Social Planning Council of Winnipeg

The Social Planning Council of Winnipeg (SPC) was founded in the turmoil preceding the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919. A group of citizens came together to identify and address the problems of a society undergoing rapid change.

They formed the Community Welfare Council, precursor of SPC and one of the first social action groups in Canada created to come to grips with rapid change in a major city. Today, Winnipeg and SPC face new tension and needs. Health services, child and family poverty, Aboriginal issues, a need for more coordinated planning, a breakdown in race relations, affordable housing and the rejuvenation of the main street area are only some of the challenges that SPC is pursuing.

Non-partisan, rich in social science and human resources, SPC is ideally situated as a vehicle for citizens to explore and assess controversial issues, bring new information into public debate and help form a public consensus around progressive solutions.

Managing Change

Much has changed in Winnipeg since 1919. Much more will change in the decades to come. How we shape and manage change; how we resist change when it is necessary to do so; how well we cushion the vulnerable against the shock of change; how well we respond to the challenges and fulfill the opportunities inherent in change: these are the measures of a healthy city.

Winnipeg, for most of it's history, has been a healthy city, but today we face an array of complications which threaten that health. The challenges of race relations and discrimination, gang violence, unemployment and under-employment and continued high rates of poverty will persist in the future. If we are to change for the better, it will be because we have developed a vision of what our city should be. If such a vision is to guide us constructively, it must be founded on fact and impartial analysis. Providing that analysis is a role SPC is uniquely able to play, one that cannot be overlooked in the unfolding drama of Winnipeg's progress.