RCMP say they can’t deal with social issues
A group of downtown business owners want the Salvation Army to take responsibility for the intoxicated people who often spill onto their properties and into their shops.
Photo by Vince Fedoroff
SOURCE OF THE PROBLEMS – Downtown merchants say they’ve reached their limit of patience with the disturbances originating with users of the Salvation Army’s shelter at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Black Street. Patrick Singh
A group of downtown business owners want the Salvation Army to take responsibility for the intoxicated people who often spill onto their properties and into their shops.
“It’s the Salvation Army Clubhouse to me,” said Patrick Singh, owner of Mark and Paddy’s Wondrous Music Emporium and spokesperson for the group.
“It’s not the Salvation Army Healing Centre, it’s not the Salvation Army place for programming. Those guys use it as their club.”
Singh’s shop backs onto the same alley as the Fourth Avenue and Black Street shelter, and he sees firsthand the drinking, drugging and fighting that goes on outside the city’s only emergency shelter.
One of the major problems, Singh said, is that people staying at the shelter are permitted to check in and reserve a bed for the night, then come and go as they please, often partying on Singh’s back stoop and in the surrounding area.
“As far as I can see, they don’t have any controls over whether people go in there when they’re drunk,” Singh said.
“... I see it every day, people staggering in there drunk. I thought they had strict rules about that sort of thing, but they seem to be tolerating it from their clients.”
Jeff Howard, one of the Salvation Army captains, said he knows this is a problem. He recently changed the shelter’s policy to try to cut down on the number of people milling around the building at night.
“At 11 o’clock, the door is locked,” he said. “We did that to prevent people coming and going because things were escalating.
“... That also means that if people aren’t inside the building, they aren’t allowed on our property; we don’t want people hanging around.”
It has made a difference, he said.
“Some of our more regular clients are happier because they can sleep through the night and it’s not so rowdy,” Howard said.
However, he said, there isn’t much staff can do about people who are in the alleyway, off the Sally Ann’s property.
Singh said a good first step would be more communication between the Salvation Army and its neighbours.
“All of us have been so individually frustrated by the lack of response to any of our inquiries that this is our last resort,” he said of the impetus behind a letter the group sent out this week to news media, the police, the Sally Ann, and the government
“We want to be part of a solution, we don’t want to be part of a problem. We are willing to help as a group to help this situation get better.”
But up until this week, their phone calls and questions have gone unanswered, Singh said.
Howard said he spoke to Singh on Thursday, told him about the 11 p.m. curfew policy and talked about having regular conversations.
“I have to say we haven’t done the greatest job at communicating with our neighbours,” Howard said.
But activity in the alley will likely remain a concern in spite of the policy changes and perimeter checks.
The fact remains there are more bodies than there are beds in Whitehorse, and some people will simply choose to stay outside and drink rather than go in and sleep.
Singh said it is a safety issue for those living and working in the neighbourhood.
“I wouldn’t want to be a single woman walking down that alley at any time of day or night,” he said.
Not everyone shares Singh’s point of view.
One female resident of the apartment block behind Singh’s music shop said she thinks the Salvation Army clients have just as much right as anyone to hang out in the laneway.
“It’s their alley,” she said. “ Where else are they supposed to go? This is their home. I’m more worried about the punks that gang up on Main Street – vandalism, intimidation – these guys aren’t hurting anyone.”
People do get hurt in that stretch of asphalt between Third and Fourth avenues, however.
In October 2009, 37-year-old Jason Selamio, a homeless man, was found dead in the alley.
Another man was initially charged with manslaughter because witnesses said the two had been fighting and saw Selamio hit his head. The charges were dropped after an autopsy found Selamio had died of cold and drink.
Earlier that year, police arrested Christian James Gallan after he attempted to violently rape a 15-year-old girl whom he’d met while drinking around the Salvation Army.
In January 2009, David Taylor pleaded guilty to raping a 14-year-old girl whom he had met while drinking outside the shelter.
Singh said it only adds to his and his neighbours’ feeling of powerlessness when they see teenagers hanging around with hardcore alcoholics in plain view of the Salvation Army church.
“It’s scary when you see younger kids hanging out with these guys. It’s like they’re recruiting,” he said.
“I have called the cops sometimes six times a day to ask them to show up, and I’m completely fed up,” he said.
“I’m not saying the cops are doing a terrible job, but something as simple as patrolling that alley once an hour for two weeks would send a direct message.”
Howard agreed that more of a police presence would help, but it isn’t as simple as assigning a couple of officers to watch the building, said RCMP spokesman Sgt. Don Rogers.
“Patrolling the area more regularly would be a very nice thing to do,” he said, “but we have limited resources and we can’t make a commitment that we can’t back up with consistent action.”
The police are not ignoring calls from the area, as some business owners feel, he said.
“But nuisance calls certainly have a much lower priority than a domestic violence call,” he said.
“And at the same time, you have to ask yourself, ‘What are they asking us to do?’ and many times the expectation would be a violation of a person’s civil rights.”
Often, all the police can do is ask people to move along – their only offence is being addicted and homeless.
The bottom line is, police are expected to deal with social issues, not crime, Rogers said.
“There are many examples where we are the sole last resort and it’s not appropriate. The police are part of the solution, but they aren’t the only solution and there needs to be other agencies and initiatives that come in other than the police.”
Singh and Howard also called on other agencies to get involved.
There needs to be a detox centre close to the shelter, Howard said.
“When someone decided they want to go into detox, we send them over to the Sarah Steele building, but a lot can change in those six blocks,” he said. There also need to be more and longer recovery programs, he said.
Singh said he would be happy to see more facilities for homeless and addicted people in his neighbourhood; he just wants them to be run responsibly.
The Salvation Army as it’s run right now “is just enabling people,” Singh said. “They go there for breakfast lunch and dinner. They meet their buddies there. They party there. I think we are starting to see an abuse of the system.”
Howard said the shelter is trying to provide more counselling services, and recently rearranged its staffing in order to hire a full-time case manager to help people who want to clean up and get back on their feet.
He would also like to be able to expand the shelter so that people who are sober can have their own dorm, separate from those who are intoxicated.
“When we turn the dream machine on, that’s one of the first things we wish for,” he said.
The shelter operates on a budget of $750,000 a year, Howard said.
Of that, $288,000 comes from the Department of Health and Social Services; $160,000 from the federal government emergency housing fund; $160,000 from local fund-raising; and the remaining $142,000 from the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs and the umbrella Salvation Army organization.
“It would cost a millions dollars to deal with this, “ Singh said. “The Northern City Housing Coalition has a plan. Angel’s Nest has a plan; give them each a million dollars and the problem is solved.
“We’re not talking about a huge problem; this isn’t East Hastings.
“We have the power – this government, the people of Yukon, the City of Whitehorse – definitely have the resources and abilities to simply take care of this problem.”
anonymous
Jul 8, 2011 at 5:48 pm
I’m disgusted by Whitehorse. It is run down and in need of a face lift. For a tourist town it is shameful but more so for the people that actually live here. I’m sick of how run down this city looks. The empty buildings and stores which have been sitting vacant for years. The “mall” which is by no means a “mall”. Fix this city! The mountains are beautiful but we have let this city down. The drunk people that walk around downtown and around Superstore is also ridiculous. There also needs to be more for the young people to do. This city is boring! No wonder they do things like drink, do drugs, get pregnant and cause destruction. I’ve lived here a long time. Whitehorse has failed miserably. For those of you who will tell me to just move save it. I’m not the only one who feels this way about Whitehorse and if I moved the problems would still exist. It needs to be fixed.