Red Deer extends State of Local Emergency, homeless shelter to stay open

‘SOLE’ NOT ALL ABOUT THE SHELTER: CITY

Ken McMullen, the City’s head of emergency services, stressed the SOLE was put in place and remains so for multiple reasons. Those include the shelter, City staff redeployment, restrictions at rec facilities, hospital capacity, and a higher rate of COVID transmission than in comparable communities.

“We have the tools in place. The state of local emergency is an additional tool we will continue to rely on,” he told rdnewsNOW Friday. “We want to return staff to the workplace and we want to do that when we’re in the safest position to do so.”

The City is currently abiding by the provincial work-from-home mandate.

“Certainly for the benefit of the public and my own colleagues, the shelter issue (as a whole) is coming back to council’s attention very shortly,” noted Mayor Ken Johnston. “We can institute a stoppage in this at any point, but we need to send a message to the community.”

Part of the message, Johnston stated in solidarity with fellow EAC member and Councillor Dianne Wyntjes, is that the pandemic isn’t over.

The pair cited recent experiences at events where many weren’t following safety protocols, namely mandatory masking.

“I know people working at the hospital who hate their job, but they’re doing it because it’s a service and to help others, Wyntjes said, noting some citizens may have a false sense of security. “Throughout the pandemic, I continue to go back to those folks.”

Third and final EAC member, Councillor Bruce Buruma, proposed an amendment to change the recommended 90-day extension to 60 days. Conversation was also had about cutting it to 30 days.

“It seems much of the conversation goes back to the situation around Cannery Row,” said Buruma. “If that’s the driver behind this, we have some challenges.”

Bluntly, McMullen told the EAC, “I get very nervous ending it (in) December. I think there’s a risk to our process and to the community to do that.”

The amendment was voted down unanimously.

IMPACT ON BUSINESS

Tracy Chabot, owner of three commercial units (5108 52 Street) adjacent to the shelter, believes the EAC is using the SOLE as a backdoor tactic to bypass council’s prior votes against zoning that would let the shelter stay open.

Chabot shares her people have moved 60+ people off their property in the last two months.

“We aren’t heartless, but this community has been created and it’s got to end. They will disperse and find proper places to go. I actually interview these people. I’ve sat on a blanket with them behind my business and asked what their drug of choice is, why they’re there, why they aren’t using Safe Harbour,” she says.

“One did meth in front of me, six others we’ve seen shooting up just steps away from the injection site (overdose prevention site). They’ve told me it’s not Safe Harbour they need, it’s the community. So what’s been developed for them is a community that needs to be broken up. If it isn’t, the downtown business community is getting broken up.”

Chabot adds it isn’t Safe Harbour who’s to blame, but rather different orders of government who’ve failed to act on a long-promised permanent shelter.

A resident since 2002, Chabot says she’s helping with a City-led initiative called the Downtown Identity Plan Community Collaboration Committee.

RELIEVED, BUT JOURNEY NOT OVER

Safe Harbour’s captain, Kath Hoffman, has spent many nights this year holding her breath.

Three months will fly by, she points out, but she admits that today’s exhale did feel wonderful.

“Of course the shelter situation is frustrating. The band-aids are old. I ask myself ‘Where is the plug that’s stopping the river from flowing?’ I can tell you this: Safe Harbour has been ready for years for a permanent site, planning and designing,” she says.

“The province is ready and keeping us open with operating dollars, so I don’t think they’re holding up anything. In reality, we don’t have a location and that’s our municipality that needs to get that piece done.”

Hoffman repeats a refrain from past months, saying the blame game isn’t helpful.

“It’s bigger than that, messier, more complicated,” she says. “Most frustrating for me is trying to find a way to convince not just mayor and council, but the community, that non-profits trying to help with this horrible crisis are not causing the issues.”

More information is at RedDeer.ca.

by Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

Red Deer extends State of Local Emergency, homeless shelter to stay open

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