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The public meeting on homelessness, addictions, and public safety in Moose Jaw was well-attended, with 41 registered speakers presenting their experiences, concerns, and ideas.The public meeting on homelessness, addictions, and public safety in Moose Jaw was well-attended, with 41 registered speakers presenting their experiences, concerns, and ideas. Key Issues Discussed * Location of homeless shelters: Speakers both supported and opposed having homeless shelters in downtown Moose Jaw. However, most agreed that the community needs to come together to find a solution to the issue of homelessness. * Need for services: Residents emphasized the importance of providing necessary services to address homelessness and addictions, while recognizing that it is a complex issue that requires a multifaceted approach. * Unity and collaboration: Several speakers called for unity and collaboration among community members to find a solution. It was stressed that people struggling with addiction and homelessness are still members of the community and deserve support. Specific Concerns and Perspectives * Mary Lee Booth: Services for homelessness and addictions are necessary but require a multifaceted solution and community responsibility. * Norma Lafonte: While understanding the need for services, she suggested alternative locations for homeless shelters outside of the downtown core. * Crystal Peterson: As manager of a downtown shelter, she emphasized the humanity of those struggling with addiction and homelessness and the need for community support. * Kristy VanSlyck: Raised concerns about the rezoning of the Souls Harbour site and the limited scope of its current services. Mayor’s Perspective Mayor Clive Tolley expressed that the public meeting achieved its purpose, with attendees sharing success stories and providing ideas for moving forward. He noted that the council’s role was to listen and gather insights. Outcome No decisions or motions were made during the meeting, as it was intended for listening and gathering feedback. The collected non-perishable food items will be donated to the Moose Jaw and District Food Bank.
by Shawn Slaght
The house was packed and people were lined up outside the door as the City of Moose Jaw held a public meeting Monday night 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 the Moose Jaw City Council. 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 event lasted nearly four hours.
The public meeting was the result of a petition presented to the city council objecting to the location of Souls Harbour Rescue Mission’s new homeless shelter.
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One of the hot-button topics was the location of future shelters, with speakers both for and against having homeless shelters downtown. Even with the disagreement over locations, nearly all speakers agreed that there is a problem with homelessness, addictions, and public safety and that the community needs to come together to find a solution.
Resident Mary Lee Booth said services in our community for homelessness and addictions are necessary. That said, she said it’s not an easy fix.
“There are many different factors that contribute to this and it is a multifaceted problem that deserves a multifaceted solution. And we are all responsible for this problem, the community,” Booth said.
Norma Lafonte was at the city council meeting when the petition was presented. She said she understands 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 middle of downtown.
“We have a business that used to be called Canadays, which is just outside of downtown, easy access. We have an old hospital site, easy access, and the third idea I think we have is the old Canadian Tire building, which is close to the hospital, close to social services, not too far from downtown,” LaFonte said.
“I think we need a huge area so that we can collectively build better services for everyone, rather than having them spread out across the city.”
LaFonte added that she wanted to send a message of unity and that people should not just take sides, but that everyone should come together to find a solution.
Crystal Peterson, manager of Willow Lodge at the John Howard Society, shared her experiences at the meeting. She runs a shelter downtown and said she understands the concerns expressed by those opposed to a shelter in the area.
Her message was that people struggling with addiction and homelessness are still people, and the community needs to come together to find a solution.
“I hope we continue to be the friendly, infamous town of Moose Jaw, and that we all recognize that we’re just one step away from them. They’re our neighbors, they’re our friends, so we can all lift each other up and that no one is better than the other and we’re in this together,” Peterson said.
Also present at the meeting was business owner Kristy VanSlyck, who shared a number of concerns with the City Council, ranging from the way the Souls Harbour site was rezoned to the city’s failure to adhere to the official community plan when it came to the placement of homeless shelters in the city center.
She wasn’t necessarily against the location of the Souls Harbour project, but she was concerned that the project no longer included just addiction treatment, but the bare minimum.
“When they went to council for their development, it sounded very appealing, 24 housing units, low-cost addiction treatment, help to get yourself back into life. Now it’s meals Monday through Friday and they’re moving the tables out of the dining room and they have 12 camp beds,” VanSlyck said.
One of the concerns of the council going into this meeting was that the content had to be solution oriented, as there have been many meetings where it has been indicated that there is a problem in Moose Jaw. Mayor Clive Tolley said he felt the public meeting had achieved its purpose.
“People were telling stories about successes they were seeing, situations in the community and other places where things were going well,” Tolley said.
“I think overall it hasn’t been completely solutions-oriented. It’s certainly solutions-oriented and I’m sure we’ll learn more about this and get ideas from it to move forward.”
The public meeting was not a meeting of the city council. No motions or decisions were made on Monday evening. The council members only listened and did not comment during the meeting.
As part of the event, the Good Neighbours Group held a doorstep collection of non-perishable food items, which will be donated to the Moose Jaw and District Food Bank.
The post Full house for meeting on homelessness and safety in Moose Jaw first appeared on Frugals ca.
