Manitoba

Solidarity, not charity: 'Bannock Lady' of Winnipeg celebrates 4 years

Winnipeg’s 'Bannock Lady' celebrated a milestone on Sunday.

Althea Guiboche has been handing out bannock since 2013

Winnipeg's 'Bannock Lady' celebrated her four-year anniversary on Sunday. (CBC)

Winnipeg's 'Bannock Lady' celebrated a milestone on Sunday.

Since 2013, Althea Guiboche has been handing out bannock to Winnipeg's homeless at the corner of Dufferin and Main Street. This weekend marked her four-year anniversary.

In 2011, Guiboche found herself homeless with her three small children. Since then, she's become an advocate for the city's most vulnerable, and a manager at End Homeless Winnipeg.

"These people here on the street are what keeps me motivated, keeps me going," Guiboche said on Sunday.

"I know the struggle and I feel their pain and their hurt so I want to be here for the village. This is a village."

Her twice a month event, known as Got Bannock?, is now a registered Canadian charity, but Guiboche prefers a different word to describe it.

"This is not charity. It's solidarity," she said.

Corrections

  • Althea Guiboche was homeless in 2011, not 2010, as reported in an earlier version in this story. For two years she handed out bannock weekly; now it is handed out two times per month.
    Jan 23, 2017 2:06 PM CT