Thunderbird House under siege due to vandalism, disrepair

Article content

Thunderbird House, a spiritual centre for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Winnipeg’s Point Douglas neighbourhood, is under siege.

Article content

The destruction of Douglas Cardinal’s architectural masterpiece was centre-stage on Friday morning when provincial, municipal and Indigenous leaders gathered to announce funding for ramping-up vaccinations for Indigenous people. It’s a critical pandemic effort.

However Friday’s gathering, which included Premier Kelvin Goertzen and Health Minister Audrey Gordon, and the sad condition of Thunderbird House, was like a lyric from singer John Mayer.

“My dear, we’re slow-dancing in a burning room.”

Prior to the arrival of dignitaries, human excrement was washed from the entrance of the building. Minutes before Goertzen and Gordon showed up, two people frantically scooped piles of garbage, with shovels, from a parking area into a dumpster. Hundreds of needles are regularly removed from the site.

Article content

The VIPs likely had no idea they were walking across an outdoor toilet as they entered the building. With sincere respect to the great people at the facility, and those working to alleviate poverty and addiction in Point Douglas, holding an event at Thunderbird House in its current state was an act of denial that served to further denigrate the area’s unsheltered and health-compromised people.

Had it not been for a van belonging to a media company, finding an entrance to Thunderbird House on Friday would’ve been challenging. There’s a security fence around the building that might not be working. Lately, people have been ripping off, and selling, sheets of copper cladding. Sections of the roof are unprotected. Most of the building’s windows are smashed and boarded up.

Article content

“I came here in 1983 and you didn’t see this,” Winnipeg Police Board member and Indigenous leader Damon Johnston said in an interview outside the structure. “The transformation is real – the increase in homelessness is in the last five to six years. It’s partly the pandemic.”

During a scrum with media after Friday’s event, Goertzen suggested the contrast between the inside and outside of Thunderbird House reflects the need for more work in the community. He has an upcoming meeting with a prominent Winnipeg social service agency.

“It is heartbreaking when you walk by, and you see people who don’t have a home that all of us in some way take for granted,” he said. “That’s complex. There are a lot of different reasons for it. I’m not suggesting there are easy answers, but there have to be some better solutions that improve the situation.”

Article content

Thunderbird House co-chair David Morrison told the WinnipegSun the facility is “under attack” from people in the area who are homeless, hungry and doing too many drugs. He said the individuals stealing copper sheeting off the roof are organized.

“We are just trying to keep ourselves alive right now,” he said. “The inside is ok, but the outside we are going to have to re-window. We have to pay a lot of attention to the homeless and people who are suffering. There’s a little section here that starts almost at the Disraeli Freeway and it goes further down Main Street, and so forth. There’s a lot of neglect. There are a lot of people who have nowhere to sleep. They are sleeping in encampments – and lots of drugs.”

Thanks to Coun. Sherri Rollins and others, the City is currently building a full-service 24/7 dignity washroom adjacent to the Thunderbird House. Portable toilets are on site.

jsnell@postmedia.com

Twitter @JamesWestgateSn

Click here to sign up for our daily newsletter.