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Good can come out of a bad situation

The voice of the public was heard loud and clear, and Weyburn’s city council was responsive, as they acted by reversing the motion that caused so much outrage — but does this change the thoughts and attitudes of the community and of council members?

The voice of the public was heard loud and clear, and Weyburn’s city council was responsive, as they acted by reversing the motion that caused so much outrage — but does this change the thoughts and attitudes of the community and of council members?
As the board of Inclusion Weyburn asks in a letter-to-the-editor below, “where do we go from here?”
The fact this issue arose means there is a need for more thoughtful dialogue, and for more information about those who are in the care of the Weyburn Group Homes Society.
In part, there was confusion about what was proposed for this lot in The Creeks because there wasn’t clear communication about the personal care home, but that’s on the city. They were following the normal procedures that are laid out for discretionary use applications, but perhaps in this case more information would have been useful.
The saying goes that “hindsight is 20/20”, but this is also an opportunity to learn from a mistake. Not all discretionary-use applications are truly controversial, but this clearly was, as the response from some residents of The Creeks showed.
While there were apologies tendered by council over how this application was handled, this does not mean that minds were changed and attitudes were adjusted. It is certainly to the credit of Weyburn city council that they acted, first with a public apology, then by holding a meeting with all of the parties involved to sort out the issues.
This resulted in the reversal of the March 11th decision, allowing the personal care home to proceed with conditions, which were agreed to by both the city and the proponent of the development, Saskatchewan Housing Authority, which will be the property owner.
The broader question that is left is, what about the attitudes of the community at large?
Do people understand the special needs of the residents who are cared for under the Weyburn Group Homes Society? Do they know that these residents simply want to be accepted and loved like everyone else is, and allowed to live their lives?
This is partly why the organization formerly known as Community Living changed its identity to “Inclusion”, because this what that group works towards, to ensure everyone is included and accepted for who they are.
If this can happen, where people are accepted and included, then perhaps there can be a good result, a silver lining, from this situation.