Recreation means Art City, means inner city programming, 24-hour safe spaces, says councillor - Winnipeg city council puts off cuts

On June 18th, Winnipeg’s Executive Policy Committee unanimously approved a shift to the community and neighbourhood grants program.

Among the changes is a $2 million cut to the grant program from $3.4 in 2024 to $1.3 million in 2025. Additionally, the changes will force community organizations to apply for grants on a program-to-pro- gram basis, meaning that grant money can no longer be used for operating budgets.

Five delegations made up of representatives from community organizations came to the executive policy committee meeting to express their concern over the long-term effects of these changes. The delegations focused on the impact that a loss of community spaces would have on crime in the city. Michele Wikkerink, executive director at Spence Neighbourhood association, says that investing in community organizations is a stronger alternative to reducing crime than increasing police spending. “[Police] respond to crime, they do not prevent crime. What does prevent crime, at least for youth, is activity,” Wikkerink said. “Activity is shown time and time again to reduce youth crime and gang participation. It increases school participants, you can not find a study that says this is not true.”

Wikkerink mentioned how important community services are for getting youth employed and creating future taxpayers.

“Our youth job creation program trained and employed 320 youth over the last 5 years, an average of 64 youth per year,” Wikkerink said.

In addition to comments on crime, Kate Kehler, executive director at Social Planning Council of Winnipeg, highlighted the hypocrisy of framing the cut as fiscal responsibility as the city continues to miss revenue on frozen business taxes and spend on road expansions.

“Trickle Down economics do not work,” Kehler said. “Poverty is the main driver of crime and poor health. Here in the city of Winnipeg, where you are born can mean as much as an 18 year difference in life expectancy.”

Stephen Wilson, Executive Director at Graffiti Art Programming recalled the effects that the covid-19 pandemic had on Winnipeg youth suggesting that the cuts could lead to similar impacts in the future.

“All support for young people shut down. Schools were closed, youth centres were closed, sports and recreation were closed,” Wilson said. “Since the pandemic closed and reduced many of our services, we’ve seen youth crime increase year by year by 47% and youth addiction increase by 24%.”

Councillor Janice Lukes justified the change in the grants program as a move towards greater equity, allowing more organizations to access funding than before.

“Did you know that the city of Winnipeg has never publicly advertised the opportunity to access this funding at all,” Councillor Lukes said. “This funding that is for grants has never been publicly offered to many groups throughout the city.”

Cuts might have saved the city a tiny amount of money in the short term, explained Eddy Ayoub, artistic director at Art City, who said the organization has received city funding since 2003. “It's innovative, highly effective brand of barrierfree art programming has played a major role in transforming West Broadway.”

“Winnipeg receives a tremendous bang for its buck by supporting art city, and other community organizations,” he said. He also highlighted that although they receive funding from different sources, city funds were some of the few that can be used for operational costs, leaving only the United Way of Winnipeg as a future source of core funding for staff.

“The moment one of our citizens loses access to a program or service that they depend on, we will all pay in another way and believe me, it will not be cheaper,” Ron Brown, President and CEO of BGC Winnipeg (The Boys and Girls Club of Winnipeg), that operates 12 locations across the city, said. Studies undertaken on their programming showed “that children and youth that participate in our programs have better health outcomes and are much less likely to be involved in the justice system.”

Councillor Cindy Gilroy said that the justification she has heard for the cut is to prevent ‘scope creep’ and move some of the responsibility for community funding to the province. However, she argues that these services should be a city responsibility and especially in the inner city where they are a vital resource.

“Our job is recreation and recreation means Art City, recreation means inner city programming,” Coun. Gilroy says. “If recreation in the middle of Spence means a 24-hour safe space, that’s the recreation they need in that area at the time. You’re meeting people where they’re at.”

“[The cuts] would be detrimental to the city in terms of everything that we’re trying to accomplish, in terms of homelessness, addiction, and mental health,” Coun. Gilroy says. “The other suburban areas don’t have the issues that we have.” Council was set to cast their final vote on the grant changes on June 27. However, shortly before the meeting, community organizations arranged an impromptu rally outside of city hall to protest the decision.

The rally showcased the work of community organizations first hand, with music, a group of youth breakdancers, a patchwork dragon and signs adorned with slogans including ‘These cuts are nuts’ and ‘de- fend not defund’.

The tone of the rally was as much a condemnation of the cuts as it was a celebration of community and artistic expression.

During the rally Leah Gazan, Member of Parliament for Winnipeg Centre, spoke imploring City Council to not “play politics with our kids.”

Midway through the rally, Ayoud took the microphone to announce that Mayor Gillingham heard the community’s voices and would vote to send the grants shift back to the EPC for further discussion.

“It feels fantastic that Winnipegger expressed themselves and actually got the Mayor and City Council to reconsider this proposal,” Ayoub said after the decision. “Winnipeggers gave them something to think about, with all their personal messages and perspectives.”

Crowd responses were joyous, as individuals embraced and shouted in celebration. One of Art City’s founders, Wanda Koop, even began to chant “double the money.” During the council meeting, Wikkerink expressed that she felt like she “won the lottery.”

“[Council] are very receptive, They’re our partner here. There’s no adversarial relationship and it’s a very valuable relationship,” Ayoud said. “We’re gonna come back to this thing and hopefully with more open communication and consultation.”

The next EPC meeting will be held July 8.

Patrick Harney, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Leaf