Edmonton mayor points finger at province for recent drug overdoses

Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson is blasting the province for not investing enough in resources to help addictions, mental health and homelessness, saying many are falling through the cracks.

"I lay this squarely at the feet of the government of Alberta. Full stop," Iveson said Thursday. 

Last week, three people were found dead in a downtown park of apparent drug overdoses. 

"The city has tried our best to help plug those gaps in what is ultimately the government of Alberta's failing system," Iveson said. "The recalcitrance of the government of Alberta on our housing objectives is now costing lives."

On Tuesday, Boyle Street Community Services called for emergency help after the overdose deaths in the park. 

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Boyle Street noted that in January, 43 people died of drug overdoses, compared to 23 people in January 2020. 

In April, the province permanently closed the safe injection site at Boyle Street, leaving the George Spady Centre a block away to offer 24-hour supervised consumption and Boyle McCauley Health Centre to offer day services.

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The Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions sent an emailed statement to CBC News Thursday but it did not address Iveson's comments directly. 

Justin Marshall, press secretary for associate minister Jason Luan, said the province created 4,000 new treatment spaces in Alberta and announced $25 million to create recovery communities. 

"The province is a clear leader in supporting those struggling with addictions," Marshall's statement says. 

Iveson said the city has consistently called for more investment in permanent supportive housing where people with addictions get the counselling and services they need to forge a path to recovery.

While the city works on building 900 units of permanent supportive housing, funded by the federal government, it's still waiting for operating money from the province.

"People have been left to the scourge of their addictions. People have been left to often fend for themselves in ways that are unconscionable in this province for far too long," Iveson said. 

Shelter available

The temporary COVID-19 shelter at the Edmonton Convention Centre, Tipinawâw, closed at the end of April, leaving some to question where the 300 people who stayed there would go.

Hope Mission opened a new shelter at the Spectrum building on the Northlands site, accommodating about 120 people. 

Alberta's community and social services ministry said there are sufficient shelter spaces to accommodate those needing a place to stay.

There are about 750 provincially funded emergency shelter beds, which on average are 72 per cent full, the ministry said.

In a memo to city council, city manager Andre Corbould reported that overall shelters are used between 70 and 80 per cent of the time.

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Since Tipinawâw closed, the city has received more than 500 complaints about encampments — but that number includes multiple complaints about the same camps, the city said. 

From April 30 to May 14, the encampment response teams removed 132 camps and cleaned the sites.

An encampment can be a single tent, the city says. 

The teams share housing options with campers to try and prevent camps from simply relocating, and to help individuals transition to overnight shelters or bridge housing 

Homeward Trust says 120 people have been housed since January 2021.

@natashariebe