'We're not giving up the fight': Dauphin group to meet with justice minister this week about jail closure

A citizens group in Dauphin, Man., will meet with the province's justice minister on Thursday with the hope of keeping the city's jail open.

The Dauphin Correctional Centre Coalition Group was formed not long after the province announced it will close the century-old jail by the end of May and renovate and expand Dauphin's court house.

"We're just having tremendous support here. It's just unanimous in our region," said Larry Budzinski, one the group's co-founders, on its efforts so far. 

"People are upset and they feel it's a terrible decision and they feel it should just be put on hold until we can build something different and we can have an alternative instead of just closing things."

Budzinski said people in the city of around 8,500 people, located about 250 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, have written numerous letters, held a town hall meeting and attended protests and other events to show their displeasure with the announcement. 

A petition will also be presented in the legislature on Thursday, he said. 

Manitoba Justice Minister Cliff Cullen announced the jail's closure in January, saying the 103-year-old facility no longer meets modern correctional needs and the decision to close it was not taken lightly. 

The more than 60 inmates housed at the facility, which was built in 1917, would be moved to other jails in the province, such as Brandon or The Pas, Cullen said, while also announcing millions of dollars in renovations and upgrades to the jail's adjoining courthouse.  

The announcement was met with immediate backlash, with concern expressed for the around 80 people who work at the jail and their families. 

Budzinski said he did receive a letter from Cullen last week that provided some rationale behind the decision and said that the province has met with the Manitoba Government and General Employees Union, which represents staff at the jail, to discuss employment and relocation options. 

"They really haven't answered our fundamental question — 'would you reconsider putting a hold on this thing until we can look at alternatives?'," Budzinski said of the letter.

Budzinski said his group plans to ask that question to Cullen when it meets with the justice minister in Winnipeg on Thursday. 

"We are optimistic and certainly our mood is not to be overly critical or anything else," he said. "We think we can offer an alternative and we would sincerely want him to look at that and come to us with an open mind and say 'yeah maybe we can do this' or 'maybe we can work together.'"  

Healing centre pitched 

He his group would like to see the new correctional and healing centre — first promised by the former NDP government back in 2013 — built in lieu of the jail's closure and plans to ask Cullen about that as well. 

"He'd have great respect if he said 'whoa maybe we were rushed on this and maybe [we] could take a time out and study these alternatives'," Budzinski said.

Cullen, in an emailed statement though a spokesperson, said Monday that the decision was not easy — something he's said previously. 

"This decision was not made lightly and all options were fully explored," the statement read. 

"I made it a priority to go to Dauphin and personally meet with the mayor and council, as well as representatives from the RM, to inform them of the decision," said Cullen.  "We are committed to working with local leaders to address their concerns, and we will be further engaging with the community on economic development opportunities in the Parkland region."

The letter Budzinski got from Cullen said that the minister has met with Mayor Allan Dowhan several times since the announcement to 'discuss the way forward for Dauphin' and how the community can pursue other economic development opportunities. 

Cullen said Monday that Manitoba's correctional system has 'ample capacity' to house inmates from Dauphin at other facilities and plans to wind down operations there in the spring. 

Meeting with Premier requested 

Robert Brunel, Mayor of the Municipality of Ste. Rose, speaks for a group of Dauphin-area municipalities that also hope to meet with the province. They put in a request to meet with Premier Brian Pallister last week. 

"There has been some dialogue, but, really, the municipalities are looking at the big picture and how that is going to affect us all," said Brunel, who believed eight or nine people in his municipaity, located east of Dauphin, work at the jail. 

"We'd like to open that dialogue and signal to the province that we're here to work collaboratively with them on this issue and other issues," he said. 

He said there hasn't been a reply the meeting request as of yet. 

"We know that a lot of the decisions are directed from the Premier's office so we felt that was the place to start," said Brunel.

Budzinski said his group plans to go into the Thursday meeting with Cullen with an open mind and hopes the minister does the same. 

"We're not giving up the fight and we think we've got a pretty good alternative to this," he added. "What is the rush and why can't we just put a hold until we can plan together and build something constructive out of this?

"There's no reason to do this."