials and service agencies about the issue.
by Molly McCracken
Federal funding cuts will be top of mind at the Premiers’ annual in-person meeting July 25th to 26th in Niagara-on-the-Lake. However it remains to be seen if Premiers will address the off-loading of valuable public programs. They would be wise to make this a public issue as Canadian values of respect, equality and justice continue to be eroded by federal divestment.
The changes are happening with little notice but their impact is huge. In early June, the federal government cut 30 percent of funding to programs in 43 key Aboriginal organizations across the country. This is in addition to cuts in 2012, severely limiting First Nations’ ability to provide essential services like healthcare and clean water. Last year, the federal government unilaterally stopped paying for refugee health care and abandoned already vulnerable people. Fortunately in our province, the Manitoba government stepped in to foot the bill – approximately $5 million dollars per year.
by Lindsay Larios and Lisa Spring
“We bear the expectation of providing resources for families involved in child welfare without having a place at the child welfare table.” – CCN.
The Child and Family Services (CFS) Community Network (CCN) was started in January 2012 as an initiative of the West Central Women’s Resource Centre’s Parent Mentor Program. The group was formed as a result of an expressed need from community agencies to better understand Manitoba’s child welfare system and work more effectively to support families involved in the system. Community agencies play a unique role in supporting families and bridging the gap that often exists between families and the child welfare system. CCN members come from a wide range of service sectors, including family and women’s centres, health providers, child and youth programs and residential facilities. They generally share a common experience of supporting families involved in child welfare as they navigate the system and have come together to find ways to assist in bringing all parties together for the health of children, families and communities.
by Shauna Mackinnon
A recent CCPA study showing the extent of First Nations poverty in Canada provides yet more evidence that Canada is failing Aboriginal people. Fully 50 percent of status First Nations children in Canada live in poverty as measured by the Low Income Measure (LIM). In Manitoba the situation is particularly dire with 62 percent living in poverty.
This is unacceptable as a matter of basic social justice and human rights. But it is also a major concern for the future of our economy.
Follow us!