'Going to be sad seeing it go,' man says as Winnipeg's N'Dinawemak emergency shelter set to close
CBC
People who use the Indigenous-led overnight shelter on the edge of downtown Winnipeg are weighing their next steps after learning the facility is set to shut down, but Manitoba's premier says nobody will get left behind.
N'Dinawemak — Our Relatives' Place, at 190 Disraeli Fwy., is set to close April 1. It opened just over four years ago to offer a culturally appropriate place for people who need a place to sleep or to warm up.
CBC News has learned staff members were informed Thursday morning about the closure.
Nathan Trout, who has called the shelter home on and off for two years, said he might have to try looking for an apartment when it closes.
"I don't have a home right now," he said. "It's going to be sad seeing it go."
Malina Levasseur gets lunch at the shelter most days but said she's not worried about the closure.
"I don't know where to go," she said. "There's other places, too."
Without support, the closure is likely to push more homeless people to pitch tents outside, she said.
Premier Wab Kinew said the space will be renovated and transitioned into a navigation centre for those trying to get off the street.
"The navigation centre is the first place they go so that we can get you your IDs, if you don’t have your IDs, get you housing so that we can get a roof over your head, talk to you about seeing a doctor so that you can get a routine checkup," he said during an unrelated news conference Thursday.
The navigation centre will also be able to help with things like getting a pregnancy test, he said.
"A big part of what we want to do with folks on the street is to stop mom-to-be from transmitting HIV or STBBIs [sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections] to their babies."
The building at 190 Disraeli is a shared space with the province's new 72-hour sobering centre, which was given the go-ahead earlier this month to begin taking in people.
It can house people who highly intoxicated by hard drugs like meth for up to three days.
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