Story by Anna Junker • Yesterday - Edmonton Journal
A homeless encampment taken on Sunday, Nov. 20, 2022 in Edmonton
Three homeless Edmontonians died at separate encampments in the city in the first two weeks of November, say police and fire officials.
But outreach workers wonder if the number is even higher due to no official government body publicly tracking how and why the province’s homeless die.
The deaths are heartbreaking and outrageous, said Jim Gurnett, of the Edmonton Coalition on Housing and Homelessness.
“It’s beyond tragic because it’s so preventable,” he said.
The three November deaths were only confirmed by police and fire officials.
In the first case, on Nov. 3, the victim was found dead after a tent fire near 106 Avenue and 95 Street, said city police and Edmonton Fire Rescue Services (EFRS).
Five days later, on Nov. 8, Alberta Health Services responded to the death of a person in a tent, however, a spokesperson could not provide a location.
Then, on Nov. 9, Edmonton police attended a sudden death at an encampment near 106 Avenue and 95 Street. City councillors were later told that on that day, shelters reached 98 per cent capacity when temperatures dropped to -26 C overnight.
Edmonton police and EFRS also responded to a death on Oct. 12 after a tent fire near 157 Avenue and 95 Street.
In attempts to confirm the homeless deaths, Postmedia reached out to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) to determine whether a medical examiner attended in each case.
But in response, Ethan Lecavalier-Kidney, press secretary for the justice ministry, would only say that the death of any homeless person is a tragedy.
“Our thoughts are with those who may be struggling to find a home or shelter during the cold winter months,” he said.
In a follow-up email, Lecavalier-Kidney added “due to privacy legislation, the OCME is not able to share information, including cause and manner of death, about specific cases it might be, is, or was investigating to anyone except for the next of kin, and, in certain circumstances, third parties such as the police or hospitals.”
Gurnett, meanwhile, says that ECOHH does its best to track such deaths itself, gathering names from organizations that identify individuals they believe died due to not having decent housing for an extended period of time. Gurnett said the group cross-checks the names among people and other organizations to remove duplications.
“In the end, we come up with what we think is a minimal list of people that would probably still be alive if it wasn’t for the effect of homelessness,” he said.
Gurnett said when people die, different conditions can be put on a death certificate, including diabetes, exposure, or an untreated infection. But the underlying point is that homelessness killed those people.
“What they die of in some ways is incidental to that,” said Gurnett. “We believe that most of the people we identify each year who die with homelessness as a major issue in their lives would have lived longer if they had had decent housing. That’s the bottom line.”
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West Edmonton eyed for 209-bed, $7.5M winter shelter by council
Clash in Edmonton's homeless, transit security and social disorder goals come to a head this winter
Elliott Tanti, spokesman for Boyle Street Community Services, said when someone dies on the street, they fall in that gap between municipal and provincial health authorities. The lack of data shows those deaths aren’t a priority.
He likens it to the information available for the COVID-19 pandemic, including deaths, which helped make public health decisions.
“If we aren’t even able at this point to get accurate numbers on how many people have died, how can we be making appropriate public health decisions at all?” he said.
Officially tracking deaths could help Boyle Street adjust its services during severe weather, create new programs to help people and show what is working.
“It’s incredibly vital information for an organization that’s looking to find solutions to chronic homelessness like we are,” Tanti said.
Toronto, in partnership with Toronto Public Health, began publicly tracking homeless deaths inside and outside of shelters in 2017. Tanti said if other jurisdictions can do it, it’s “incumbent” on Edmonton to do it, too.
“Our provincial health authority and the city of Edmonton need to be coming together as a sector to be thinking about this challenge so that ultimately we’re using good solid information that’s driving policy decisions,” he said.
In a statement, spokeswoman Noor Al-Henedy said the city’s support focuses on providing supportive and affordable housing. The city does not track deaths or assign cause of death, as health statistics and medical determinations are provincial responsibilities.
“If Alberta Health Services or Alberta Health created a process for collecting this data and sharing it with the city, we would consider making it accessible on our Open Data system or other reporting dashboards,” she said.
Hours after deadline, Chris Bourdeau, spokesman for Alberta Health said the province does not specifically monitor deaths among homeless Albertans and only tracks the cause and circumstances of death.
“Information may be recorded on the death registration such as ‘homeless’, ‘no fixed address’, or address of a homeless shelter,” he said. “However, it is not possible to validate the information for accuracy or guarantee that all homelessness cases will be captured.”
Bourdeau said the province supports a coordinated response with partners like the City of Edmonton, as reflected in the Coordinated Community Response to Homelessness Task Force, where data was a theme from the task force’s findings.
On Wednesday, City Council will debate whether to use $7.5 million from the financial stabilization reserve to fund an additional 209 temporary shelter spaces at a former west-end hotel. The additional shelter space proposal is a partnership between the Tallcree Nation and Jasper Place Wellness Centre.
A total of 1,072 shelter spaces are currently available this winter, but according to Homeward Trust’s By Name List , 1,250 of the 2,650 people experiencing homelessness in the city self-identified as sleeping in shelters or outdoors.
This leaves a gap in available spaces and raises concerns more deaths will occur once temperatures drop.
Gurnett said it’s a good move to increase shelter spaces, but it won’t end people dying from homelessness and is only a bandage.
“We need to do it. I totally support it,” he said. “But don’t let anybody try to tell you that an investment of a few million dollars in shelter space is doing anything about the catastrophe of homelessness.”
— With files from Lauren Boothby
ajunker@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/JunkerAnna
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify that the motion city council will debate is connected to new shelter spaces at a west-end hotel and to add comment from Alberta Health, which responded after deadline.
West Edmonton $7.5M winter shelter gets unanimous council approval
Story by Lauren Boothby • Yesterday - Edmonton Journal
A temporary winter shelter in west Edmonton got unanimous approval from council on Wednesday as temperatures plummeted and snow fell on the city.
A homeless encampment is seen in central Edmonton on Nov. 20, 2022. Another 209 shelter spaces could soon open up in west Edmonton after city council finalized on Wednesday.© Provided by Edmonton Journal
Councillors finalized $7.5 million in funding for the 209 emergency shelter spaces operated by the Jasper Place Wellness Centre just before 4:30 p.m. after being hauled up at city hall for the third and final day of public hearings on the next four-year capital and operating budgets.
After unanimous support from the five-member executive committee last week , city manager Andre Corbould said he would start work on the shelter immediately, which would take about a month to set up.
Once opened, there will be around 1,280 shelter beds this winter, including the 450 spaces funded by the province — some of which aren’t yet operational.
Shelters nearly full capacity
Illustrating the need for shelter spaces, Corbould showed council data on shelter use — full nearly to capacity on extremely cold nights this month. On Nov. 9, capacity hit 98 per cent with a low of -26 C degrees. The same night, 408 people were kicked out of transit stations at closing time.
Corbould told councillors 274 people were evicted from transit stations at closing on Tuesday night. Of these people, 156 took advantage of the free warming shuttle to shelters, but 118 refused.
Giving people more options, and putting the city’s minimum shelter standards in place, would make it more likely more people get the help they need, he said.
“I think we have to have different shelters. I think Hope Mission serves a very good purpose but I think we need alternatives,” he said, adding he thinks the west Edmonton shelter should be appealing.
At least three people died in encampments this month.
Mayor Amarjeet Sohi said the city is in a crisis, and there is a critical need for emergency shelter spaces, and permanent supportive housing.
This also impacts businesses in the city’s core, and transit, because people are finding themselves desperate in -20 C or -30 C temperatures, and may be breaking into cars or buildings to stay alive, Sohi said.
“People don’t have a place to go and they’re dying on our streets, and they’re dying in the encampments without any support available. These are our neighbours, these are our fellow Edmontonians and they deserve to live and they deserve dignity,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
City council will need to dip into its rainy-day funds, the financial stabilization reserve, to pay for the new shelter spaces. Although it isn’t the municipality’s responsibility, Sohi said in the absence of action from the province they need to intervene.
“We should not be looking at 11th-hour solutions to these critical situations, and we see this every winter. This problem is not going to go away. We’re not going to end houselessness in the next year or two years, and we have houseless population doubled during the pandemic, so we will always be in need of dignified shelter spaces and we need more,” the mayor said.
During the meeting, Sohi asked Corbould how they prevent running into this same situation next winter again.
Corbould said the city has good data on the number of people who need help and the spaces, and that impressing these numbers on the government may help.
“We tried to do that this year. I think we did better this year than last year, because the gap we were facing in terms of space was much greater than 209 (in 2021),” he responded. “I think we have to keep on hammering the data.”
Council also unanimously voted to request an emergency meeting with the province on the “winter shelter crisis and shelter space gap in Edmonton.”
According to the motion, the letter will impress that the province needs to act immediately because there are more than 1,250 people sleeping outdoors, 182 cases of shigella primarily in the unhoused community as of Nov. 30, shelter capacity is consistently over 95 per cent on cold nights, inequity between Calgary and Edmonton in the number of spaces, and people are dying in encampments.
Community wants investment in Chinatown
Meanwhile, representatives for Chinatown Transformation Collaborative urged council during public hearings earlier in the day to follow through on the Chinatown strategy approved years ago.
Chair Hon Leong said they have been building their organization up over the past four years and they’re ready for action now, when there is a sense of hope and investment is returning.
He and his group spoke at city hall Tuesday evening and returned the next morning to answer council’s questions. In his opening remarks, Leong said the city needs to show fiscal restraint by separating wants from needs.
“Chinatown needs to change, it needs to be revitalized, and Edmonton needs to support foundational communities, or it will be lost,” he said Tuesday evening.
“Chinatown has been waiting for 20 years. Multiple budget cycles have passed us over. Our alleys, our sidewalks and park, and capital investment in our community is lacking.”
In particular, the group wants upgrades to 97 Street — such as adding new street lighting, temporary festive lanterns, and public art built into the sidewalks — and the underpass, 107A Avenue, and upgrades to Mary Burlie Park. Installing Harbin Gate is already included capital budget draft.
On Wednesday, Leong acknowledged that social issues like mental illness, addictions, drug poisoning, and homelessness are the root causes, but he said his group’s ask now is for council to invest in improving their community through work already identified and approved years ago in the Chinatown strategy.
Other members of the group said some community members and business owners don’t feel safe, but they are trying to change the narrative around what Chinatown is — others see it as a family-friendly place — and greater investment will improve how people experience the neighbourhood.
lboothby@postmedia.com
Story by Lauren Boothby • Yesterday - Edmonton Journal
A temporary winter shelter in west Edmonton got unanimous approval from council on Wednesday as temperatures plummeted and snow fell on the city.
A homeless encampment is seen in central Edmonton on Nov. 20, 2022. Another 209 shelter spaces could soon open up in west Edmonton after city council finalized on Wednesday.© Provided by Edmonton Journal
Councillors finalized $7.5 million in funding for the 209 emergency shelter spaces operated by the Jasper Place Wellness Centre just before 4:30 p.m. after being hauled up at city hall for the third and final day of public hearings on the next four-year capital and operating budgets.
After unanimous support from the five-member executive committee last week , city manager Andre Corbould said he would start work on the shelter immediately, which would take about a month to set up.
Once opened, there will be around 1,280 shelter beds this winter, including the 450 spaces funded by the province — some of which aren’t yet operational.
Shelters nearly full capacity
Illustrating the need for shelter spaces, Corbould showed council data on shelter use — full nearly to capacity on extremely cold nights this month. On Nov. 9, capacity hit 98 per cent with a low of -26 C degrees. The same night, 408 people were kicked out of transit stations at closing time.
Corbould told councillors 274 people were evicted from transit stations at closing on Tuesday night. Of these people, 156 took advantage of the free warming shuttle to shelters, but 118 refused.
Giving people more options, and putting the city’s minimum shelter standards in place, would make it more likely more people get the help they need, he said.
“I think we have to have different shelters. I think Hope Mission serves a very good purpose but I think we need alternatives,” he said, adding he thinks the west Edmonton shelter should be appealing.
At least three people died in encampments this month.
Mayor Amarjeet Sohi said the city is in a crisis, and there is a critical need for emergency shelter spaces, and permanent supportive housing.
This also impacts businesses in the city’s core, and transit, because people are finding themselves desperate in -20 C or -30 C temperatures, and may be breaking into cars or buildings to stay alive, Sohi said.
“People don’t have a place to go and they’re dying on our streets, and they’re dying in the encampments without any support available. These are our neighbours, these are our fellow Edmontonians and they deserve to live and they deserve dignity,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
City council will need to dip into its rainy-day funds, the financial stabilization reserve, to pay for the new shelter spaces. Although it isn’t the municipality’s responsibility, Sohi said in the absence of action from the province they need to intervene.
“We should not be looking at 11th-hour solutions to these critical situations, and we see this every winter. This problem is not going to go away. We’re not going to end houselessness in the next year or two years, and we have houseless population doubled during the pandemic, so we will always be in need of dignified shelter spaces and we need more,” the mayor said.
During the meeting, Sohi asked Corbould how they prevent running into this same situation next winter again.
Corbould said the city has good data on the number of people who need help and the spaces, and that impressing these numbers on the government may help.
“We tried to do that this year. I think we did better this year than last year, because the gap we were facing in terms of space was much greater than 209 (in 2021),” he responded. “I think we have to keep on hammering the data.”
Council also unanimously voted to request an emergency meeting with the province on the “winter shelter crisis and shelter space gap in Edmonton.”
According to the motion, the letter will impress that the province needs to act immediately because there are more than 1,250 people sleeping outdoors, 182 cases of shigella primarily in the unhoused community as of Nov. 30, shelter capacity is consistently over 95 per cent on cold nights, inequity between Calgary and Edmonton in the number of spaces, and people are dying in encampments.
Community wants investment in Chinatown
Meanwhile, representatives for Chinatown Transformation Collaborative urged council during public hearings earlier in the day to follow through on the Chinatown strategy approved years ago.
Chair Hon Leong said they have been building their organization up over the past four years and they’re ready for action now, when there is a sense of hope and investment is returning.
He and his group spoke at city hall Tuesday evening and returned the next morning to answer council’s questions. In his opening remarks, Leong said the city needs to show fiscal restraint by separating wants from needs.
“Chinatown needs to change, it needs to be revitalized, and Edmonton needs to support foundational communities, or it will be lost,” he said Tuesday evening.
“Chinatown has been waiting for 20 years. Multiple budget cycles have passed us over. Our alleys, our sidewalks and park, and capital investment in our community is lacking.”
In particular, the group wants upgrades to 97 Street — such as adding new street lighting, temporary festive lanterns, and public art built into the sidewalks — and the underpass, 107A Avenue, and upgrades to Mary Burlie Park. Installing Harbin Gate is already included capital budget draft.
On Wednesday, Leong acknowledged that social issues like mental illness, addictions, drug poisoning, and homelessness are the root causes, but he said his group’s ask now is for council to invest in improving their community through work already identified and approved years ago in the Chinatown strategy.
Other members of the group said some community members and business owners don’t feel safe, but they are trying to change the narrative around what Chinatown is — others see it as a family-friendly place — and greater investment will improve how people experience the neighbourhood.
lboothby@postmedia.com
Organization that works with homeless Edmontonians hearing more bigoted, hateful rhetoric lately
Story by Phil Heidenreich • Yesterday - Global News
Story by Phil Heidenreich • Yesterday - Global News
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Boyle Street Community Services (BSCS) shared an angry and hateful voicemail it recently received to the media on Wednesday and said it is an example of what the organization describes as an increase in hateful and bigoted comments it's received from Edmontonians in recent weeks.
Boyle Street Community Services.
Boyle Street Community Services (BSCS) shared an angry and hateful voicemail it recently received to the media on Wednesday and said it is an example of what the organization describes as an increase in hateful and bigoted comments it's received from Edmontonians in recent weeks.
Boyle Street Community Services.
© Chris Chacon Global News
The voicemail, which BSCS said it received on Nov. 11, uses coarse language and calls on Indigenous people and the BSCS itself to leave Edmonton, suggesting they go to a First Nation west of the city. The BSCS, which works to help homeless Edmontonians, said it has reported the voicemail to the Edmonton Police Service.
"We reported it to EPS as a hate incident," said Elliott Tanti, the senior manager of communications and engagement at BSCS. "Boyle Street Community Services is disgusted by this abhorrent message.
"I think it demonstrates quite clearly the discrimination that many of our Indigenous folks face in our community. But what's particularly appalling is that this individual levelled these words at the most marginalized in our society, and they did it through an organization that exists to help people... I think that's ultimately what's most troubling about this voicemail that we received."
Global News has reached out to EPS for comment on the voicemail and to ask if the police department is investigating. A spokesperson for EPS declined to confirm if police are investigating but said the recording was brought forward to them and police are "following up." They added it was too early to comment further.
Tanti said discrimination is unfortunately something that is commonly seen in his line of work but said the brazenness of allowing such comments to be recorded in a voicemail, and the recent upswing in such sentiments, is particularly disturbing.
According to Tanti, the increase BSCS has seen in such rhetoric has been noticeable since the organization began community consultations a year ago on a proposal to move BSCS to a new building in the city's core.
Video: City of Edmonton hears appeal of new Boyle Street Community Services building
The organization had been planning a move from 105 Avenue by Rogers Place to a building on the corner of 101 Street and 107A Avenue near Victoria School of the Arts, but the move faced some vocal public opposition.
READ MORE: Boyle Street Community Services' plans for new Edmonton location facing opposition
Last week, the city's subdivision appeal board revoked BSCS' development permit.
BSCS has said its current building is "literally crumbling" and not accessible for all so it needs to move so it can continue to serve the nearly 3,000 homeless people who live in Edmonton.
READ MORE: Edmonton homeless aid centre loses development permit after appeal hearing
Tanti said during consultations with Edmontonians, BSCS has noticed evident discrimination coming up in discussions.
"We don't think this is reflective of the city we live in, but it certainly is reflective of some of the sentiments we've received as an organization over the last two weeks," he said.
"We want to make sure that people are feeling welcome, are feeling heard, they have an opportunity to discuss this discrimination."
--With files from Stephanie Swensrude, 630 CHED
The voicemail, which BSCS said it received on Nov. 11, uses coarse language and calls on Indigenous people and the BSCS itself to leave Edmonton, suggesting they go to a First Nation west of the city. The BSCS, which works to help homeless Edmontonians, said it has reported the voicemail to the Edmonton Police Service.
"We reported it to EPS as a hate incident," said Elliott Tanti, the senior manager of communications and engagement at BSCS. "Boyle Street Community Services is disgusted by this abhorrent message.
"I think it demonstrates quite clearly the discrimination that many of our Indigenous folks face in our community. But what's particularly appalling is that this individual levelled these words at the most marginalized in our society, and they did it through an organization that exists to help people... I think that's ultimately what's most troubling about this voicemail that we received."
Global News has reached out to EPS for comment on the voicemail and to ask if the police department is investigating. A spokesperson for EPS declined to confirm if police are investigating but said the recording was brought forward to them and police are "following up." They added it was too early to comment further.
Tanti said discrimination is unfortunately something that is commonly seen in his line of work but said the brazenness of allowing such comments to be recorded in a voicemail, and the recent upswing in such sentiments, is particularly disturbing.
According to Tanti, the increase BSCS has seen in such rhetoric has been noticeable since the organization began community consultations a year ago on a proposal to move BSCS to a new building in the city's core.
Video: City of Edmonton hears appeal of new Boyle Street Community Services building
The organization had been planning a move from 105 Avenue by Rogers Place to a building on the corner of 101 Street and 107A Avenue near Victoria School of the Arts, but the move faced some vocal public opposition.
READ MORE: Boyle Street Community Services' plans for new Edmonton location facing opposition
Last week, the city's subdivision appeal board revoked BSCS' development permit.
BSCS has said its current building is "literally crumbling" and not accessible for all so it needs to move so it can continue to serve the nearly 3,000 homeless people who live in Edmonton.
READ MORE: Edmonton homeless aid centre loses development permit after appeal hearing
Tanti said during consultations with Edmontonians, BSCS has noticed evident discrimination coming up in discussions.
"We don't think this is reflective of the city we live in, but it certainly is reflective of some of the sentiments we've received as an organization over the last two weeks," he said.
"We want to make sure that people are feeling welcome, are feeling heard, they have an opportunity to discuss this discrimination."
--With files from Stephanie Swensrude, 630 CHED
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