Packed house takes in meeting on homelessness, safety in Moose Jaw

by Shawn Slaght

It was a packed house with people lined outside the doors as the City of Moose Jaw held a public meeting on Monday evening at the Moose Jaw Events Centre to discuss homelessness, addictions and public safety.

There were 41 registered speakers for the event who presented their experiences, concerns and ideas to Moose Jaw City Council. The speakers included residents, business owners, representatives from local organizations, Moose Jaw North MLA and Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Tim McLeod and Police Chief Rick Bourassa. The meeting lasted nearly four hours.

The public meeting was a result of a petition presented to city council opposing the location of Souls Harbour Rescue Mission’s new homeless shelter.

READ MORE:

• Man charged after Moose Jaw stabbing
• ‘We do not want to close:’ Moose Jaw food bank in need of help
• Mounties ask for help identifying human remains found in RM of Moose Jaw

One of the hot-button topics was the location of future shelters, with speakers both for and against having homeless shelters in the downtown area. Even with the disagreement about locations, almost all the speakers agreed that there is a problem with homelessness, addictions and public safety and the community needs to come together to find a solution.

Resident Mary Lee Booth said services in our community for homelessness and addictions are imperative. That being said, she felt this isn’t an easy solution.

“There are many different contributing factors and it’s a very multifaceted issue deserving of a multifaceted solution, and we all own this issue, the community,” Booth said.

Norma Lafonte was a part of the city council meeting when the petition was presented. She said she is sympathetic to the situation when it comes to homelessness and addiction and the services that are needed. However, she felt there are better locations that are close to downtown, but not right in the downtown core.

“We have a business that used to be called Canadays, which is just outside of the downtown core, easy access. We have an old hospital site, great access, and the third idea that I believe we have is the old Canadian Tire building, which is again close to the hospital, close to social services, not too far from downtown,” LaFonte said.

“I think we need a massive area so we can collectively build better services for all instead of having them disjointed throughout the city.”

LaFonte added that she wanted to send a message of unity and said instead of people taking sides, everyone should come together to find a solution.

Crystal Peterson, Willow Lodge manager with the John Howard Society, shared her experiences during the meeting. Running a shelter in the downtown core, she said she understands the concerns that were being raised by those against having a shelter in the area.

Her message was that those struggling with addictions and homelessness are still people, and the community needs to come together to find a solution.

“My hope is that we continue to be the friendly, notorious city of Moose Jaw, and that we all recognize that we’re one step away. They are our neighbours, they are our friends so that we can all lift each other up and that no one’s better than anyone else and we’re in this together,” Peterson said.

The meeting also heard from business owner Kristy VanSlyck, who shared numerous concerns with city council ranging from how the rezoning for the property of Souls Harbour was done to the city not sticking to the Official Community Plan when it comes to putting homeless shelters in the downtown core.

She wasn’t necessarily against the location of the Souls Harbour project, but was concerned that the project changed from including services such as addiction services to the bare minimum.

“When they went to council for their development, it sounded very attractive, 24 housing units, low-cost, addictions counseling, help to transition yourself back into life. Now, it’s meals Monday through Friday and they move the tables out of the mess hall and they have 12 cots,” VanSlyck said.

One of the concerns from city council going into this meeting was that the content need to be solution-based, because there have been many meetings already outlining that there is an issue in Moose Jaw. Mayor Clive Tolley said he felt the public meeting achieved its goal.

“People related stories about successes that they see, situations in the community, and other places that have done things well,” Tolley said.

“I think overall, it hasn’t been completely solution-based. It’s certainly focused on solutions and I’m sure that we’ll learn more and come up with some ideas out of this to go forward.”

The public meeting was not a city council meeting, so no motions or decisions were made on Monday night and members of council only listened and did not comment during the meeting.

As a part of the meeting, the Good Neighbours Group took a collection of non-perishable food items at the door that will be donated to the Moose Jaw and District Food Bank.