President Doug started the meeting promptly at 5:45 at which point PDG Nancy “seconded the motion” with a bell. O Canada was performed by the “Daniel Hersog O Canada Jazz Orchestra”, which included horns, piano, guitar, bass guitar and drums. This was followed by this thought for the week:
“Having members with different backgrounds and viewpoints gives our club a broader understanding of the community and its problems, and better equips us to find solutions. Equally important is fostering a culture of inclusion, where these differences are respected, supported, and valued. Rotary is apolitical and nonreligious, and it does not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, faith, national origin, or sexual orientation.”
Sarge Mike introduced our guest, Ryan Thorpe, journalist from the Winnipeg Free Press.
ROTARY MOMENTS
Two virtual education and awareness workshops on ‘Essential Discussions for Truth and Reconciliation’ will be taking place (by ZOOM) on Tuesday February 9th and Thursday February 11th from 9:30 AM to noon.
Strini Reddy has requested our club to find another person who would serve as a representative on their club’s HIP committee along with Peter (until we form your own HIP committee, if that was our club’s intention in the future. If you’re interested, please advise Strini (sereddy@shaw.ca) and/or President Doug (dgmckenz@mymts.net).
The North American Youth Exchange Network will be hosting an online conference for the Youth Exchange Program on February 19-20, 2021. Plenary Speakers include RI President Holger Knaack, President-Elect Shekhar Mehta and President Nominee Jennifer Jones, as well as two Host Parents and two Rotary Youth Exchange Alumni. The District 5550 Youth Exchange Committee will be covering the costs of any Rotarians from the district who wish to attend. Conference organization details can be found here: https://nayen.org/conferences/. Contact Michael Mahon or Peter Keen if you wish to attend at peterckeen@gmail.com , or outbound5550yep@gmail.com
There is a ZOOM Lobster Event committee meeting on Thursday, Jan 21st at 4:00pm.
Iain provided a series of pictures and videos that constituted a year in review. It started with a New Year’s party, followed on with a Jan 11th birthday party for wife Caroline, a physical assault from an irate driver, the shutting down of his business on January 21st, consolidation of two offices at home, cancellation of a planned March trip to Jamaica which was replaced by a trip to Fernie, BC – to ski – except that the ski hill closed at noon the day they arrived due to the pandemic. Videos of President Trump downplaying the seriousness of COVID-19 infections and deaths were deftly displayed on the days the comments were made on the calendars of February and March.
Iain’s daughter Hannah came to stay with them (quarantined in the basement of their home) and wound up having to write an exam there in May.
Meanwhile, Iain
noted that the price of premium gasoline had dropped to $0.83/liter,
had a new roof done on his home,
took pictures of closed shops along Corydon Avenue during the lock-down
made a “snow bunny”
took pictures of a goose and her goslings in a church parking lot
celebrated Caroline’s daughter’s birthday in the garage on May1st
made some signs for a garage parking lot
got a puppy on May 7th (which resulted in a number of changes in the family’s lives).
watched the Snowbirds fly-over the city on May 12th to celebrate the 150 year anniversary of Manitoba having become a province
produced business cards for Morris Insurance
had concrete pavers put down in the backyard and around the front of the house to produce patios for relaxation and for Caroline’s plant pots growing flowers, tomatoes, zucchini, carrots and potatoes.
The replacement of an aging fence in the backyard was responsible for a stroke that Iain suffered on June 12th, after which he was not allowed to drive.
Owners were not allowed to accompany their pets in their visits to the vet.
Pictures taken over the summer included: a goose and goslings in Assiniboine Park, Hannah inside the dog’s kennel, daughter Sarah walking the dog, Iain’s first ever “beer chicken”, a pot-grown carrot, Caroline and flowers (including a sunflower plant) on the deck, a visit from a friend taking place outdoors in front of the house, some of the dog’s baby teeth that were all over the house, a gate built on the deck to keep the dog on the deck, Winnipeg Beach, the very picturesque area in the Minaki, ON area, where Caroline went paddle-boarding with the dog, and the dog enjoyed running free, the family playing croquet in the back yard, walking through the forest, visit to Clear Lake, a Remax Balloon preparing to take off in LaBarriere Park, a beaver proudly surveying his work after having felled a fairly large tree, ….
In October, daughter Sarah bought a condo. In November, Joe Biden won the presidential election in the US (“which made a lot of people very happy”) and Sarah celebrated a birthday for which Iain floated up some helium-filled balloons on a string to her condo balcony. Also in November, Iain rented an electric car, walked on the frozen river and began producing and selling a line of facemasks that has a map of Manitoba on them. In addition, he designed a logo for the Assiniboine Forest.
The family’s Christmas did not include daughter Hannah this year because of the COVID 19 pandemic lock-down - she had to remain overseas.
PDG Nancy introduced Ryan Thorpe, a 2017 graduate of the Niagara College Journalism program, as the author of nine reports on homelessness in Winnipeg that was published in the Winnipeg Free Press.
Ryan explained that he had observed that tent cities of homeless people would pop up, then would be dismantled due to complaints about the garbage, debris, ramshackle habitations and fires breaking out. When he approached the Free Press editor about exploring the tent city issue in 2018, the idea was turned down. However, when he presented the same pitch to the same editor in 2019, the editor loved it!
On New Years Eve 2019, Ryan and photographer John Woods went to the tent city beside the Main St Project to get a sense of who the homeless were. He spent hours speaking to the people in tent encampments, connecting with the Main Street Project, Salvation Army, academics, advocates and social service agencies and reading research papers. He got to know (and profiled in his articles) a homeless couple - Carl (27 years old) and Desiree (31 years old), both of whom had addiction issues. Some of the homeless people preferred to be living outdoors.
He learned how homelessness has changed in 40 years. Prior to 1980, the homeless consisted mainly of older men. In the 1980s, there were cuts in employment, rising inflation., a shortage of affordable housing and cuts to social housing. In the 1990s the homeless included representatives of indigenous people, military, children, new immigrants, and women getting away from domestic violence. Policy decisions increased homelessness. A policy of “housing first” will reduce the number of unsheltered people in the streets, as it did in Medicine Hat. Winnipeg needs more housing to shrink homelessness.
Iain asked how hard it was to interview homeless people during the pandemic. Answer: Complicated. Shelters with limited spacing. Initially suspicious but eventually the homeless people opened up as he and the photographer showed up week in and week out, wearing masks when visiting. Some of the homeless didn’t know about the pandemic.
Lloyd asked if how mental health is being handled has increased homelessness.
Answer: De-institutalizing of mental health in the US DID increase homelessness in the US but the evidence of the same happening in Canada is missing.
PDG Nancy asked “What is ‘Housing First’ as carried out in Medicine Hat?”
Answer: In Winnipeg, the Bell Hotel was taken over by the Main Street Project around 2011 with funding from the provincial and federal governments. It has a very low barrier for entering the housing - it’s OK if the homeless person has addiction or mental health issues as they are offered counseling and indigenous connection as well as peer support, learning to live indoors and address their issue. The Bell Hotel has about 40 units, but there are more than 3000 homeless people in Winnipeg – subject to Winnipeg’s typical January temperatures. Siloam Mission’s Madison House is a “dry” shelter; Main Street Project has a very low barrier.
Glenn asked how a homeless person navigates the system – are there advocates for the homeless?
Answer: We currently have a very “siloed” system that involves lots of paperwork. When one homeless man’s backpack was stolen, it set him back 4 months to replicate all the paperwork that had been in the backpack. We need something like “no wrong doors”. In 2018 people were under-accessing the supports that are available to them.
Chuck: How many low barrier homes are there in Medicine Hat’s “Housing First”?
Answer: Don’t have that information. However, it’s important to realize that although there are more than 3000 homeless people in Winnipeg, only about 200 are on the streets – the rest are doing things like couch surfing.
Dave was pleased to have received a refund cheque from Autopac (aka Manitoba Public Insurance)
Mandy received an email today with the good news that all the paperwork for adoption (after multiple re-submissions) has been approved. She anticipates that she and Ryan will be traveling to Ukraine in May to bring their adoptees home with them.
Iain reported that his daughter Hannah (in her final year studying medicine in Ireland) has recently applied for the residency program at a hospital in Minneapolis, which pleased him because of that city’s proximity to Winnipeg.
NEXT MEETING
On January 25th, Lyle will do the Rotary Show and Tell and our speaker will be Darryl Brown from STARS (Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service).
EXTRA:
Mandy announced that she has set up a website that one can subscribe to in order to follow her & Ryan’s adoption process. It’s called Journey2Adopt.
Iain informed us last week that Caroline had decided to visit her mother-in-law on Monday rather than go to Clear Lake. Her mother-in-law died on Tuesday morning.
