The Town of Hay River and community groups regularly serving street-involved people have been working more closely together in recent months as homelessness and additions issues has become more apparent.
The issue of increased visibility of homeless and addicted people downtown has received attention by elected officials, including as recently as the Oct. 4 standing committee of council.
Coun. Steve Anderson asked administration what is being done as the town’s two banks - CIBC and Royal Bank close their ATMs at 6 p.m. every night and the branches are not providing the service at all on weekends.
“I did talk to the bank manager of the Royal Bank and they are… concerned about the situation of people going into the bank after hours and sleeping in there and doing other stuff,” he said.
“They’re looking for solutions so that they can open up and so people can access funds after 6 p.m.”
Senior administrative officer Glenn Smith said the homelessness and addictions issue continues to be a challenge for the community but that it is difficult for the municipality to get involved in affecting when private businesses open or close.
He pointed out that Mayor Kandis Jameson is co-chairing a monthly inter-agency group to come up with solutions and the town’s enforcement responds as is necessary.
“It’s obviously a problem that this council recognizes with the homeless and vulnerable populations,” Smith said.
“I know the RCMP and certainly our fire department is responding when needed, but otherwise I don’t really have any solutions.”
Additionally, bylaw enforcement is short a position and it isn’t clear if that is a tool to respond to the situation, Smith said.
Jameson said that her involvement in co-chairing the nameless inter-agency group with Erin Griffiths, CEO of the Hay River Health and Social Authority has been aiming to find answers to complex issues facing the town’s most vulnerable since the summer.
“I can assure the residents of this community that we’re certainly not brushing over the problem and that we have developed a working group,” she said.
She said the municipality recognizes the issue as a downloaded GNWT problem that local groups are collaboratively trying to solve.
“Homelessness is a GNWT issue and we are working as a municipality and as a community to try and find solutions but it’s not going to be a quick fix by any means,” she said. “The right people are at the table I believe and I do think that progress has been made.”
Jameson said Sept. 21 the municipality sees itself as an equal partner with other groups serving street vulnerable people. Other than the group, there are no real mechanisms for the town and social issues to sit around the same table to meet on common problems.
An example of immediate challenges has been ensuring street vulnerable people have access to the homeless shelter and assuring they have transportation, especially as the weather gets colder.
“We’re in the early stages of addressing some of the issues,” she said. “A lot of the problem is that it is seasonal and you are going to see it a lot more when it’s warmer.
“But I think a lot of what we are seeing really started when the (2019) high rise fire happened because of a lot of the people spent a lot of time there.”
The purpose of the inter-agency group, which includes representatives from the Hay River Committee for Persons with Disabilities, Soaring Eagle Friendship Centre, Kátł’odeeche First Nation, and the RCMP, is to try to find a permanent solution to what the community is experiencing, she said.
The Hay River Committee for Persons with Disabilities runs a temporary emergency shelter but that service is dependent on annual funding, Jameson said. The Soaring Eagle Friendship Centre complements that service with a day shelter that includes clothing, daily meals and other programming for those in need.
Jameson has said, however that Band-Aid solutions are not what Hay River needs, because many of the people being served are suffering lifelong trauma, often from the direct results of residential school.
“We need a long term solution. We need long term programming,” she said. “The finding of residential school graves last spring has brought a lot of the trauma and what was done to “Indigenous people) to the forefront. I think as a result that we may see that it’s probably a little easier to find some money now to help support people.”