Non-profits focus of town hall

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This article was published 22/09/2023 (924 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brandon residents got a chance to meet most of the people vying to be their next MLAs and hear what they would do to assist the work of local not-for-profit agencies during a Community Wellness Collaborative town hall event on Thursday evening.

Despite a mix of candidates from four different parties, participants managed to come to a consensus on some issues — like the necessity of multi-year funding for non-profits going forward rather than year-to-year funding.

In contrast to the district-specific debates held at Brandon University the previous two nights, all participating candidates from Spruce Woods, Brandon West and Brandon East sat together at two tables in the foyer of Brandon City Hall.

While those debates asked candidates questions on a wide range of topics, the CWC’s event was more tightly focused around the sustainability of non-profit organizations.

Co-chair Ross Robinson said in his introduction that this was the first event of its kind held by the collaborative since it was formed two years ago to facilitate collaboration between non-profits in the Wheat City.

He started off by giving a brief history of social organizations since the founding of Canada from a settler, not Indigenous, perspective along with some of the successes and failures that have been encountered along the way.

Organizations, he said, are often competing amongst themselves for funding as governments continue to download the responsibility for social issues amongst themselves.

“I expect to hear about a new way forward for not-for-profit sustainability,” Robinson said.

Former police chief Wayne Balcaen (Brandon West), two-term incumbent Len Isleifson (Brandon East) and legislative staffer Grant Jackson (Spruce Woods) were on hand to represent the Progressive Conservatives while teacher Glen Simard (Brandon East), retired United Church minister Quentin Robinson (Brandon West) attended on behalf of the NDP.

Entrepreneur Michelle Budiwski (Spruce Woods) and ACC instructor Trenton Zazalak (Brandon East) flew the flag of the Manitoba Liberals, while retired school principal Bill Marsh (Brandon West) attended as Brandon’s lone Green Party candidate.

The only candidate not present was Spruce Woods NDP candidate Melissa Ghidoni.

Moderator Nancy McPherson asked candidates to introduce themselves to the crowd of approximately 40 people and those watching live on WCGtv before members of the collaborative asked questions submitted by representatives from the organizations they work with.

Her first question was about funding. She said not-for-profits often have to request funding from government every year and provide extensive data about their outcomes. How would they prioritize achieving service outcomes by providing multi-year funding agreement?

Jackson said the province has to move to multi-year service agreements with agencies, especially ones with a long history of good work like the John Howard Society. Budiwski said she agreed with Jackson and that she couldn’t believe it hadn’t been done already.

When Jackson said he agreed with that point in return, Budiwski remarked that she hadn’t previously worked in government like he had. The Liberal also suggested that a position be created to work with non-profits on grant and funding applications that they could use as a shared resource.

In his experience working with charitable organizations, Robinson said no one he knows volunteered with them because they wanted to write reports and applications — they wanted to help people. With short-term funding, he said organizations are forced to spend too much of their time fundraising.

Long-term funding would help provide stability, especially for paid staff who would know if their jobs would be secure.

The former police chief, Balcaen, pitched the creation of two funding streams for non-profits one for short-term projects and another for the long-term stability of agencies. He also said there are agencies co-existing in the same communities pursuing the same goals and wondered if they could consolidate their efforts to make sure the money they receive goes farther.

Ultimately, all candidates agreed that multi-year funding was a necessity going forward.

Asked what they would do to promote collaborative efforts like the CWC and Community Mobilization Westman, Robinson suggested the creation of a roundtable group made up of non-profits and local MLAs to focus efforts together. That suggestion earned broad support from the other candidates.

After Budiwski commented that she had seen little support from the three PC MLAs from the last term when she had invited them to participate in a downtown clean up event and that they had brought little support to Brandon despite sitting in government, Isleifson — the only Brandon incumbent seeking re-election — defended his record and said he’d done his best to work with local organizations despite a busy schedule.

However, Budiwski acknowledged Balcaen’s willingness to meet and work with her when he was police chief.

Simard said local collaboration needs to be like an eight-person rowing team, working in synchronization to achieve a common goal. He said local MLAs need to be ready to advocate for groups like the CWC and solicit government funding for it to achieve its goals.

With Truth and Reconciliation Week just a few days away, candidates were asked how they would give Indigenous groups a greater role in delivering services that affect them.

Zazalak said Indigenous peoples have a valuable perspective that settlers don’t, and they should have a greater role in helping lead our society in many aspects of life, not just those that specifically affect them. Isleifson affirmed the importance of land acknowledgements in recognizing the important role of Indigenous peoples, but those are only part of understanding and learning from them about their roles as the first inhabitants of this land.

When a friend is hurting, Simard said, you ask them what you can do to help. Indigenous peoples know what is best for their communities and Manitoba needs to facilitate giving them what they need to succeed.

In his final years as a teacher, Marsh said he had the honour of teaching Indigenous culture classes. Through that process, he learned the importance of having an open heart, an open mind and a willingness to share our stories with each other to walk together instead of apart.

Partnering with Indigenous peoples on initiatives like these, Budiwski said, can’t happen until the Prairie Green landfill near Winnipeg is searched for the remains of Morgan Harris, Mercedes Myran and a woman known as Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe — Buffalo Woman. The women are suspected of being the victims of accused serial killer Jeremy Skibicki.

Election day is on Tuesday, Oct. 3.

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