SERVING MAPLETON AND MINTO
THE
COMMUNITY NEWS VOLUME 52 ISSUE 07
1 Year GIC - 2.85% 3 Year GIC - 3.10% 5 Year GIC - 3.50% Daily Interest 1.50%
638-3328
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2019
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Meetings with ministers provide little funding clarity By Patrick Raftis
Bowling for kids - The annual Big Brothers Big Sisters Bowl for Kids Sake was launched at the Mount Forest Bowling Centre on Feb. 10. Teams from Minto and Mapleton kicked off the three-week long fundraising campaign. Schools will participate throughout the week with the Mount Forest community bowling day on Feb. 24 and the Arthur and Alma community bowling day on March 3. “We have excellent programs for every child and youth in our community and we have fantastic volunteer opportunities for everyone who would like to get involved,” said Big Brothers Big Sisters of North Wellington executive director Marianne Christie. “In our mentoring programs, our main focus is empowering and encouraging the children we work with to see themselves as confident young people.” Adult members of the above team, made up of members of two Dirksen families from outside of Harriston, wanted to show their children the fun they can have while supporting their community. This is the team‘s third year participating in Bowl for Kids Sake. Additional coverage on page 2. Photo by Jaime Myslik
MINTO – Meetings with provincial cabinet ministers at recent Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA) conference provided little clarity on funding issues, according to Minto Mayor George Bridge. “I’m liking the commitment from the cabinet ministers and those people,” Bridge told Minto council on Feb. 5. “I’m just not sure of overall where we’re going as far as Mr. (Premier Doug) Ford goes, how he’s laying things out. But I think his team is saying the right things … “Hopefully when we get to this next budget and we really hit hard on them and some of the issues of funding to the municipalities you’ll be able to take in some of the sessions.” In an interview Bridge said he is hopeful the municipality will receive a fair share of Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund (OMPF) money in 2019, but he did not learn anything new at the conference about the sta-
tus of the funding, which is under review by the province. “I hope that they realize … this isn’t money they just dole out because they’re being nice to us. This is money that was in the system to offset the fact that we only get 25 per cent of the farm taxes. This is our money ... they just hold onto it and give it back to us,” said Bridge. While bracing for a reduction in OMPF, Bridge said, “I’m hoping that maybe we get more because they said it would be going to those that need it most.” Bridge said he was part of a delegation from the Western Warden’s Caucus that had a 45-minute meeting with the ministers of municipal affairs, agriculture and rural affairs and infrastructure at the Jan. 27 to 29 conference to discuss the Southwestern Integrated Fibre Technology Inc. (SWIFT) initiative and other rural economic development strategies. “Which is our rural development strategies, which they were really keen on because it kind of fits in with
what they’re trying to do in this area, like workforce planning, affordable housing, those types of bigger issues,” said Bridge adding the wardens’ group is “working as a collaborative. “With the 15 counties we have about three million people. We talk with a bigger voice,” he stated. While ministers were supportive of the SWIFT concept, Bridge said he still can’t confirm the current Progressive Conservative government will follow through with a $90-million funding commitment made by the previous Liberal government in 2016. Wellington County council agreed in 2015 to provide $1 million over five years to the SWIFT plan and the federal government also pledged $90 million for SWIFT in 2016. Bridge, who reported at the Oct. 25 Wellington County council meeting that the provincial SWIFT funding was being held up as part of the province’s spending review, said further meetings were scheduled last week between the warden’s group SEE NO ANSWERS » 3
Community health van will be on the road in Minto, Erin MINTO – Sanguen Health Centre, which provides Hepatitis C testing, treatment, support, outreach, and education in GuelphWellington and Waterloo Region, is planning to bring a mobile service to Minto and Erin. A delegation from the organization led by program director Colin McVicker explained plans for the service to Minto council at the Feb. 7 meeting. McVicker said the organization, founded in 2007, has been operating a community health van project in Guelph for the past 15 months, utilizing Trillium Foundation funding. The group also operates a van in Waterloo Region. The van offers a wide range of services, often over a cup of hot chocolate, including: - food, clothing and hygiene products; - testing for Hepatitis A, B and C, HIV and syphilis;
- vein and wound care; - referrals, supportive counselling, case management; - harm reduction supplies and returns; - sexual health support and education; - flu shots and vaccines; and - overdose prevention and naloxone. McVicker said clients using the mobile service don’t access services available through clinics for a variety of reasons. Often he says, clients are “at risk for a variety of different pieces that make them highly marginalized individuals: mental health, substance abuse, homelessness and poverty. “Often these people have incredibly complex needs,” he explained. The Guelph program, McVicker said, has experienced “an incredible amount of success where we were able to engage people who falling otherwise were through the cracks.”
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Mobile health van - Becki Linder, left, of ARCH, and Rene Peltekian, social support coordinator, on the Guelph-Wellington Mobile Community Health Van. Submitted photo He said Sanguen has teamed up with WellingtonPublic Dufferin-Guelph Health to look at extending the program. Other supporters of include: program the
Wellington OPP, Homewood Health Centre, Waterloo Wellington LHIN, Mount Forest Family Health Team, Family Minto-Mapleton Health Team, Canadian Mental Health Association,
WEEKLY WAG
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By Patrick Raftis
“These are dangerous times. Never have so many people had access to so much knowledge, and yet been so resistant to learning anything.” - Tom Nichols
East Wellington Family Health Team, Upper Grand Family Health Team and East Wellington Community Services. “My background has been working in Mount Forest as a health care provider with Homewood Health and one of the things I know is that there are marginalized people that are also in our rural communities,” said McVicker. He explained Sanguen was able to “go back to Trillium to get an extension until August if there was support from the community to be able to provide service up here as well.” McVicker said the community health van, which operates two nights a week in Guelph, could initially operate on a bi-weekly level between Erin and Palmerston. “Those are the two communities that came forward and indicated an interest,” he said. “We don’t want to be pushing this van into any communities.” McVicker said there has
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already been a soft launch and some testing of the service in Erin and “feedback has been this is where the need is. “We’ve found very clearly that substance use is there, it’s incredibly high with stigma and people are interested in engaging with our team,” he stated. On any given night the community health van carries a driver/mobile outreach coordinator, peer outreach worker, Sanguen Hepatitis C nurse, public health nurse, Sanguen social support coordinator or personnel from ARCH, which provides HIV/ AIDS resources and support. The multi-purpose nature of the service helps to reduce the stigma of using the service, McVicker notes. “The great thing about having a variety of services is that it’s not the one-service van. So it’s not the drug van … it’s like a mobile hub of service delivery,” he said. “Sometimes it’s just to come and have a cup of hot SEE HEALTH VAN » 3
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