Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 22, 2024, Winnipeg, Manitoba The Waverley & Rosewood are more than just retirement residences; they’re vibrant communities where you’re celebrated and supported. Providing warm, dynamic and personalized service, to meet your unique needs and preferences. OPEN HOUSE Saturday, March 23 • 2:00 – 4:00pm Call 204-487-9600 to RSVP today When You’re Here, You’re Home. 857 Wilkes Ave, Winnipeg 204-487-9600 cogirseniorliving.ca O p e n H o u s e TOP NEWS A3 FRIDAY MARCH 22, 2024 ● ASSOCIATE EDITOR, NEWS: STACEY THIDRICKSON 204-697-7292 ● CITY.DESK@FREEPRESS.MB.CA ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM Union, employer strike deal in Ten Ten Sinclair strike UNIONIZED employees of Ten Ten Sinclair fa- cilities and their employer have reached a tenta- tive agreement on a new contract. Canadian Union of Public Employees spokes- person David Jacks said striking workers will not be on the picket lines Friday while they vote on a new deal, which was brought before the union Thursday afternoon. More than 150 health-care aides and super- visors represented by CUPE went on strike to ask for higher wages, which the union says hasn’t kept up with inflation, on March 6. The tentative agreement will be presented to members to vote on between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Friday. “It’s our hope that we can get the care that’s ap- propriate for these residents delivered on a long- term basis, in a way that’s respectful,” Premier Wab Kinew told reporters. CUPE Manitoba president Gina McKay said wages for workers at the facilities have increased by 1.75 per cent since 2016, while the cost of living has increased by 25 per cent. The median hourly wage of employees at Ten Ten Sinclair is between $15 and $18, McKay said. Union-represented workers voted overwhelm- ingly in favour of a strike mandate in September. Ten Ten Sinclair Housing Inc. supports ap- proximately 100 people with physical disabilities and other challenges at its main facility in Garden City and six others elsewhere in Winnipeg. fpcity@freepress.mb.ca RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS FILES Ten Ten Sinclair workers picket on the first day of the health-care strike. 95-bed facility will cost $66.4 million and is slated to be complete by 2027 Lac du Bonnet to get care home ‘for real this time’ P REMIER Wab Kinew said Thurs- day that construction on a long-promised but never delivered personal-care home in Lac du Bonnet will begin “for real this time,” a dozen years after it was first announced. The 95-bed facility is expected to cost $66.4 million and be completed by 2027, the premier told a cheering audience at the Pioneer Club in the town of about 1,100 people located 115 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg. Kinew said there will be shovels in the ground later this year. The on-again, off-again care-home project became a political pawn in the years after then-premier Greg Selinger announced construction of a $32-million 80-bed residence to replace the com- munity’s existing 30-bed facility in 2012. After defeating the NDP in the 2016 provincial election, premier Brian Pal- lister’s austerity-focused Progressive Conservative government cancelled the project in 2017. His successor, PC premier Heather Stefanson, put it back on the agenda prior to last fall’s elec- tion. The NDP, which won a majority gov- ernment on Oct. 3, placed the project and several others “under review” shortly after taking power to examine capital health spending. The funding to build it is included in this year’s provincial budget, which will be released April 2. The community has been discussing the need for a new facility that will serve people beyond the town’s borders for more than 20 years. “This day is long overdue,” Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said Thurs- day. When finally built, the care home is expected to improve capacity in the health system overall, Kinew said, add- ing Manitoba has a responsibility to “do right by” seniors. “It’s needed for the region, for sure, but this is needed provincially,” he said. “Our whole province is short of long- term care beds and that’s having a big impact on seniors, a big impact on fam- ilies, but it’s also having an impact on our hospitals.” An estimated 65 residents in the area are waiting for a personal-care home bed. Lac du Bonnet Mayor Ken Lodge, who said he’s been to two sod-turnings for the project, thanked the current government and previous ones for their support: “It is so heartfelt, I can’t even really come up with the words for this,” Lodge said. “There’s a lot of people who have left us in the intervening time where they could’ve reaped the benefit of having this facility here. We’ve done the best we could do up to this point, but it’s ex- tremely important that we plan for the future.” Pat Porth, a community resource co-ordinator with Two Rivers Seniors’ Resource Council in Lac du Bonnet, said she is one of the residents who began pushing for a new facility more than two decades ago. “The big buzzword is ‘aging in place.’ Well, we have a lot of people who have now aged out of their place. And it’s pretty dire,” Porth said. “Once home care… and our servi- ces for seniors program can no longer provide services to keep them in their homes as long as possible, they now will have a new home, a new residence and be allowed again to remain in their com- munity amongst friends and family.” There’s still a “great need” for per- sonal-care home beds across the prov- ince and this is a step in the right dir- ection, said Gladys Hrabi, CEO of the Manitoba Association of Residential and Community Care Homes. “This has been announced before and it’s about time this actually, really, has to happen,” she said. “Even in Win- nipeg, we have a lot of people who are waiting to be panelled (to receive a per- sonal-care home placement).” Although the previous government revived the project in August, it was one of six personal-care homes approved in principle but not funded, according to Treasury Board documents, the prov- ince said in a news release Thursday. At the time, the community was told funding for the project was already in place. Five other new long-term care homes were announced by the PCs last summer, including a 60-bed facility in Arborg, a 96-bed home in Oakbank, 144 beds in Stonewall and two separate fa- cilities with a total of 283 beds in Win- nipeg. Kinew didn’t provide updates on those projects, which were also placed on hold. He hinted more details will come with his government’s first budget in a couple of weeks, but said Manitoba needs to “live within our means.” “Our province cannot sustain all the things that were announced in the le- adup to the election, and so, we’ve been doing the work to figure out how do we prioritize all these great projects, all these great ideas.” katie.may@freepress.mb.ca KATIE MAY MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS FILES Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara and Premier Wab Kinew at a news conference in December. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS CLAIMING AND RECLAIMING SPACE Perri McIntosh, 2, with her mom, Erika, listens to her grandmother, Karen Swain, a member of the new Matriarch Circle, speak at the Manitoba Legislative Building Thursday morning. Founded by Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine, the Matriarch Circle will prioritize the protection and well-being of Indigen- ous women, girls and gender diverse people. First Nation calls on feds to extend funding for unmarked grave searches ‘Seems to be the will to hide the real truth’ A NORTHERN Manitoba First Nation hopes the federal government will change its mind and continue to fund the search for unmarked graves of chil- dren who went to residential schools and never returned. Chief David Monias of Pimicikamak Cree Nation (Cross Lake) said his community is ready to have the Inter- national Commission on Missing Per- sons help with the search, but the feder- al government hasn’t provided money for it. “Unmarked graves are really crime scenes,” Monias said on Thursday. “We need funding and support. We want the (commission) involved. They have the expertise in looking for mass graves and identifying remains for a specific group of people. They are not there to take it over. They are not in- vested into Canada’s agenda. “There still seems to be the will to hide the real truth.” Monias said he hopes renewed fund- ing would also cover the cost of ex- huming remains and doing DNA tests to connect them with their present-day relatives. Monias was one of the First Nation leaders, along with executive members of the commission, who joined NDP MP Niki Ashton, the party’s deputy critic for Indigenous services, to call on the Liberal government to fund commun- ities across the country that are trying to conduct searches at former residen- tial school sites. Ashton said current funding under a federal program to help Indigenous communities search for unmarked graves is due to run out in 2025. The Liberal government hasn’t prom- ised to add money to the pot. “First Nations like Pimicikamak have been clear for three years that they are ready to move forward with searches of residential school sites in their areas, but the Liberals haven’t been there to support them,” Ashton said in a state- ment. “We call on the Liberals to renew this essential funding in the next federal budget.” Manitoba’s senior federal cabinet minister, Dan Vandal, could not be reached for comment. Kathryne Bomberger, director-gen- eral of the commission, said it hopes the federal government will continue to pay for the searches. The commission, which is based in The Hague and is the world’s leading human rights and rule of law organ- ization that assists governments in addressing missing persons issues, released an interim report asking for the government to continue funding searches. “From what we’ve seen, the (Indigen- ous) communities are doing amazing work,” Bomberger said. “We’ve been doing this work for 27 years and in 40 countries. We do this work… it’s not unusual for states to look to (us) for help.” Sheila North, the commission’s Can- ada program manager, said “we need commitment from government. It will take resources and a lot of co-operation. The needs are great, but so is the need for further truth and reconciliation ef- forts by all stakeholders that have the ability to do something. “There hasn’t been that many search- es yet… there is suspicion the graves might have been moved. The fact we haven’t seen remains yet doesn’t mean they won’t be found.” Winnipeg Centre NDP MP Leah Gazan said she plans to table a private member’s bill either before the sum- mer recess of Parliament or in the fall, that would criminalize denialism of the abuse of Indigenous children at resi- dential schools. It would be similar to legislation that prevents denial of the Holocaust. “Our families need protection,” Gazan said. kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca KEVIN ROLLASON MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES Pimicikamak Chief David Monias says his community is ready to begin the search . ;