Manitoba community leaders are moving to bridge the divides that have angered church congregations, families and friends split over pandemic opinions, from the trucker demonstrations to vaccine mandates.
It could take months or years, but it’s time all sides acknowledge their responsibility to making amends, apologize and shake the negativity, Winkler Mayor Martin Harder said.
“How are we going to enter the merge lane from here on?” he told Global News on Tuesday, as the province’s public health orders fade by mid-March and some protesters continue voicing concerns outside the Manitoba Legislative Building.
“The middle of the storm is sometimes the best time to make a stand.”
Harder says some living within Winkler — a city of almost 14,000, where COVID-19 vaccine uptake sits around 46 per cent — already realize they must take steps to heal.
“There are so many people … who don’t go and ask the neighbour, ‘Well, what is your opinion on this?’ but rather go and blow the driveway.”
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“That is the value that we need to build on to make sure that we respect our neighbours, regardless of opinion, and we are still friends and we are still able to meet each other on the street.”
It’s a sentiment echoed by Kyle Penner, an associate pastor at Grace Mennonite Church in Steinbach.
Manitobans need to be reminded of their connections, instead of their different opinions, Penner told Global News on Tuesday, and they can start with the small things.
“We don’t have to resolve the (Emergencies Act) and what we feel about that,” he said. “We have to resolve, ‘Can I shovel my neighbour’s driveway? Can I bake cookies for my daughter-in-law who I disagree with?'”
“Both sides are going to have to eat some humble pie.”
Some Manitobans may come to the realization that they need to resolve conflicts for themselves, because they don’t like how agitated they’ve become, Penner said.
Extreme feelings existed before the pandemic, he continued, but Manitobans chose to overlook them because they found joy in doing activities together — activities and common ground that were later restricted through public health orders.
Penner is optimistic Manitobans will come around as winter disappears and that tensions will unwind, when people can start enjoying things with others again.
“We will start to remember that we are humans together,” he said.
“I’m hoping that even the simple act of us showing up to these places together, be it churches or theatres or sporting events … we will remember, ‘Oh right, you’re not my enemy. You’re my neighbour.'”
As a step in that direction, Harder is asking community members to take some time at dusk on Wednesday to pray for each other.
“We need to pray for our country, and we need to get rid of the divide that is there.”
“That is the common ground where we can all make a difference.”
— with files from Brittany Greenslade
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