Don't We Need Progressive Voices?

Very sad to read about the immediate departure of James Favel as Executive Director of the Bear Clan.  His departure doesn't come long after the departure of Rick Lees as ED of the Main Street Project. 

Both men were the voice of the marginalized, the voice of people who are not on their phones 23/7, and the voices of people without access to internet.  Gasp. 

Of course, neither man will comment on the situation nor will the Board of Directors of the respective organizations as it is a personnel matter.  However, anyone who has served on Boards of organizations know that there are really only two issues that can result in the immediate departure of an ED. 

I have to wonder about these actions while we are still battling Covid19.  They seem very knee-jerk and maybe there should have been more time spent reviewing the situations. 

The Bear Clan, and this saddens me deeply, handled the situation very poorly.  First of all, they took a page out of Trump playbook having this announced late on a Friday of a long weekend.  They not only appointed an interim ED, they appeared to take a victory lap.  I'm sure the new guy is great.  How could he not be?  He was strongly endorsed by the same Board that decided the immediate dismissal of Favel.  Either way, they are already setting him up to fail.  They note he already knows everybody, was a tireless volunteer, and a tireless employee, and lives in the area which is a big plus, according to the news release.  In order words, you expect him to work every day for all hours.  You expect him to burn out and not succeed.  You don't want him to healthy boundaries.  Yeah, that is really going to work. 

This comes shortly after tent city was dismantled and charities are hurting.  Essentially, it is becoming harder to be a marginalized person in Winnipeg.  Not that it was ever easy.  But, we had two dedicated voices speaking on behalf of the population that they were trying to serve. 

I have to wonder if this is a dog whistle to the people of Winnipeg.  Do we really care about each other or not? 

Three times last year, I attempted to live on the streets for a 72 hour period to write about the experience.  I had a back pack with lots of water and my phone and not much more.  Each time, I didn't last one day.  All three times, I felt that at some point, if I continued, I would have to call 911 for assistance.  So, I abandoned my experiment because I didn't want to abuse 911 and have the police have their time taken away by my experiment.  But, it became obvious to me that one of the challenges that I faced was that I was going it alone.  I would have felt much safer if I was part of a community. 

That is what a tent city provides.  Safety and security and a sense of community.  Yeah, I know.  They were a fire risk.  However, Winnipeg needs a designated tent city.  It is a necessary.  Personally, I think the green space in front of Grace Hospital would be ideal.  Lots of green space, access to health and social services, actually living in the arms of nature, and the trees would supply something else that is needed, privacy.  And, yeah, it is in my back yard.  I know there are a lot of obstacles but I think that if we were truly approaching it with compassionate kindness, it could be made to work. 

But, after last night, I am afraid I am not optimistic about our city's will to make our city more inclusive. 

Peace out.