The community of Dauphin is still reeling from the sudden announcement the province will shutter the correctional centre at the end of May.
“Fear, defeated, frustrated; they’re feeling like they’ve been left out in left field, that they don’t count anymore as Manitobans,” said Michelle Gawronsky, president of the MGEU, describing the mood in Dauphin Tuesday after a town hall meeting the night before.
“They are just overwhelmed with emotion of what happens next,” she said.
Gawronsky was speaking ahead of a rally Tuesday afternoon to protest the province’s decision, which would see at least 80 jobs directly lost and an untold number more if families decide to leave the area to find work.
Gawronsky says short of a complete reversal of the decision to close the correctional centre, they’re asking for assurance from the government that effort will be made to bring new job opportunities to the community.
“Actually, all residents are going to be affected by this. Not only the employees of the correction facility that reside in the municipality, but all the families that actually live and work here are going to be affected by that,” says Midge Sametz, deputy reeve for the RM of Dauphin.
Also on Tuesday, the Parkland Municipalities announced they will be submitting a summary of some questions posed during the town hall meeting, and requesting a formal response from the premier.
In a media release, the Parkland Municipalities go on to say “…everyone is concerned by the lack of information that has been presented by the Province, and we feel that they have a duty to respond.”
“I think everyone felt the same way; that we were very disappointed that this decision took place without any consultation of any of the stakeholders,” Sametz said.
“We felt that there should have been a conversation well in advance of how this decision would affect the area, and not just done in the way it was done.”
Meanwhile, the Mountain View School Division, which has schools in Dauphin, says it could lose between 40 and 50 students as well as several staff members as a result of the closure, but emphasizes it’s still too soon to say with certainty.
“We project we could lose up to 46 students, in that we have 46 students who have at least one parent that works at the Dauphin Correctional Centre,” said Dan Ward, superintendent of the division.
Ward says that number of students would represent three-and-a-half teaching positions, but adds schools are staffed individually.
Additionally, Ward says they’ve determined a number of staff have partners who work at the correctional centre, meaning they could be leaving as well.
“They’re in various areas including clinical support services, youth support services, and support staff,” Ward says.
“Some of the roles… are hard to fill positions, especially in rural Manitoba, so that could be another challenge for the division if one of our professional staff members moved away due to their partner being transferred.”
The level of uncertainty extends well into the business community, according to the local chamber of commerce.
“There’s concern for sure,” said Stephen Chychota, executive director of the Dauphin and District Chamber of Commerce.
“They’re looking at it as those are their clients, their fans, their customers, right? For now you’re looking at maybe a step back in income, depending on the scenarios of how this all works out.”
Chychota says some member businesses may have to delay projects and investments as they wait for the dust to settle.
“I don’t know if they’ll severely hurt from it, but that’s a big chunk of money that’s going to be lost from our area. How do we bounce back from that? What’s the answer? It’s hard to say,” Chychota says.
At the moment, Chychota says the chamber is gathering and managing the flow of information to and from businesses and municipalities.
In an email statement, Justice Minister Cliff Cullen says the government’s first focus is supporting staff and their families.
“We are committed to working with the employees’ union to address individual staff needs well prior to the closure and the decommissioning of the facility, with flexibility into June, and this includes working to ease the transition for those employees with children in school,” Cullen says in the statement.
“We are also committed to work with local municipal leaders to address their concerns and we will be further engaging with the community on the final design of the renovations for the courthouse, and future government investments in the Parkland region.”
Cullen adds their goal is to continue to employ the affected personnel within the Manitoba government, without elaborating on what that might look like.
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