Edmonton mayor seeks to declare housing and homelessness emergency

Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi wants to declare a housing and homelessness emergency.

In a statement Thursday from his office, Sohi said he has called a special meeting of city council for Monday, at which he will make a motion to declare a city-wide emergency.

Sohi is concerned about allegations that recent homeless encampment teardowns do not align with the city's commitment to upholding reconciliation.

"Over the past three years, we have been building from an urgent issue to an emergency. The system is at a breaking point," he said in the statement.

Late last month, city administration, the Edmonton Police Service and social agencies worked on changes to the encampment response policy, but the statement from Sohi's office said those amendments don't go far enough.

If an emergency is declared, Sohi's office says the next step will be to request a meeting with federal, provincial and Treaty Six leaders.

The statement said that without help from other levels of government to provide affordable housing and related services, the city "will continue seeing encampments and residents without housing."

Ward O-day'min Coun. Anne Stevenson said she will support the motion, as declaring an emergency will emphasize that what's happening is a crisis.

"Hopefully this will crystallize the action and the focus on this issue. For me, the greatest opportunity is just bringing all partners to the table," she said.

Stevenson believes city staff executing camp removals are doing so with compassion and by following policy, she said, but she is concerned about the decision to go ahead with removals amidst this week's extremely cold weather.

Earlier this month, Public Interest Alberta, a non-profit advocacy organization, began circulating an open letter, calling on city council to have an emergency meeting and halt encampment closures. As of Thursday, the letter had more than 4,000 signatures, according to executive director Bradley Lafortune.

People gather outside the Bissell Centre on Thursday. Temperatures overnight were as low as –30 C. (Wallis Snowdon/CBC)

Sohi's announcement comes as the city is in court battling homeless advocates who have filed a lawsuit and hope to have the city's policy of removing encampments declared unconstitutional.

The Coalition for Justice and Human Rights is trying to have an injunction application heard. If successful, it would stop the city from continuing to close camps while it awaits a trial in the lawsuit.

But the injunction application in Court of King's Bench can't go ahead until the judge rules on a number of preliminary applications the city has made that would limit or halt the coalition's efforts.

Provincial government responds

Mike Ellis, Alberta's deputy premier and minister of public safety and emergency services, said in a statement late Thursday afternoon that the provincial government formed an emergency public safety committee in November and is working on an action plan alongside Alberta Health Services, the Edmonton Police Service, the Confederacy of Treaty Six First Nations and several departments within the City of Edmonton, including Edmonton Fire Rescue Services.

"Our government will continue to respond to these issues following the expected court decision on Jan. 16, no matter the outcome," Ellis said in the statement. "We will have a more detailed statement regarding this response once the court decision is made."

Minister of Seniors, Community and Social Services Jason Nixon, who was also quoted in the statement, took aim at Sohi's comments, suggesting it is "completely inappropriate and dangerous" to assert social services in Edmonton has reached capacity.

"It is dangerous for the mayor and others to continue to suggest that vulnerable Albertans do not have anywhere to turn," Nixon said.

"This is false and will lead to more folks choosing not to seek out shelter because they fear they'll be turned away… We have more than enough room for every homeless person in the city of Edmonton to have a warm, safe place to stay."

Extreme cold settles over Edmonton

Meanwhile, Edmonton has plunged into a cold snap. Some homeless Edmontonians are seeking warmth in city shelters, others are staying in tents and makeshift structures on the street.

Tents now line the sidewalks of a central-Edmonton street where a homeless encampment was dismantled by city workers and police last week.

The site in the area of 105A Avenue and 96th Street, near the Bissell Centre, was among eight encampments the city had deemed high risk and marked for removal.

City workers in white hazmat suits and police descended on the Chinatown neighbourhood on Jan. 3, tearing down makeshift shelters that had lined the streets. Debris was trucked away and residents were moved out.

As of Thursday morning, sidewalks and vacant lots in the area were again lined with dozens of tarps and makeshift shelters. Near the Bissell Centre's front door, a man was asleep under a bundle of blankets.

Elizabeth Sarazin spent the night in her tent nearby. As temperatures plunged to –30 C overnight Wednesday into Thursday morning, Sarazin relied on a propane heater to stave off the cold.

This is her second winter in a tent. She said she has been living rough on the street, on and off, since she was 12 years old.

She said she felt anger as she watched tents being torn down last week, displacing many who had taken shelter in the area for months.

"It wasn't good and there are people that are still overcoming that," she said.

"It's just taking away someone's home … I don't agree with what they did."

Steps away from a cluster of tents, Kimberley Tomlinson stood outside the Bissell Centre, a non-profit agency that helps Edmontonians experiencing homelessness.

Tomlinson, 42, slept in a shelter overnight and on Thursday morning was waiting for a hot meal and the warmth of the dining hall.

She said she wasn't surprised to see tents return to the area. It was cruel to clear the camps during the extreme winter weather, she said.

She said the city and police should have left the encampments untouched.

"I think they should leave them alone, because that's their home," she said. "That's where they live. That's where they hang their hat. That's what they know."

She said the city should instead establish more housing programs, and set up organized camps where security is maintained and basic services are provided.

"They need to put us somewhere that's safe."

Tomlinson said she has been homeless for two weeks since she was kicked out of her apartment in the Alberta Avenue neighbourhood.

She has slept rough in a tent in summer but never in winter. She is too afraid she would not be able to survive the cold.

"This is the second time I've had to be homeless," she said. "The first time I was out here for ten years," she said through tears.

"It's hard to talk about because it's not a life that you want."