After 2 years, Makwa Patrol remains on patrol, keeping the most vulnerable in Kenora safe

The Makwa Patrol in Kenora, Ont., is celebrating its second anniversary, kicking off the festivities with a barbecue and community gathering at the city's Anicinabe Park. 

Marshall Hardy, the manager of the patrol, says the grassroots group of community members strives to make Kenora a safer community by filling in gaps in service and responding to calls to support the vulnerable population. 

The group patrols by vehicle and by foot aim to build relationships with people experiencing homelessness.

Makwa Patrol works with community partners and organizations. They are often sharing food, water, snacks and kindness, something most vulnerable, marginalized groups don't often get, Hardy said. 

Hardy previously worked with the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) where they, the OPP and Kenora Chiefs Advisory initiated and developed a Mobile Youth Crisis. It was a program to assist youth between the ages of 12 to 24 years old experiencing mental health issues.

That relationship has carried over into his new role as manager of Makwa Patrol. He said he gets a few calls from the OPP to lend a hand or send the van over. 

"Makwa Patrol aren't first responders, but they do come across intoxicated people and we become first responders at that time because we end up doing an assessment. We do end up calling the police or ambulance for stuff like that," he said.

The strain on ambulance and police since COVID-19 pandemic has been evident in wait times and response time in Kenora, he said. 

Housing is another issue exasperated by the pandemic. All Nations Health Partners, a group of like-minded community partners, including the Kenora Association for Community Living, came up with a response to this one issue. They took on the Kenora Waterview Housing Project and now house 20 occupants in their 16 units.

'A vital role in the community' 

Cathy Bowmen, the program's manager, said they support the individuals who live in their unit and credited Makwa Patrol for the success of the housing unit. 

Kenora Waterview Housing Project is nearly two kilometres away from the downtown centre, so the Makwa Patrol's work helping transport people makes a difference, especially for people with mobility, elders or people with addictions issues. 

"I think Makwa plays a really vital role within the community, they provide transportation to and from multiple locations, for multiple people, not just the people at Waterview," said Bowmen.

"We've had one joint staff meeting and we plan to have another because both Marshall and I feel it's very important to have the staff come together and continue to talk about the issues that arise and brainstorm productive ways to offer services to the occupants in the future." 

Makwa Patrol relies on its continued partnerships to help strengthen the overall health of the community, in good times as well as bad. But Marshall said he's really proud of the good times. 

"The celebration of Makwa patrol is showing that Kenora really cares for our vulnerable population and that we are putting all effort  into helping them better their life or find them at least suitable life standards to make it better for them to live in Kenora."