The subject of homelessness and poverty in Flin Flon has caught the ear of Manitoba Housing.
A consultation was held with members of the community to find the root causes of destitution in the region and describe and critique Manitoba Housing’s existing poverty strategy. Matthew Majkut, acting executive director with Manitoba Housing, led the meetings.
Flin Flon’s consultation, held on Jan. 25, was the second of three meets in northern communities last week. The first meeting was held on Jan. 23 in Thompson, with another meeting held in The Pas on Jan. 26.
“It was pretty similar to the other provincial consultations that have been held in the past year. This is the first one that has been held in Flin Flon as far as I know,” said Laurence Gillespie, executive director of the Flin Flon Neighbourhood Revitalization Corporation.
Gillespie said the attendees were split into three groups and tasked with answering three questions around the most pressing issues relating to poverty in Flin Flon, positive actions that could impact poverty in Flin Flon and how success or progress could be measured.
“Housing, food security, issues of racism and lack of inclusion, education, employment, these sort of broad subject areas were matched up against the sort of solutions that we thought were working,” said Gillespie.
According to Majkut, it’s all part of renewing the province’s poverty renewal strategy and determining if changes need to be made.
“Part of that renewal process is reaching out to communities and having a consultation session to help identify which areas we need to work on to reduce poverty and what would be the best value-added actions to take to reduce poverty,” said Majkut.
One key part of the process involves what Majkut called “lived experience meetings.” Instead of discussing with local business and political leaders, part of the process involves speaking with people who are either impoverished or have been impoverished until recently. Majkut mentioned that three lived experience meetings were held during the northern tour, including one in Flin Flon.
“I think the thing that came across most out of the meetings was that northerners care about this issue. People were earnest in their participation, there were a lot of ideas, community support and services provided locally. People are passionate about trying to resolve poverty,” he said.
The key factors of northern poverty include a number relating to the isolation of the region, stemming from unequal access to vital services.
“Addictions and mental health, housing and homelessness, food insecurity and equitable access to supports and services. Everybody may be entitled for an MRI in Manitoba, but not everybody needs to drive to Winnipeg for it,” said Majkut.
The provincial poverty renewal strategy will be renewed this year, but exact details of plan have not yet been released.
