Panhandled

When most people in the US think of Canada, they don't picture homeless people wandering the streets asking for change. But that is exactly what you will find in Winnipeg, Manitoba, which is about 8 hours north of Minneapolis by car. Of course, any city of this size (the Winnipeg metropolitan area is around 700,000) can be expected to have it's share of homeless people. The shocking thing to me is that, as a New York City resident, I think I am much more likely to be asked for money on the street in Winnipeg than I am in New York. I have been to Winnipeg several times and noticed the abundance of panhandlers, so this time I decided to keep track of the number of incidents in which I was asked for money on the street. This does not include people just sitting on the street corner with an paper cup outstretched, hoping someone will drop a coin in. This is just the number of times an individual has spoken directly to me and asked for money. After 7 days, my total stands at 18. Think of it. Roughly 2.5 times a day I have been asked for money. Would this happen in Minneapolis, which is roughly the same size? Having spent plenty of time in Minneapolis, I am confident that it wouldn't. In fact, I can only remember one time in which I was asked for money in downtown Minneapolis. I don't begrudge people for asking for change. If I was homeless, you can bet I too would do whatever I could to survive. The real issue is why Winnipeg has such a large homeless population for it's size. Also, this homeless population seems to be overwhelmingly "native," as Canadians say (they also sometimes use the term "first nations"). In the US, we would refer to them as Native American. Regardless, you can't help but notice that in Winnipeg extreme poverty seems to disproportionately affect the descendants of native peoples versus those of European ancestry. I went to hear coloumnist Margaret Wente of the Toronto based newspaper the Globe and Mail speak last night and she referred to the treatment of natives as "Canada's national shame." I know that that comment would not take most Canadians by surprise, but as an American who finds himself more and more drawn to the way Canada conducts itself on the world stage, it struck me as pretty shocking. It also struck me as true, based on what I have seen in Winnipeg. I have not seen much of the rest of Canada, but I can't help but think not only does that extreme poverty disproportionately affect natives, but it seems to disproporitionately affect Winnipeg versus other Canadian cities. Not surprisingly, a city with a lot of poverty is a city with a lot of crime. The province of Manitoba has the words "Friendly Manitoba" on it's license plate. Last year Winnipeg was proclaimed the murder capitol of Canada. They may have to change that license plate.