Lausanne World Pulse – Urban Articles – Urban Youth Adventures: Winnipeg’s North End
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Winnipeg is divided between the central business and commercial districts and the poorer neighbourhoods on the north end of town. |
Urban Youth Adventures (UYA) is a new Winnipeg (Manitoba, Canada) inner city initiative with a vision to help youth overcome poverty and its affects. UYA focuses on the north end of the city. Rail yards divide the north end from the city’s central business and commercial districts. These yards are a physical, social, and economic divide. They are the heart of an industrial and commercial zone that is also the scene for prostitution, drug trade, and violence.
Nestled up against the yards and the warehouses are the poorest housing tracts in the city. These include social housing, slum landlords, empty lots, boarded-up houses and businesses, for sale and lease signs, burnt out buildings, and dumpsters. The provincial government recently announced significant new money to catch up with maintenance issues, including leaky roofs, mould, and bugs in the social housing units. “Beware of Dog” signs are common along with fences, gates, and alarm systems. In some neighbourhoods, it appears everything is at risk. Most yards are not well kept. New initiatives, such as Habitat for Humanity and government-funded programs, resist further degradation of these neighbourhoods. Beyond the rail yards there are transitions for new housing and properties that are well kept. Businesses are active and prices are more in line with market values. There are fewer “Beware of Dog” signs.
Problems on the North End
The people who live in the seven neighbourhoods that comprise the north end of Winnipeg reporting Aboriginal identity range from fourteen percent to fifty-five percent of the population. (Winnipeg as a whole is at nine percent.) These neighbourhoods also report significantly higher proportions of people under twenty years of age. One neighbourhood, Lord Selkirk Park, reports that forty percent of the population are under age twenty. Many children are raised by older siblings. Parents can be difficult to find. In the summer, children roam in groups at night and destroy windows and gardens.
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Cornelius Buller is executive director of Urban Youth Adventures, a ministry working with youth who are impacted by poverty in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He was a key leader in creating the Invisible Dignity Project, which featured art exhibits, art talks, and a concert, all focused on bringing to light the dignity of persons who are regularly ignored or oppressed. Previously, Buller served as an ethics consultant for The Salvation Army, where he developed an annual international weekend of prayer and fasting on behalf of persons victimized by trafficking. He holds as doctorate from McMaster University. |