Initiatives for Just Communities forming coalition in Southeast
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Initiatives for Just Communities (IJC) is forming a coalition with other service agencies in the Southeast in order to better serve their clients and Minister of Families Nahanni Fontaine was in attendance on Tuesday to see their work.
“One of the reasons the minister is coming out is we’ve been working with a coalition of family services agencies in southeastern Manitoba to advocate for clinical and more specialized services for the population that we serve. So, enVision, IJC, Life Journeys, Trail Blazer, we’re all working on a coalition to build more services for the participants that we support,” said IJC executive director Don Shackel, who noted the ministries of health, families, and education are collaborating with the coalition.
Some of the services that IJC’s participants struggle in getting are medical services, specialized services around mental health and crisis intervention, and addiction services.
“We’re really trying to do wrap around care for all the people who we support through our programming and connections between Winnipeg and our programs in Winnipeg and our programs out in this region. It’s an exciting time for IJC,” said Shackel.
IJC is a charitable non-profit that works with people with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and intellectual disabilities, and those who are currently or previously incarcerated, to help them achieve a better quality of life.
The El’dad Ranch helps residents with intellectual disabilities who are part of the alternative justice program and those who are in the day program. On the property there is a healing lodge and a wood shop. IJC has a partnership with Manitoba Institute of Trades and Technology to provide training and certification for its clients in carpentry, automotive repair, and the culinary arts.
“Most of our participants are First Nations, so we’re kind of undergoing a transformation of IJC to help the participants, not only with supported living, but employment and education and training, and Indigenous services is a big part of what we do now,” said Shackel.
Fontaine, who is from Sagkeeng Anishnaabe First Nation, felt the incorporation of Indigenous teachings at El’dad was important as it gave the Indigenous participants the opportunity to “see themselves reflected and that they have those opportunities to participate in cultural activities that help transform their lives and give them those opportunities that everyone deserves.”
Every year, IJC’s 200 employees help between 150 and 180 people through programing in Winnipeg and Steinbach.
One of the participants is Michael Meeko McDonald who is in the alternative justice program and has been living at the ranch for the past year.
“I find…(I’m) really grateful and really appreciative and (it’s) life changing. The staff is really good. I love it. It made me reflect on my past and makes me reflect on the things I did yesterday and the day before that and it keeps going,” he said.
McDonald was living on the streets in Winnipeg fighting a heavy drug addiction when he was arrested and placed in prison. His probation officer told him about the alternative justice program with IJC and it wasn’t until he was arrested one more time that McDonald entered the program with an open heart.
“This time, I got this. I want to do good and they asked me if I heard of El’dad and I’m like, ‘No, what is it?’ ‘It’s a program far away from Winnipeg.’…When they brought me here and from there I was like, ‘Yeah!’ It kept me away from the drugs and kept me away from all the people that got me into doing drugs, and other people I was like getting involved with, and from there I love the program.”
Some of the skills McDonald learned was self-care, Indigenous teachings, how to communicate, how to be thankful, and how to stay strong when it came to his sobriety.
“It really is truly sacred and transformative work,” said Fontaine. “And working with Manitobans that deserve to have the best lives and they deserve to have every opportunity that every other Manitoban has. It’s just sacred work and I’m so, so impressed and I’ve really enjoyed my time here.”
Fontaine was gifted two ceremonial blankets one from El’dad and IJC and one from MCC Manitoba (who is the founder of what became IJC).
“It’s so important to have the government support because they do give some support, but it’s so much better of an investment to invest in the healing of people rather than incarceration,” said MCC Manitoba chair Janet Plenert.
“This is a chance to heal. It’s a chance to fulfil some of the truth and reconciliation promises. It’s a chance to bring greater wholeness in our province and it’s such a bang for your buck in terms of investing. And I think the minister has sympathy and awareness of how important this work is in our province.”
