In the Mayor’s own Words

Mayor Michael Fougere is not only a good neighbour, working across the street in City Hall from our YWCA Regina building on McIntyre Street, he is also a really great friend of the YWCA. We spoke with Michael recently and asked him why he champions the work of YWCA Regina

In the Mayor’s own Words…

“The YWCA has been a partner with us for a number of years.

The work it does for the community, particularly for vulnerable women and children, to me that’s the hallmark of what they do – everything from daycare, to shelters for emergency.

They are a web of support that people don’t see every day because most people go about their daily lives – things are fine – but you never know when you’re going to need this help.

Over 7000 women and children a year are in need of some really important services.

As mayor, we have a lot of initiatives related to homelessness and we talk about what happens to people in the wintertime. Where do they go? There are YWCA shelters for women.

This is what makes Regina really good in my view; a very caring compassionate city where organizations work together because they see the bigger picture here. So, the YWCA works very strongly related to homelessness and housing as a fundamental right of individuals to have a place to live, a shelter to take care of themselves and their children. The YWCA does a wonderful job of providing that.

The services the YWCA provides are beyond what governments typically will do. And you just need to think about this for a moment. What happens when a woman and her children are subjected to violence at home? Where are they going and what are they going to do?

And we have the highest rate of domestic violence in Canada, in our province… This is across all incomes, all professions, all working people. No matter where you are, this can happen. And a measure of a compassionate society is that we take care of those who are vulnerable.

Women, who are probably in the most difficult circumstances of their life, who is going to watch over them?

YWCA fills that gap in a great way; to give them an out; to give them a sense of self-worth, get some stability, get some working again maybe on their own, and gets them out of that problem and gets their life turned around.

We need as a city, as a society, to make sure they’re taken care of, so the City of Regina supports the YWCA in their objectives.

The YWCA provides services and support for women and children throughout their daily lives… to make sure people reach their full potential.

Support isn’t just for when you’re at the most vulnerable time of your life. It’s also for support as you go through your journey and I think daycare is one good example of the support that’s required for women who have a career. They want to work and they have a right to that opportunity… [It’s] really a testament to the scope of services they provide.

The YW has a major campaign on to centralize services. People should read about that and find out what that means for our community and for our city. It’s a very powerful way to help people and to provide better services more effectively and coordinate between different organizations as well, so it’s just a really good leadership role that the YWCA is showing our city.”

You can read more about the project Mayor Fougere refers to on the YWCA Regina website at
https://ywcaregina.com/ywca-centre-for-women-and-families-…/