A funding dispute between Windsor's mayor and a women's shelter has intensified, with Mayor Drew Dilkens accusing the organization of a 'drive-by smear' and shelter officials describing his response as 'unsettling.'
Background of the Conflict
The clash stems from the Welcome Centre Shelter for Women and Families' unsuccessful request for a mid-year funding increase. The shelter publicized the denial online after warning it was turning women away due to capacity issues.
On Monday, Dilkens told reporters the Welcome Centre should not have 'made its largest funder look bad' in its pursuit of additional municipal operating dollars.
Mayor's Criticism
The shelter requested a budget increase to continue offering what Dilkens described as an 'enhanced' service level—eight additional beds created at the city's request last winter. However, the mayor took issue with the shelter's decision to publicize the funding denial online.
'The way they go about presenting their case on social media and make the city look bad—I humbly think that's the wrong way to go about it,' Dilkens said after a city council meeting. 'Maybe some people like those drive-by smears. I particularly don't like that.'
Shelter's Response
While city council met on Monday, the Welcome Centre posted another statement signed by executive director Lady Laforet on social media. Laforet said the shelter has 'worked hard to balance a necessary public system critique with political diplomacy.'
Laforet said she and others at the shelter found Dilkens's earlier statement 'unsettling.' In his post, the mayor called the Welcome Centre's messaging 'disappointing.'
'We cannot speak to the Mayor's intent, only to the impact his words had on our organization and community,' Laforet wrote.
Origins of the Feud
The feud began on May 19 when the Welcome Centre sent a news release to media outlets and posted on Facebook that its request for a mid-year operating budget increase had been refused, even though women were being turned away from the sometimes-packed shelter.
The funding, the shelter said, would have stabilized the temporary beds added last winter. The city asked the shelter to convert underused family rooms to accommodate eight more single women when temperatures dropped. At the time, the shelter said it could absorb the cost, according to the city.
Political Context
Dilkens took to social media to respond last week, saying the shelter's public announcement was an instance of the 'funny things' that 'happen in election years.' On Monday, following a city council meeting, Dilkens was asked what he meant by that characterization.
'I think it speaks for itself. I don't think there's any ambiguity in what I put on the paper,' Dilkens said.
