Miss-Delectable
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Winnipeg Free Press
Provincial child welfare authorities said today they've saved the province's only deaf group home for aboriginal kids.
It has been slated to close April 25.
Kai Na Quiniget is home to five children ages 11 to 19, who in addition to being deaf are also wards of the child welfare system. They each have other physical and mental disabilities, too. Five interpreters who work at the group home in Winnipeg had been told a week ago they would be laid off.
Their jobs are safe now and the kids won't be moving anywhere.
Elsie Flette, CEO of the Southern First Nations Child and Family Services Authority, confirmed the home is staying put following meetings with managers this week.
"We did meet with the agency and we went through the issues and concerns and what is needed so that the home can keep operating," Flette said.
The home is run by West Region Child and Family Services, an aboriginal agency.
The agency told the group home they would shut it down after workers won certification in the Manitoba Government Employees Union.
Group-home workers said they were the first agency employees to join a union.
Right now wages at the group home are close to minimum wage. Union wages are, on average, 30 per cent higher in other group homes.
The West Region wanted to keep the home alive but the agency needed the same grants as other group homes to do that, their CEO Stella Bone said this week.
The Southern Authority is sending out letters to agency managers and staff as well as the union to confirm the commitment.
"I've spoken with the union," the Southern Authority CEO said. "The thinking is we can address these issues at the bargaining table so that we're all involved."
Workers welcomed the outcome.
"That's amazing. It took just a few days after it got out there. Everything just fell together," Peshaunquet Shognosh said.
The group home had support from advocates for the deaf as well as various community groups all persuading provincial authorities to keep the home going.
Provincial child welfare authorities said today they've saved the province's only deaf group home for aboriginal kids.
It has been slated to close April 25.
Kai Na Quiniget is home to five children ages 11 to 19, who in addition to being deaf are also wards of the child welfare system. They each have other physical and mental disabilities, too. Five interpreters who work at the group home in Winnipeg had been told a week ago they would be laid off.
Their jobs are safe now and the kids won't be moving anywhere.
Elsie Flette, CEO of the Southern First Nations Child and Family Services Authority, confirmed the home is staying put following meetings with managers this week.
"We did meet with the agency and we went through the issues and concerns and what is needed so that the home can keep operating," Flette said.
The home is run by West Region Child and Family Services, an aboriginal agency.
The agency told the group home they would shut it down after workers won certification in the Manitoba Government Employees Union.
Group-home workers said they were the first agency employees to join a union.
Right now wages at the group home are close to minimum wage. Union wages are, on average, 30 per cent higher in other group homes.
The West Region wanted to keep the home alive but the agency needed the same grants as other group homes to do that, their CEO Stella Bone said this week.
The Southern Authority is sending out letters to agency managers and staff as well as the union to confirm the commitment.
"I've spoken with the union," the Southern Authority CEO said. "The thinking is we can address these issues at the bargaining table so that we're all involved."
Workers welcomed the outcome.
"That's amazing. It took just a few days after it got out there. Everything just fell together," Peshaunquet Shognosh said.
The group home had support from advocates for the deaf as well as various community groups all persuading provincial authorities to keep the home going.