Loney to Champion “Reconciliation Action Plan” 

Released September 29th, 2022 

Mayoral candidate Shaun Loney says he will work with Indigenous Winnipeg and the City of Winnipeg Civil Service and others such as Winnipeg’s business community and nonprofit sectors to create and implement a Reconciliation Action Plan when elected Mayor in October.

“Winnipeg has the largest urban Indigenous population in Canada - over 110,000  people identify as First Nations, Métis or Inuit. ” said Loney. 

“Evidence of colonization is everywhere,” said Loney noting an unacceptable over representation of Indigenous people living on Winnipeg streets, in contact with emergency service providers and experiencing unemployment.  “Poverty is about the failure of systems that people are interacting with.  We need system changes and we need it now.” 

“So much great work is being done,” said Indigenous Education advocate Rebecca Chartrand. “But I find it troubling that the City talks about reconciliation yet has so many people living on the streets, so many unemployed Indigenous youth and so much poverty. Fixing these issues are Shaun’s life’s work and expertise.”   

Loney has been developing this Action Plan with many Indigenous leaders with whom he has deep relationships.  

“By far and away, Loney has the best plan for Indigenous families,” said Jerry Woods, former head of the Manitoba Human Rights Commission. “He’s written books about it.  He’s started successful businesses about it.  He’s sat and listened to Elders and people in the community and will continue to do so.  He gets it.”

Loney’s Reconciliation Action Plan

Indigenous Women

  1. Employment and Training opportunities set aside for women who are currently interacting with women’s centres in the City.  Our Winnipeg Tree Trust is an example of that;

  2. Develop a violence prevention plan with and for Indigenous women and girls that answers the Calls for Justice in the report from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls; 

  3. Work with expert groups to provide support for all men and boys in Winnipeg on how they can act respectfully to women such as the Moosehide Campaign Initiative;

  4. Work with The Vehicles for Hire Advisory Committee and Regulator to ensure vehicles for hire are adhering to customer safety requirements;

  5. Offer start-up funds and business expertise to see a ride- hailing social enterprise owned and operated by women to provide safe rides for Indigenous women. 

Economic participation and land acknowledgment 

  1. Create a policy to fast-track City partnerships to create more urban reserves;

  2. Establish an Indigenous Art Hotel downtown that houses local artists and attracts tourists - based on a successful model that supports Indigenous artists in Vancouver;

  3. Increase Indigenous placemaking and naming initiatives to increase Indigenous visibility;

  4. Ensure the redevelopment of Portage Place has  Indigenous Community representation at the table. Encouraging features to be included like an Indigenous Hub (Calgary Friendship Centre) and Safe Communities and Opportunities Resource Centre (SORCe) and the REACH Initiative in Edmonton.  

Enhancing quality of life 

  1. Address homelessness - A systemic plan will ensure  Indigenous nonprofits can provide support and housing to our sisters and brothers currently occupying bus shelters, people living downtown and along our waterways;

  2. Community Housing Land Trust - $100 million to buy land in the City upon which non profits and co-ops can offer affordable and supportive housing;

  3. More supportive jobs - a plan to create 1,000 jobs in the social enterprise sector to connect the people who most need the work with the work that most needs to be done.  Enhance drivers training and ID collection to remove employment barriers;

  4. Enhance the City’s own efforts to employ more Indigenous people in the civil service by offering courses geared to enhancing credentials needed to meet eligibility criteria.

Community safety and policing 

  1. Modernize police financing - Loney’s plan will allow transparent comparisons between the costs of paying nonprofits to reduce workloads versus the costs of responding to people who are in perpetual crisis.

  2. Use the Mayors’ power to convene to modernize and decolonize policing and police practices to address systemic racism within the Winnipeg Police Service via training, diversity in hiring and enhanced accountability. 

Loney said the The Reconciliation Action Plan would be a living document and would  evolve as opportunities to do things differently arise so that the teachings, values, cultures and true history of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples would be more prominently incorporated.  

Loney also said he has been impressed with how Winnipeggers have stepped up to participate in the Winnipeg Indigenous Accord.  In addition to the wonderful commitments that have been made, Loney said he will work with signatories over this four year term to invite them into a partnerships to see more impact investment particularly in his Housing Trust, to create meaningful employment opportunities for people without access to the labour market, to partner with nonprofits to see more social enterprises established and to find ways to support Indigenous entrepreneurs.