INNISFAIL – The town has a new panhandling section in its updated Community Standards Bylaw but with it there will be a deeper dive by administration to find out if it’s a symptom for a long unnoticed or ignored homelessness problem.
“In the 30 years I have lived in town we always had a group of what we called the hidden homeless,” said Coun. Janice Wing, who delivered a passionate statement on the issue during council’s regular meeting on May 9. “Those are the couch surfers. Those are the people who manage to find places to tuck themselves in at night where people aren’t necessarily aware that they are there.
“Innisfail has got hidden homeless. It always has. Now we are understanding we’ve got people who are not adequately housed,” she added. “The Blue Bird Motel was a good example. We have people who are just struggling to keep shelter over their heads on an ongoing basis. Innisfail has come to the point where we need to have that conversation officially.”
The homeless issue came up during council’s third discussion in recent weeks on the new updated Community Standards Bylaw, which is combining the Nuisance Bylaw, which was created in 2009. The Community Standards Bylaw was last updated in 2010.
The updated Community Standards Bylaw, which was unanimously passed by council after three readings, deals with a wide range of issues that impact Innisfailians on a daily basis, everything from loud noise, construction waste, unoccupied buildings and noxious weeds - to fighting, loitering, yelling, bullying, graffiti and symbols of hate.
However, it was the panhandling provisions of the new bylaw that drew the most attention, notably from Wing, a former executive director of the Red Deer & District Community Foundation. In 2004, she was also appointed to be a member of the Red Deer Mayor’s Task Force for Ending Homelessness, the first of its kind in Alberta.
Wing said a review will help ensure the town has bylaws in place that are enforceable and whether the town has enough capacity to enforce them.
“It is well documented across the country that penalizing people because they are poor or being addicted isn’t necessarily the most efficient or effective way to deal with this,” said Wing, pointing to a 2018 case in Penticton, B.C. when the city spent more than $26,000 in legal fees prosecuting a panhandler for nearly a year before finally agreeing to a plea bargain to collect a fine for only $145.
“It goes back to all those years of working in the homelessness sector and trying to understand that you can’t criminalize poverty. It’s not in our best interest of our community to criminalize poverty,” said Wing. “But the community is changing. The world is changing. It behooves us to pay the right amount of attention to what is happening with our citizens in our community.”
She hopes the process will lead to a “better informed” council and a “better connected” administration, who despite their exemplary efforts and connections already in place are still diligently facing current realities.
Council approved a motion to have administration bring back to council additional information on mental health issues in the community and the processes that are in place.
“It’s great that councillors are passionate about things and brought up some very valid points,” said mayor Jean Barclay. “We are looking forward to administration at some point bringing back more detail as to the process that takes place when someone with mental health issues is homeless and is found by our peace officers, and the next steps to connecting the supports that are required.
Derek Radatzke, the town’s senior peace officer, told council on May 9 his office has dealt with a “variety” of individuals with mental health issues, including addiction and homelessness, and with the assistance of local FCSS has been able to help these people with the necessary supports.
“Issuing tickets would definitely not be one of the first things. We’ve always taken compassion and our discretion,” said Radatzke. “Certainly, we would not be trying to penalize somebody who’s already had such an unfortunate situation as a mental disorder.”
Gary Leith, the town’s manager of protective services, said on May 11 remnants of a homeless camp was discovered in a bush area of town by his department this spring.
“Once we had the spring snow melt there was an area of bush where we identified there was the remains of what appeared to have been a camp,” said Leith. “We have had on occasion individuals camping on town property, certainly through fall and spring time where it’s more of a family issue where the kids gone out and spent the night taking a tent in the park.”
He added the issue of individuals, homeless or not, sleeping in the bushes is an “occasional” occurrence but not a “frequent problem.
“It’s generally people who are passing through the community on the way to either Red Deer or Calgary,” said Leith, adding these situations can occur at any time of the year.
