The Importance of Empowering Communities Voices to Make Manitoba a Welcoming and Inclusive Province

Manitoba, known for its diverse cultural landscape and welcoming spirit, is poised to witness a fascinating evolution in its communities in the coming years.

As we look ahead, the province's future communities hold the potential to create a vibrant and interconnected tapestry, weaving together the strengths of different cultures and embracing new expectations for growth, inclusivity, and prosperity.

In this episode, we discuss the future of Manitoba cultural communities with Martin Itzkow, the executive director of the Coalition of Manitoba Cultural Communities for Families and Kathleen Vyrauen, project manager at the Ethnocultural Council of Manitoba.

"20 percent of Manitoba's population are immigrants. That's a significantly large number. And you take that and start looking at which communities. We had a conversation with the community yesterday that believes they are completely invisible. People don't know them, don't understand them, and the real concern is they are facing racism, hatred and discrimination", says Itzkow.

The statistics point to us in a way that says Canada will be admitting 400 thousand over the next couple of years. In collaboration, Martin and Kathleen will work focusing on the value of cultural communities in the context of Canada. Hearing the voices of the community around safety about how to deal with conflict is incredibly important, according to them.

From Martin and Kathleen's point of view, the mission is bringing community service providers, government and policymakers together.

"It's not just what communities are demanding in terms of services and being treated fairly but also the factor that communities want to also be able to determine their own future and decide what's important for them," says Martin.