Families minister promises to renew Riverdale Place Workshop’s funding agreement
After 49 years of providing jobs, social activities and care to adults with intellectual challenges, the Riverdale Place Workshop in Arborg was threatened with closure after the provincial government said early last week it was pulling funding.
The province pays for clients to take part in day programs at the workshop, which is located on the west side of Arborg.
Workshop manager Alex Janower said he and his eight staff were shocked when the provincial families department told them by letter and in person on Jan. 6 that it’s stopping funding in a few months’ time.
“I’m so devastated and disappointed. I’ve been here for a long time and I never thought it would come to this. I feel you should serve the people even if there’s a smaller number [of clients]. It should be our decision if we can’t continue, not theirs,” said Janower, who has been with the not-for-profit organization for 38 years. “The government doesn’t pay anything towards our building; they pay for the clients who are attending our program. We’re in the process of trying to increase our client numbers. To just cut us off so that it’s impossible for us to continue is unfair and it’s not right.”
The workshop currently has 13 clients, he said. Although the department didn’t give them a reason for pulling funding, Janower thinks it might have to do with having fewer clients. During and after the COVID pandemic, client participation declined. Some stopped coming for health reasons and some passed away. Pre-pandemic client numbers were around 30.
Without provincial funding for clients, the workshop will have to shut down.
“If we don’t receive funding, we have no choice but to shut down because we just can’t operate on our recycling program alone; there’s not enough revenue coming in,” said Janower. “They’re basically shutting us down by not giving us funding. We said that’s very unfair.”
Riverdale Place Workshop provides vocational training, employment and socialization to adults with intellectual challenges. Its clients live in the Arborg area and in distant communities such as Fisher Branch and Poplarfield. They take part in workforce activities and earn a small monthly income. They also take part in music, dancing, craft-making and community activities.
The workshop employs some clients in its recycling program, which serves Arborg, Riverton and parts of the Municipality of Bifrost-Riverton. Because of its environmental stewardship, the workshop earned a Sustainability in Pollution Prevention Award from the provincial government in 2017. In 2023, it diverted over 235,000 kilograms of recyclables from the landfill.
The families department sent the workshop a letter dated Jan. 6, stating it intends to stop funding on March 31. It thanked the workshop for its past 49 years of service supporting adults with intellectual disabilities.
The letter provides no explanation about why the department intends to pull funding.
“Riverdale Place Workshop must cease providing services (as defined by the service purchase agreement) on Manitoba’s account on March 31, 2025,” wrote the department’s executive director of disability policy.
The director goes on to say that Community Living Disability Services is “committed to working with Riverdale Place Workshop to assist with transitioning individuals supported by the agency to a new service provider.”
Janower said he doesn’t know where their clients could be transferred – should they wish to continue attending a day program – but Gimli or Selkirk could be options. Should that be the case, he doesn’t know if the province will pay for or provide transportation to and from an alternative site.
One thing he knows for sure is that some of the workshop’s clients will not spend several hours on the highway travelling to and from another site, and that in turn will deprive them of social stimulation and paid work opportunities.
“A lot of our clients who live farther away won’t want to go to Gimli, especially if there are transportation costs for them and their families,” said Janower. “Gimli is 45 minutes from Arborg and that’s almost two hours on the highway. We have some clients from Poplarfield and they’re not going to travel to Gimli. We have a client that comes from Fisher Branch and [that client] won’t go to Gimli. We have elderly clients that won’t want to go to Gimli. They’ll just be staying at home. That means work activities will be taken away from our clients.”
Councils for the Town of Arborg and the Municipality of Bifrost-Riverton are concerned about the government’s plan to pull support for adults with intellectual challenges.
On behalf of council for the Town of Arborg, deputy mayor Ron Johnston said last week that the closure of the workshop would be a “huge loss” to both the town and municipality.
“Several clients have moved into our community and participate in the social activities held in the community,” said Johnston. “Their inclusion and willingness to contribute to our environmental stewardship is remarkable.”
The families department’s letter was brought to council’s attention and was discussed the following day at a council meeting.
“It was concerning to us that we had not been involved in any discussions leading up to this decision, along with the extremely short notice to react,” said Johnston. “We’ve sent a letter to [families] Minister Nahanni Fontaine requesting a meeting to discuss the impact this decision will have on the clients and community.”
The town provides funding to the workshop to support its recycling program, and it would have to come up with an alternative solution to recycling in order to protect the environment and reduce the amount of waste going into the landfill, he added.
Bifrost-Riverton councillor David King said he is deeply concerned and disappointed by the government’s plan to cut funding to the workshop as it provides “critical support” to people with intellectual challenges, as well as instills a sense of belonging, dignity and independence.
“The withdrawal of funding threatens to dismantle the lives of residents and places an undue burden on their families, many of whom may not have the resources to provide alternative care,” said King in a letter shared with the Express. “…. Without adequate support, the residents may face displacement, increased health challenges or institutionalization in larger, less personal facilities. These outcomes are not only inhumane, but could result in great long-term costs to the government and taxpayers.”
King wrote that the decision to stop supporting people with disabilities “draws disturbing parallels” to historical injustices such as sending Indigenous children to schools outside their communities.
Bifrost-Riverton council said it will be reaching out to the province and consulting with the Town of Arborg council.
“But who is really affected is the clients who work at this facility. Were they included in the decision of … a new service provider?” said CAO Larissa Love on behalf of council. “After 49 years of service, they are treated like this.”
Interlake-Gimli MLA Derek Johnson, who has visited the workshop on occasion and formally recognized it in the legislature a number of years ago, said the province’s intent to stop funding for people with intellectual challenges is “callous.”
Having sat on the provincial treasury board when the provincial Conservatives were in power, he said the funding cut – amounting to about $275,000 annually for the workshop – just doesn’t make sense from a government efficiency point of view.
“I can’t see this as a cost-cutting measure because if the workshop’s clients decide to participate at a different place, the government will still have to pay the same fee for service. I don’t envision the province saving money,” said Johnson. “This is just callous.”
The only possible saving to the province could come from attrition whereby Arborg and area clients stop taking part in a day program.
Johnson said he’s supportive of the workshop’s inclusivity. It gives people with intellectual challenges a sense of worth, helps them develop life skills and instills pride as a result of their making their own money. Taking away their workplace would disrupt their lives.
“They don’t get paid much, but they love earning money. They save up for different things for their own homes. The workshop was closed for a couple of days over Christmas and there were [recycling] cans piling up, and one of the workshop’s clients was so eager to get back to work. They love to go to work,” said Johnson. “It’s an outstanding facility with its support services, and people feel they have worth.”
Johnson wrote to families minister Nahanni Fontaine, asking her to reconsider the plan to cut funding to “our most vulnerable citizens” and offering to work collaboratively with her.
The Express reached out to the provincial department of families with questions such as why it’s unwilling to fund the workshop, whether there’s a certain number of clients necessary for funding support, where it intends to transfer clients at the end of March, whether it will provide transportation for them, and whether it’s concerned that the funding cut might result in adults with intellectual challenges falling through the cracks. The department acknowledged receipt of the questions but did not provide answers.
The Express also requested comment from families minister Nahanni Fontaine, who is also the minister responsible for accessibility and gender equity.
A spokesperson for the minister replied on the weekend: “We recognize the importance of organizations that support adults with intellectual disabilities and continue to provide funding across Manitoba. We will renew the service purchase agreement with the Riverdale Place Workshop.”
