On March 27th, 2023, the Keep the Ten Commandments Monument in Assiniboine Park delegation presented to the Welcoming Winnipeg Committee.  Ed Hume gave a Keynote presentation followed by Gail Asper and Pastor Bruce Martin sharing their personal concerns about this issue.  This lasted about 15 minutes and was followed by a surprising long 45 min question and answer session between the delegation and the Welcoming Winnipeg Committee which was very positive.  A couple of challenging questions still remain:

1. The delegation has significant community support to keep the Ten Commandments Monument in Assiniboine Park:  1,454 paper and online petition signers, a letter of support from the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg, a letter of support from the Native Evangelical Fellowship of Canada and the support of the Fraternal Order of the Eagles (FOE) the givers of the Ten Commandments Monument to the City of Winnipeg in 1965.  On the other hand the Assiniboine Park Conservancy (APC) who want the Monument removed from the Park has to my understanding little to no community support to have it removed!  Please see APC's original request to the Welcoming Winnipeg Committee to have the monument removed. (https://wpgopendata.blob.core.windows.net/welcoming-winnipeg/2022-008-en.pdf Check under heading: "Demonstrated Community Support"  and later in the request under "What kind of evidence/research support this statement:"  None appears to be given!
2. Reanna Merasty the chair of the Welcoming Winnipeg Committee (WWC), stated that this request received over 1400 responses from their public survey about this issue, the most ever.  Unfortunately when asked what were the percentages for and against this issue she couldn't give an answer since the survey's had not been collated!  This information needs to be available to the WWC and the public at some point for making evidence based recommendations, which helps to reduce personal bias.

The delegation plans to present to the Executive Policy Committee (EPC) and the City Council as a whole when they have their final vote on the issue ( a recorded vote will be requested).  This will take place in the next 2 months after the Welcoming Winnipeg Committee has given their recommendations to the City.  The dates of these meetings will be given in future updates.  In the meantime you are encouraged to write, email phone or visit your local City Councillor to let them know how you feel about this issue. City Councillor contact information is attached below.  Thank you.  Sincerely,  Ed Hume

(https://legacy.winnipeg.ca/council/contact.stm