Suggestions collected from First Five Winnipeg Workshops

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Listing of All Winnipeg Workshops

The following ideas were generated by workshop participants as part of our gender budget consultations. Please note that this list does not represent the official position of the UN Platform for Action Committee Manitoba (UNPAC). Neither UNPAC nor all of the participants have endorsed these suggestions.

• Housing
• Childcare
• Safe Neighbourhoods
• Empowerment & Prevention
• Health
• Transportation
• Education & Employment
• Poverty
• Other
• Revenue Ideas

Housing

• Women only co-op housing with garden/greenspace along Selkirk Ave. 100 units, women — with or without children (50% women, 25% children, 25% elders)
  • programming onsite — healing, 24/7 child-minding
  • utilities included
  • partners: NEWC, NWTC, Keekinan, Mount Carmel Clinic, Andrews St.
• Clean, Healthy, Accessible Housing
• Utilize homes already available (empty houses on Kenaston Avenue)
• Increase public housing stock
• Diverse neighbourhoods
• Ensure community support/safety
• Conscious effort in development of community
• Rewrite legislation for rooming houses
• Hire community workers
• Create stability of neighbourhood residents
• Increase supportive housing i.e.: Crossways in Common
• Monitor property managers
• Rent-to-own housing
• Co-op housing
• Reduce gentrification and urban sprawl
• Increase funding for maintenance of Manitoba housing
• No flexibility in money allocated for housing maintenance
• Training for property managers — effective communication, renters rights
• Security control for renters
• Fund tenants association
• Make funding information accessible (ie: TV ads, radio)
• Decrease secrecy
• Basic right to shelter/utilities for all
• Financial access to mortgage, information to how mortgage works
• Mixed housing
• low income families
• improve energy efficiency

Childcare

• Provincially funded centres
• Infant child care spaces
• Higher wage to childcare workers
• Regulated childcare workers (education)
• Before and after school programs
• Hot lunch/Breakfast Program
• Cooperative daycares
• Grants for daycares: large, home
• Parenting skills: need to have more
• Single parent skills
• Have a parent links hotline like health lings where you can call for advice
• Parent support and more flexible childcare

Safe Neighbourhoods

• Community justice circle training and implementation
• Decrease gang activity
• Decrease sex trade
• Increase CED — local business and ownership
• Community cupboards and kitchens
• Recreation — seniors, disability, youth
• Access to internet
• Libraries
• Grants for people to fix their houses
• Beautification
• Libraries
• Recreation: non-competitive activities
• Affordable recreation
• Recreation increase
• Increase social capital, all ages
• Crime prevention through social development
• Environmental protection
• Community economic development
• Address bullying among youth and in the workplace, education in school (universal program)

Empowerment & Prevention

• Opportunity for personal development: self-esteem, healing from violence — personal and systemic
• Community gathering place for women
• More awareness of existing programs
• Parenting skills: need to have more
• Single parent skills
• Have a parent links hotline like health links where you can call for advice
• Teenage pregnancy
• Need to have incentives for NOT having kids
• Give girls options
• Self Esteem classes for women and girls
• Safety / personal defense course
• Social assistance promotes the idea that “the only way out is to have a kid”
• Counter violence against women — alternatives to sex trade work
• Infrastructure for women’s groups
• Spending with community ethic, feminist principles (we hope), consultative
• Women policy agencies — increase money
• More women in key decision-making positions, more responsive to women
• Gender education, mentoring
• Cultural opportunities

Health

• Reform health system
• More on healing, therapy and counseling — mental, emotional and health
• Access to safe affordable food
• Mental health services — outreach and residential (victims of violence, crime, addiction)
• Women only addiction and recovery
• HIV care centre
• Environment (fogging)
• Funding to develop local health centres/resources
• Expand range of tax free foods
• Addictions programs — AFM is the only one, need to have more, three month waiting list
• Recovery homes, need to have more, three month waiting list
• Increase funding — child abuse (prevention and early intervention)
• Alternative holistic health
• Increase preventative health care
• Access to community health locally
• Reproductive and feminine health services
• Woman-based model of care
• Re-emphasis health education — universal — family studies
• Red cross program, Respect elders

Transportation

• Affordable transportation
• Free shuttle bus for grocery shopping and program attending
• Public, affordable transportation (especially outside Winnipeg)
• Bus shacks: Heat, Lights

Education & Employment

• Education and training in community
• Local jobs
• Job training
• Model more education and employment programs after Urban Circle Training Centre
• Increase scholarships to low income
• Tuition based income (vice versa)
• Raise Minimum wage, stimulates the economy, more taxes
• Work experience programs
• Increase work incentives
• Education all level
• Youth training and employment

Poverty

• Living wage
• Single-parents support
• Abolish spouse in house rule
• Gender analysis of legal aid services
• Increase social assistance
• More responsible child support
• End clawbacks (when you get gifts or earn a little money)
• Low income banking fees
  • banks have a lot of service charges if you don’t have a lot of money in the bank
• Sensitivity Training for workers who act like recipients are taking the workers own personal money
• Get rid of ghettoization of women’s work
• Adequate income as a right
• Recognize value of women’s unpaid work
• Increase social assistance, income assistance to improve economic security

Other

• Safety and restitution for Metis and First Nations women
• English as a second language
• Advocacy services — ability of NGOs to do advocacy, change the charitable tax rules
• Raise ratio of government expenditure to GDP from current 11% to historic 17%
• Restore social planning safety net
• Stabilize funding — ongoing system to address continuity if education program delivery

Revenue Ideas

• Get rid of Corporate Welfare
• Add a $0.05 “crappy food” tax
• TAX: vacation, hair loss replacement, penis enlargement, pornography, exotic dancer, massage parlor, Fashion/Entertainment/Industry TAX
• Increase price of hydro sales
• Look at options to increase high income tax
• Luxury tax
• Different tax rates for different car models — SUVs, sports car
• Increase gambling revenue to addictions services
• Eliminate gambling (VLTs)
• Tax corporations
• Legalize marijuana (tax it!)
• Legalize prostitution (tax it!)
• Get rid of “grow bond” program — make into program for women entrepreneurs (Note: UNPAC has later learned that the Grow Bond program has been discontinued and replaced with the new Community Economic Development (CED) Tax Credit Program)