Home Grown tree planting grant applications open for 2024 season

Tuesday, September 26, 2023

Grant program provides support for community-based tree planting efforts

Winnipeg, MB – Local community groups and organizations are once again eligible for funding to help grow Winnipeg’s tree canopy.

Applications for the 2024 Home Grown Grant, supported by the Government of Canada Two Billion Trees Program, opened last week.

This marks the second year funding is being made available to registered not-for-profits looking to organize tree planting projects in their communities. In 2023, Winnipeg received more than $7 million over three years for its larger Home Grown Tree Planting Program, which includes both the grant and internal planting efforts.

“Trees are essential to our lives — they capture carbon, improve air quality and support wildlife — and they are important allies in our fight against climate change. That’s why Canada has committed to planting two billion trees,” said the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Canada. “Through this investment with the City of Winnipeg, we are showing how collaborative work between the federal government and our municipal partners can permanently expand forest cover and build healthier, more resilient communities, by ensuring that the right tree is planted at the right place at the right time.”

“The 2 Billion Trees program is an integral part of our efforts to fight climate change and reverse biodiversity loss" said Terry Duguid, Member of Parliament for Winnipeg South and Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and Special Advisor for Water. "By making this investment in partnership with the City of Winnipeg, more trees will be planted across our community, providing cleaner air, more greenspace, and healthier, more resilient neighbourhoods for Canadians to call home.”

“The Home Grown Grant is part of the City’s long-term strategy to renew our urban forest and bring new life to our community’s tree canopy,” said Mayor Scott Gillingham. “By involving community organizations in the tree planting process we are empowering Winnipeggers to do their part in shaping a greener and more sustainable future for our city.”

"Winnipeg’s Urban Forest is the envy of many cities, but that also means we must be vigilant and active to maintain the health of our existing urban forest, as well as expanding it," said Russ Wyatt, Councillor for the Transcona ward. " As City Council moves toward developing and adopting a Greenspace Master Plan, for existing City trees and forests as well as the creation of new forests and parks, it is important we remember to work with other levels of governments to ensure Winnipeg is at the forefront in fighting Climate Change."

The start of the 2024 Home Grown Grant intake was celebrated with the first celebratory planting made possible by 2023 grant funding.

Members of Transcona Legion Branch No. 7 joined dignitaries and officials from the City of Winnipeg and Government of Canada to announce the intake and put trees in the ground at Transcona Cemetery.

“Our Legion Branch #7, along with Transcona Cemetery are grateful to be the recipients of a Home Grown grant that has provided these trees for the cemetery grounds,” said Peter Martin, Executive Member of the Transcona Legion Branch #7. “It is nice to see them planted alongside the Field of Honour where more than 300 Veterans and Service Members are resting.”

Successful applicants can receive up to $20,000 each from the grant program for planting projects that focus on adding trees to geographic areas of higher poverty and underserved areas of the city.

In addition to the funding, successful Home Grown grant applicants will receive one-on-one guidance and oversight from a City of Winnipeg arborist and ongoing support to ensure their respective programs’ success.

To be eligible, community organizations must be either incorporated or a registered not-for-profit and have identified a planting site on public property within their respective community.

Full criteria and application forms can be found at winnipeg.ca/homegrowngrant.

The application deadline for the 2024 planting year is November 10, 2023.

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Media inquiries should be directed to the City of Winnipeg Media Inquiry Line at 204-986-6000 or via email at city-mediainquiry@winnipeg.ca.

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Tenant baffled after central Winnipeg building left without garbage bins for months

Cameron MacLean· CBC News· Posted: Jan 09, 2023 5:00 AM CST | Last Updated: January 9

Resident says city told her that her Maryland Street condo building has shifted to private garbage collection

Winnipegger Pauline Dussault can't help but laugh when she looks at the pile of garbage she and other tenants have left beside their Maryland Street condo building.

Dussault, who has rented a unit in the building for two years, said some time last summer, she saw workers from the City of Winnipeg come and take the rolling garbage bins from behind the building.

The building hasn't had garbage bins since, she said.

"I'm surviving with a sense of humour," said Dussault.

When CBC News visited last week, there were numerous bags of garbage left along the north side of the building. Several had been ripped open, their contents spilling across the ground.

Behind the building were several blue recycling bins — some filled with trash — but no garbage bins.

Despite repeated complaints to the company that manages her unit, and calls to the City of Winnipeg, Dussault said it has been months since she and the other residents in the building have had a place to put their garbage.

When she called 311, she said she was told the building at 722 Maryland St. — just south of Notre Dame Avenue, in the Daniel McIntyre area — had switched to private garbage collection.

"I don't want to litter, but I don't have an option right now," Dussault said. "It kills me to do that. Like, I'm not a litterbug and I don't want to but … what more am I supposed to do?"

Building self-managed, board says

An email from the property manager of the unit Dussault rents, dated Jan. 4, 2023, says the company has emailed the condo board "several times regarding the missing garbage bins."

CBC News contacted two members of the condominium board responsible for the building, but both declined requests for a recorded interview.

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In an emailed statement, a representative of the board said the building is self-managed by volunteers.

The condo corporation "has an independent service provider" responsible for external cleanup, picking up bulky waste and garbage removal "on an as needed basis," the email said.

However, "weekly garbage removal is not included in this 'upon request' service agreement," the representative said.

According to the email, the corporation had not received any requests for this service since last spring.

The email did not respond to CBC's questions about why the bins were removed, or what kind of weekly garbage pickup plan is in place for the building.

A spokesperson for the City of Winnipeg wouldn't comment on whether the building has service from the city or a private company, whether the city had removed the bins from the property, or if bylaw officers had responded to any complaints about the building.

Generally speaking, "if a property owner decides to hire private garbage collection services, then the City of Winnipeg will collect the carts/front-load bins that were provided if the city had previously provided service," city spokesperson Kalen Qually said in an emailed statement.

Lack of city policy 'shocking': councillor

In her quest to get the building's garbage issue addressed, Dussault reached out to Daniel McIntyre Coun. Cindy Gilroy, who has brought forward a motion at city council she hopes will prevent similar issues in the future.

If passed by council, the motion would require multi-family residences to have an adequate number of garbage bins, "regardless of whether garbage collection is provided by the city or a private contractor."

Gilroy said she has seen similar issues at other buildings, particularly in the inner city, and was surprised to learn that the City of Winnipeg has no policy explicitly requiring multi-family buildings to have garbage bins.

"It was shocking," she said in an interview. "We have to figure out a plan in order to manage that, especially if it's a private contractor."

Gilroy wants the city to develop a process that would require private contractors to notify the city if they remove bins from a property, and would impose fines on building owners and condo boards if they don't have adequate garbage bins.

After CBC News reached out to the condo board, Dussault said someone came and cleaned up the garbage beside her building, but no new bins have arrived.

"I feel like I'm in the 1800s," she said. "I guess all I do is open my window [and] throw the garbage out."

Video link https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/winnipeg-building-no-garbage-collection-1.6706695