Students rally in Winnipeg at the Students Together Against Racism Today (START) event February 26. Photo by Deborah Tsao.

Faith groups work to heal Winnipeg’s racial divide

Christian leaders urge kindness, respect and tolerance

By Mike Duerksen and ChristianWeek | March 24, 2015

WINNIPEG, MB—How can Christians help resolve issues of racism toward Winnipeg’s growing indigenous population?

That’s what pastors, churches and community leaders are asking themselves following a national magazine article branding the city as the most racist in Canada.

Police Chief Devon Clunis, who has arranged for churches in Winnipeg to pray for the police service every day of the year, says it starts with building relationships.

“We can look at our back door to see if there’s a neighbour in need, and start building good, strong, cohesive bonds within society. That’s living out your faith in a very practical way,” he told ChristianWeek.

Clunis joined Winnipeg mayor Brian Bowman along with dozens of aboriginal and community leaders in January vowing to fight racism and intolerance.

The joint effort came after Maclean’s magazine published a controversial cover story giving Winnipeg the dubious distinction of being Canada’s racism capital.

The article cited a growing gap between aboriginal and non-aboriginal people, focusing on the recent death of 15-year-old Tina Fontaine, whose body was found last summer wrapped in plastic in the Red River.

It also highlighted the death of Brian Sinclair, an aboriginal double-amputee who died in a city hospital’s emergency room after waiting 34 hours for care. During a recent inquiry, some staff testified that they assumed he was drunk or homeless.

While Clunis doesn’t believe Winnipeg is the most racist city in Canada, he’s glad the article sparked a conversation.

“I’ve been asking for us to have a difficult conversation on race. If it took an article like this to bring this conversation to the forefront, I’m okay with that,” Clunis says.

Reverend Margaret Mullin, who is both Ojibway and Irish/Scottish in origin, has fostered that difficult conversation at her inner-city church for years.

“The best way for us to respond to racism is to teach kindness and respect so that we can start conversations that are respectful of each others’ differences,” Mullin says.

Place of Hope Presbyterian Church—the church Mullin pastors as part of the larger Winnipeg Inner City Missions umbrella—has mostly aboriginal members. But many non-aboriginal people and groups volunteer at the church’s children’s programs, food bank, transitional housing and employment services.

Mullin says that creates opportunities for both cultures to learn from each another.

“We have discovered that the non-aboriginal person or group needs to be willing to come into the conversation with a spirit of listening and hearing the story without making judgment,” she says. “If people understand where each other is coming from, the healing process starts. But that can only happen when we stop and listen long enough to lend some validity to the other side.”

While there are a lot of eager people with good hearts and intentions, Mullin says the best way to help resolve racial inequities is to simply come together with an aboriginal person and listen to their story.

Mona Sobkowich has heard a lot of stories.

A teacher at St. Aidan’s Christian School in Winnipeg’s inner city, all of her students are aboriginal.

“Many times during the week I hear stories of racism that these kids or their parents experience,” she says.

On field trips she has witnessed her students getting glances, being followed by security or getting comments from strangers.

“We tell the kids that they have an opportunity, even at their tender age, to educate the community on issues of racism,” she says. “They need to see themselves as leaders rather than victims.”

Sobkowich agrees with Mullin that faith groups need to honour the cultural and historical aboriginal experience through both dialogue and action.

Both of them, as well as Clunis, admit that solutions are hard when it comes to the racial equation in Winnipeg.

But all of them have hope.

“Once people are aware of the issue, I find that the city is very compassionate. People are taking significant steps to rectify past wrongs and create a more equitable Winnipeg,” says Clunis.