Brandon library teams up with Ask Auntie to create downtown resource hub

A new community support hub inside Brandon’s downtown Westman Regional Library is bringing social services directly to one of the southwestern Manitoba city’s busiest public spaces, in an effort to connect vulnerable people with the help they need.

Destiny Thompson, a case manager with Ask Auntie — a Brandon Friendship Centre program that offers guidance and resources to vulnerable and Indigenous communities — has been working out of the downtown library since November, in an office located inside the foyer.

Most of her work happens informally, like meeting people over a puzzle or starting a conversation, and then connecting them to resources.

"I get to see everything first-hand," she said. "I understand … situations a little better for our people."

She's typically at the library from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday. Her mornings often start by checking in with people already in the library, many of whom are at their most vulnerable, she says.

There’s a clear need for an "auntie" in the library, to provide compassionate support, and sometimes tough love, said Thompson.

Brandon, which had a population of over 54,000 as of the last census, lacks a daytime drop-in space after the closure of the Blue Door in spring 2025 due to escalating violence.

Thompson says that means more vulnerable people are using the library as a space to spend the day.

The Brandon outreach program is similar to others across Canada, Thompson said, including a revamped support hub in Winnipeg’s Millennium that opened in October and a Toronto Public Library support program that has recently expanded.

Western Manitoba Regional Library director Erika Martin says Ask Auntie helps bridge gaps between library patrons, security and staff.

The library has seen a noticeable increase in the number of daytime visitors in the last five years, Martin says.

"It’s a community living room.… A lot of people need somewhere that's warm and safe and welcoming and accessible," she said. 

"I kind of think of the library as the last place that you can loiter in this world."

According to Brandon's homeless individuals families information system, a database that tracks homelessness in the city, there were 821 unhoused people in the city in 2025, down from 909 in 2024, but experts warn those numbers may be an undercount.