Two individuals approach Lydia Bardak at the safe ride van she drives, parked on the sidewalk beside Subway downtown.
Lydia Bardak, coordinator of the safe ride program, said the van picked up more than 300 people in its first two weeks of operation.
Monday July 31, 2017
The date is July 31. Somebody is passed out in the parkade across the road, they tell her, and needs help.
“Wake up, wake up,” Bardak says, nudging the man gently until his eyes open.
After a few minutes, he sits up.
Bardak puts his arm over her shoulder and they cross the street, stopping on the steps of the Safe Harbour Day Shelter. Her phone rings and it’s the RCMP - they’ve received a call about someone sleeping downtown.
But she’s already on it.
The man walks into the shelter, where a table of food awaits, thanking Bardak.
This person is one of more than 300 Bardak has picked up as co-ordinator of the city's new safe-ride program in its first two weeks of operation.
“Our first week, we did 115 transports and in the second week, which ended last night, we had 196,” she said, adding the van has been burning through a quarter tank of gas a day.
She estimates staff average one pick-up every half hour, most being self-generated.
This type of work is nothing new to Bardak. More than 10 years ago, she started hanging out around 50 Street on Friday and Saturday nights to watch for intoxicated people in need of help.
“I’d be there when the Gold Range and Raven closed down,” she said. “Walking and talking with people, helping them to get off the street, helping them with cab fares home.”
After about a year of this, staying up so late began taking its toll so she volunteered with other outreach programs – everything from Citizens on Patrol to a foot patrol where volunteers walked downtown handing out water, juice and snacks.
“That was the time when there was a gap in service,” said Bardak, describing the throng of people who would congregate inside the post office on Franklin Avenue for warmth in the winter.
Up until around the start of this year, the day shelter closed at 5 p.m. and the Salvation Army's overnight shelter didn’t open until 7 p.m.
Two people staff the safe ride van that was donated by RCMP and is equipped with a simple first-aid kit.
They patrol the streets and back alleys between 1 p.m. and 1 a.m. daily, searching for people sleeping in doorways or vestibules, and bringing them to shelters, the sobering centre or sometimes the hospital, if they agree to go voluntarily.
Residents and business owners are also calling, letting staff know if they see anything concerning.
“There’s three things we’re trying to do here,” said Bardak. “One is relieve the pressure on police and ambulance services. Two is Yellowknife residents have complained for a long time about the situation in the downtown core, in terms of public intoxication, people sleeping in places that’s not appropriate.”
In 2015, RCMP changed its policy for dealing with calls about intoxicated individuals. They stopped responding to them unless there was violence.
While the adjustment reduced the number of prisoners, ambulance calls spiked.
In July 2016, city officials said they’d seen a “drastic increase” in ambulance calls for intoxicated people – a threefold increase over the past year. At the time, Yellowknifer reported there were 1,019 medical calls between April and June 2016. The five-year average for that same period was 698 calls.
“Most importantly is we’re looking out for people, making sure they’re safe,” said Bardak.
Richard McIntosh, communications and economic development officer with the city, said it is too early to determine whether the program is reducing emergency calls, but Bardak is pleased to see people becoming familiar with the service.
“They know that they can trust us and they feel safe,” she said. “Late at night, I’m noticing more of the street population themselves are flagging us down if they see a friend who’s sleeping somewhere. That’s really heartwarming that they feel empowered to help themselves and help each other.”
The safe ride program, which is run by the Yellowknife Women’s Society, got its wheels rolling when the new sobering centre opened July 17. The program is funded with $100,000 from the City of Yellowknife through December.
The feds recently rejected an application to match that amount, which would have funded the program into next year. Now, the city is hoping to find that money itself.
Both initiatives were prioritized in a 2016 action plan the city unveiled last year in hopes of tackling what has been called a homelessness “crisis,” one compounded by alcohol and drug addiction.