In this episode of WINNIPEG VOTES 2026, host Graham McDonald spoke to Reid Pereira, the acclaimed incoming trustee for Winnipeg School Division Ward 5, endorsed by the Winnipeg Labour Council.
Pereira, a clerk with Manitoba Justice’s victim services branch, volunteers with the Vision Impaired Resource Network and participates in tenant organizing.
He plans to keep his campaign website up to remain accessible to residents and maintain close ties with division staff’s unions.
Pereira acknowledged trustees’ role as employers, saying he would listen to grievances and work with union leadership to resolve labour disputes amicably.
“I need to hear what the actual grievance would be,” he said.
He wants free breakfast and lunch funded through the division’s budget, reducing reliance on third-party “philanthropic ventures.”
“These ventures could be pulled or changed on a whim based on private investments,” he said.
He would make meal program information easier to find and lobby the province for funding. However, he hesitated to cost his proposals before upcoming bargaining involving educational assistants.
Pereira favours expanding before- and after-school care with professional childcare providers, along with strengthening mental health services for students.
“They should have access to mental health services at any time during the school day,” he said.
He supports additional language classes for newcomer students and their parents, and translating school documents into languages including Tigrinya and Amharic.
Newcomer children “are kind of thrust into the role of translator,” he said, citing parents’ difficulty accessing information.
Pereira called for more cultural programming and staff to advance reconciliation, including teaching all students about the effects of residential schools and treaty history.
That includes learning “what it means to be treaty people, living in Treaty One and the various treaties in Manitoba,” he said.
To learn more about Reid Pereira and his priorities as incoming trustee, check out the full interview on U Multicultural Channel 14 in Manitoba, Bell MTS channel 1029 in Winnipeg, U Radio on 88.7 FM in Manitoba and U Multicultural’s YouTube channel.
Disclaimer: As part of U Multicultural’s 2026 Winnipeg Municipal Election Coverage, candidates were invited to share messages with our audience. The views expressed in this article are the candidate’s own, and this article does not constitute an endorsement by U Multicultural.
Graham McDonald, U Multicultural Journalism and Media Arts Centre