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Attachment 260 As reported in the Winnipeg Free Press, the Winnipeg City Council voted on Wednesday to approve $4.2 million in funding for an $11.7 million centre to be run by Youth for Christ. Council's decision will allow Youth for Christ to access up to $3.2 million in Federal infrastructure funds for the project.
The article mentioned some of the controversy surrounding the proposed centre:
"At city council, opponents such as Nahanni Fontaine from the Southern Chiefs' Organization likened the group's youth centre to Canada's residential schools. But the primary complaint raised by inner-city groups was that they had no access to comparable public funding.
"What caught me off guard was all these people felt like we were coming into their community and taking over the community," Courtney said.
He called the past week "emotionally very heavy" and said he feared the project was one undiplomatic statement away from doom.
Youth for Christ has raised $1 million in private funds to build the centre and must find an additional $4 million, said Courtney, adding shovels could be in the ground as soon as April.
Courtney repeated his pledge that youths of all ethnic and religious backgrounds will be welcome at the centre. He promised his organization does not attempt to coerce youths into becoming Christians.
"You work with teenagers, you find out they have a mind of their own. You can't force them to do anything," he said, adding youths who participate in his organization's programs must sign parental waiver forms.
Youth for Christ still welcomes the prospect of voluntary conversions, he added. Slightly more than 200 of the approximately 4,400 youths his organization contacted last year accepted the opportunity to embark on a "faith journey," he said. "
The full article is available here: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/bre...-85325347.html
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