Steinbach benefits from new funding

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This article was published 10/05/2022 (1419 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Projects involving planning, crime reduction and the promotion of safety and wellbeing in Steinbach will benefit from a pilot project announced by Justice Minister and Steinbach MLA Kelvin Goertzen last Friday.

Goertzen made the announcement alongside Portage la Prairie MLA Ian Wishart and Mayor Earl Funk on the plaza outside the T.J. Smith arena.

The entire project includes $1.3 million for 12 Manitoba communities to support the Community Safety and Well-Being Planning Pilot project.

Funds will be used to implement local safety priorities in four planning areas including social development, prevention, risk intervention and incident response.

Goertzen said community safety and wellness plans are important to ensure that there is a strategy to deal with whatever each community if facing, in a way that works best on the local level.

“We know that in every community there are difficulties and some of these difficulties whether they’re social or crime related, — often they are connected — need a comprehensive approach,” he said. “When you bring people to the table in a community and you look holistically at the challenges you get the best results.”

This approach has already taken place in the City of Thompson with success according to Goertzen.

“It’s not a one size fits all solution,” he added. “Every community is different. We know that. The challenges in Steinbach will be different than the challenges in Portage, and they’ll be different than the challenges that exist in Thompson.”

“But they’re all still challenges, and they need to be dealt with and they need to be dealt with cooperatively,” he said.

Mayor Earl Funk complimented the government on their approach.

“We are so fortunate to be an urban centre in Manitoba, to have a government that cares about communities and wants to see communities safe,” he said.

About $50,000 of the fund will be used for planning. That includes creating a Highway 52 access management plan and a zoning bylaw and official community plan review.

“As we grow, we have to review our bylaws, make sure they’re current and make sure they’re serving our community correctly,” he said.

Other funds will focus on community safety and Funk said money will flow to Headway, a program for at risk youth.

Started in 2016, Headway works with struggling youth and their families, working with multiple agencies to create support teams around the youth. Governed by a steering committee with representatives from RCMP, Probation Services, Hanover School Division, Child and Family Services, Southern Health and The Addictions Foundation of Manitoba they are available to youth age 12-19.

The Headway program was modelled after a program in Selkirk called Selkirk Team for At-Risk Teens (S.T.A.R.T.). That model was founded in 2002 by RCMP, Child and Family Services, Probation Services and Lord Selkirk School Division.

Funk said when the program started 17 of the youth involved had regular contact with the RCMP. “That went down to zero,” he said.

Funk said he likes to see organizations like that work with the community, and with the families involved. “When we have strong families, we have a strong community,” he said.

Funds could also be used to address what Funk described is “no big secret”, Steinbach’s Main Street racing problem.

Though no program is yet in place, Funk mused about creating a sort of mentoring program that could involve the young cruisers and their older peers who are classic car enthusiasts.

Funk was thankful for the funds. “It’s a great thing for the city,” he said.

Additional communities benefiting from the announcement include Portage, Dauphin, Selkirk, Swan River and The Pas.

Funding will also support pilot projects in six First Nations communities across Manitoba. In addition, government will partner with Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak (MKO) so they can deliver the program to two more First Nation communities.

Goertzen described it as consultation and reconciliation in action.

“Reconciliation is a priority for this government, and we are committed to listening to Indigenous leaders, partners and elders and putting reconciliation commitments into action.”