slave lake town council (my hometown) rejected the possible rezoning of a provincially owned building on Nov. 3. it was proposed by the local friendship centre to be the new home of the MAT program, which helps homeless folks who need a place to stay.

back in sept, a councillor spoke about the homeless and said a lot of them come from 4 surrounding First Nation reserves. "we need to stop being so nice to them, we need to stop feeding them," she said, adding they need to figure out how to send them back to their home reserves.

she also said the town needs to work with the local college to get them to stop letting homeless people charge their phones outside. for reference, the college is right at the beginning of town. she doesn't want "20 of them sitting there" for everyone to see.

"you can't just phone the RCMP and the peace officers because [the college] won't ban them or shut [the receptacles] off. like we have to have a reason, like what are we going to say, we don't want them sitting there?" she asks.

she also says town council needs to work with local stores (wal-mart, sobey's) to help prevent people from stealing hand sanitizer for drinking. she says stores should put it behind counters because "it's a quick way for people to use it and abuse it."

here's the meeting, all this stuff starts at ~1:00:00:

now, back to Nov. 3. the important part here is that the motion was to rezone the building for ~any~ use. not even the MAT program specifically, just any use. it's currently empty, and the province, according to the friendship centre, is OK with it being put to use.

but that motion was rejected. you can see that here:

it's worth noting that there were a few citizens who spoke out against the idea of the MAT program being housed in this area, with houses nearby. most people seemingly concerned with safety and people doing drugs.

i don't personally know Barb Courtorielle, but she's the ED of the local friendship centre and has been an advocate for the homeless population in SL (she says there are 19 regulars she sees). she's pleading the case for the rezone in the above video (~34 minutes in).

she says the homeless population need the space to survive a northern alberta winter. they don't have space at the friendship centre, and a committee denied the permit at the MAT program's previous place.

she posted on facebook on nov. 3 after the meeting. "The Town Council became the judge and jury tonight. They have decided that the homeless should be left out in the streets in unsuitable weather making DEATH a common outcome." full post: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1329460257393115&id=100009874593152

here's some BG on when Barb first hoped to have the MAT program in the provincially owned building. https://lakesideleader.com/mat-program-homeless-shelter-may-have-found-a-home-for-the-next-few-years/