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Muslim women and children’s shelter opening in city

Sakeenah Homes offers first-of-its-kind specialized safe space

NEWS

Dimitar Tomovski, staff A new shelter specifically for Muslim women and children is being built in Winnipeg, the first of its kind in the city.

Zena Chaudhry, CEO of Sakeenah Homes, said the organization’s shelters aim to close the gap in services available to Muslim women.

“We heard stories about Islamophobia, the lack of halal meat, where women had their head scarves taken off, where they weren’t able to pray, they weren’t able to fast and then also the [language barrier],” said Chaudhry.

Sakeenah Homes also offers training in skills such as taking public transit for the first time, using credit cards and applying for cell phone plans.

In addition to these services, Sakeenah Homes offers clothing, toiletries and sports equipment for kids, and school essentials such as backpacks.

“For people who have been born and raised in Canada, these are things that are very basic,” said Chaudhry.

“If you’re new to a country and you have never experienced these things before, it’s a very different learning curve and especially if you’re already in a very uncomfortable position where you’ve left your home and you’re living in a place [where] you don’t know the people living with you, [so] we try to minimize that discomfort that they may feel.”

Sakeenah Homes also offers free reconciliation services for situations where there is no physical abuse in a relationship, but a mediator or family counsellor is needed.

“We [also] provide safe spaces if they want to pray,” Chaudhry said.

“No one is ever forced to pray or told that they have to pray.”

Shahina Siddiqui, executive director of the Islamic Social Services Association, explained some non-denominational shelters struggled to accommodate specific Muslim needs, such as not serving halal food alongside pork.

“The simple thing is being able to observe your privacy,” said Siddiqui, “to be in a space where there is no alcohol, things like no pork.” In addition, Sakeenah Homes provides financial assistance for small debts such as cell phone plans and provides access to education by helping individuals process degree equivalencies from overseas.

“We have our mental health program, which is available to those in our home and those outside of our home as well, free of cost,” said Chaudhry.

“What we want to do with a woman is to empower them, to educate them, to clean them, so that they can stand on their own two feet,” said Siddiqui.

Sakeenah Homes already has shelters in Toronto, Brampton, Ottawa and London in Ontario and Montreal, Que. Remote casework is available across the country.

“If we can’t find you a safe space to go to we will put you up in a hotel or motel, get you hot food, get you whatever you need, and then our caseworkers and mental help counsellors will work with you until we can find you long-term stable housing,” explained Chaudhry.

In addition to the new Winnipeg location, a Muslim shelter is being opened in Halifax this year as well. While opening new shelters in some cities is an effective strategy, Chaudhry said in other circumstances it’s more effective to work with other organizations to ensure services are provided to the Muslim community.

Zahrah Tariq, a member of the University of Manitoba’s Muslim Students’ Association, said in an email to the Manitoban they were excited about the shelter opening.

“The shelter will benefit the U of M Muslim community in multiple ways,” Tariq said.

“This will give female students an option if they are helpless, homeless or stuck in abusive situations. The presence of a shelter will provide our student community with volunteer opportunities and make us more self-aware of the struggles of the most vulnerable in our community.”

While the shelter was created to accommodate the needs of Muslim women, Siddiqui said non-Muslims could access the shelters as long as they agree to abide by its rules.

news@themanitoban.com

Stefanson exaggerated ICU capacity during third wave

Premier denies knowledge of plans to transfer critically ill patients out of province

NEWS

Colton McKillop, staff During last year’s third wave of COVID-19, Heather Stefanson claimed Manitoba’s health-care system could handle dozens more critically ill cases five days after a top health official discussed the possibility of out-of-province ICU patient transfers.

Premier Stefanson, who was health minister at the time, denies she was aware of plans to transfer patients until the first person was relocated on May 18 — the same day she told reporters Manitoba hospitals could expand their ICU capacity to 170 beds.

The revelation came during question period last week, after the provincial NDP presented the calendar of Shared Health CEO Adam Topp, which they acquired with a freedom of information request, and accused Stefanson of misleading Manitobans.

According to the calendar, Topp met with Stefanson on May 13 to discuss the province’s intensive-care capacity and later that day held a meeting to review the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre’s ICU capacity. already decided they were necessary.

Uzoma Asagwara, the Manitoba NDP’s heath critic, called Stefanson’s assertion that she was not aware of the transfers “unconscionable.”

“She claims she wasn’t aware [but] either she knew and she deliberately misled Manitobans or while she was minister of health, she didn’t know what was happening in our healthcare system with some of the sickest patients when it was her responsibility,” Asagwara said.

“Personally, I don’t buy it, but if that is in fact the case […] it reflects her level of disengagement with her role and responsibility while she was minister of health.”

NDP Leader Wab Kinew said the fact that Stefanson is now the premier, despite her handling of the pandemic, “is not a good reflection on this government.”

“The health portfolio is the biggest portfolio in government and certainly during a pandemic, it’s the most important,” said Kinew. that we’re still in a pandemic and that person is now in a leadership role of government, I think should concern people in Manitoba.”

Around this time, health-care workers had already begun warning that regardless of the number of beds and ventilators available, there were not enough trained staff to treat the rising number of COVID cases.

On May 18, Stefanson told reporters Manitoba could accept an additional 50 ICU patients — for a total of 170 — but later that day, Shared Health announced ICU beds were at capacity and two patients were sent to Thunder Bay.

Despite Stefanson’s claims of ignorance, Shared Health was aware the province couldn’t handle 170 ICU patients well before the meeting regarding Thunder Bay on May 13.

On May 7, then-chief nursing officer for the province Lanette Siragusa called a plan developed during the second wave to staff 173 ICU beds a “paper exercise” that did not reflect the reality of Manitoba’s capacity.

Additionally, 34 patients with COVID-19 were admitted to Manitoba’s ICUs, nearly half of the province’s pre-pandemc capacity, between May 13 and 17. Asagwara said Manitoba’s need to send patients to other jurisdictions is “a direct result” of the government’s cuts to health care before and during the pandemic.

Kinew pointed out the Progressive Conservatives closed several emergency rooms before the pandemic, “each of which had ICU beds in them.”

The province ultimately sent 57 COVID-19 patients to other provinces throughout the third wave, with 12 dying while receiving treatment outside Manitoba.

Kinew said the government’s handling of the pandemic “has been a failure.”

“I think Manitobans generally are very frustrated with the way the government has responded to the pandemic [and] feel like it’s been poorly handled by the PCs,” he said.

Premier Stefanson was absent from question period last Tuesday and her office did not respond to requests for comment.

Economist releases optimistic report on inflation

Students stand to benefit from current economy

RESEARCH & TECHNOLOGY

Michael Campbell, staff Inflation has affected all Manitobans over the past several months. Whether you have watched your rent skyrocket or experienced sticker shock at the grocery store, you may be wondering how to keep ahead of expenses while prices keep going up.

Jesse Hajer, assistant professor in the department of economics and the labour studies program, has been studying the effect of inflation on Manitobans. On Monday, Hajer released a report at an event hosted by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA). Among Hajer’s findings, he notes that Canada’s recent stark rise in inflation is not all doom and gloom for low-wage earners.

Hajer sees our current inflation as being directly linked to the change in consumer behaviours due to the pandemic. Companies closed or slowed operations during the pandemic, triggering a cascading effect further down the supply chain. Also, due to the uncertainty caused by the pandemic, producers were reluctant to ramp up operations, fearing additional waves of COVID. Meanwhile, demand exploded back up to near pre-pandemic levels. High demand during a time of lower supply has led to higher prices.

“The inflation then that we’re seeing is really tied back to this pandemic and these shocks,” Hajer said.

“One other thing I emphasized in the report is that the year-over-year inflation we’re seeing now — the five per cent for example […] that we saw

in January being announced — it’s important to remember that the year before that, we had the lowest inflation we’ve seen for decades.”

“Because of the pandemic, prices actually stayed very low […] and what’s happening this year is that we’re having that bounce-back effect.”

This “bounce-back” inflation has not occurred uniformly across Canada. A recent report cited by Hajer indicated Canada’s national annual inflation rate was 5.1 per cent, compared to 5.5 per cent in Manitoba. The reason for this discrepancy is that inflation is calculated by bundling a number of goods and services. The cost of things like rent, gasoline and groceries is determined at the provincial level and then calculated against the cost of those items in previous years.

Inflation isn’t necessarily a bad thing for the economy overall. The interruption in the restaurant industry, for example, has meant that many employees have reskilled into higher paying, more stable professions. This means that for restaurants to attract employees, they must pay more per hour.

“In my mind, that’s a great thing, because those workers were really struggling,” Hajer said.

“They’re in precarious, low-pay work and we know that consequences of being in that type of poverty — that working poverty — are harmful in many, many ways.”

Hajer is optimistic that by enacting progressive policies that support workers, the province of Manitoba can spur lasting economic growth. He points to the policy recommendations made by the CCPA. The centre releases alternative budgets that tap into latent capacity within the economy by reducing barriers that

prevent certain groups of people — like artists and caregivers — from reaching their fullest potential. These alternative budget items include investing in arts and culture, child care and Indigenous communities that have been historically excluded from training opportunities. The goal is to make strategic investments that repay their capital over time, not overzealously creating debt to hand out money indiscriminately. These investments, when done right, may inflate the cost of goods and services, but salary increases will outpace this inflation.

“One way is to […] invest in people, invest in education, grow the economy,” Hajer said.

“And yeah, that’s going to create a little bit more inflation. But that’s one way to get out of that huge amount of debt.”

One of the principles guiding public spending during the pandemic asserted that so long as interest rates are lower than growth in the economy, governments can incur debt to promote spending during the pandemic. Hajer argues this applies not only to governments, but also to people.

If a low-income earner with high debt — for example, a student — were to benefit from wages that have increased during the pandemic, their debt in proportion to their income would shrink.

In short, inflation has caused many low- and middle-class wages to increase, and despite the higher cost

“One way is to […] invest in people, invest in education, grow the economy. And yeah, that’s going to create a little bit more inflation”

— Jesse Hajer, economics professor

provided Jesse Hajer / image /

of goods, higher wages reduce the overall burden of personal debt.

“If you have a lot of debt, it’s in dollar terms,” Hajer said.

“It’s not indexed to inflation. And debt is a huge problem for low- and middle-class Manitobans and Canadians.

“So, there’s some upsides to inflation, too.”