An inner-city activist issued a challenge to mayoral candidate Gord Steeves after a four-year-old Facebook comment by his wife about downtown panhandlers recently re-surfaced.
Althea Guiboche, founder of the “Got Bannock?” program, has invited Gord and Lorrie Steeves to join her on any Sunday at 3:00 p.m. when she hands out food to some of the city’s less fortunate people in the Main Street area.
“We need to start changing our views, our perspectives, opening our eyes to different ways of live and trying to understand why people are on the street,” said Guiboche.
Hours after Steeves announced a plan to crack down on drunk and high people in the downtown, a seldom-used Twitter account posted a screen capture of a Facebook post written by Steeves’ wife, Lorrie, in 2010.
In the post, she says she "is really tired of getting harrassed by the drunken native guys in the skywalks. We need to get these people educated so they can go make their own damn money instead of hanging out and harrassing the honest people who are grinding away working hard for their money."
Guiboche issued her challenge in an effort to change what she called “stereotypes” of people on the street.
“I try to do everything to change those stereotypes and to help people see with a new perspective,” she said.
Michael Champagne of Aboriginal Youth Opportunities said he’s alarmed to see racism becoming an issue in this campaign.
“I think those comments unfortunately now have Winnipegers wondering what type of conversations they’re having around the dinner table,” he said.
Champagne said the group has invited Gord Steeves and all mayoral candidates to come take questions from inner-city youth, but Steeves didn’t respond.
“Perhaps this is the time to re-extend that invitation and say Gord if you want to talk to us aboriginal youth we’re willing to do so,” he said.
CTV reached out to Gord and Lorrie Steeves but so far have not received a response.
- With a report by Ben Miljure
