Fredericton stepping up safety measures to deal with social issues downtown
Homelessness, mental health, addiction issues affecting downtowns nationally, says head of BIA group
Authorities in Fredericton are instituting new safety measures downtown, following an uptick in complaints of crime from businesses in the area.
The city is expanding its Community Safety Services Unit, which is now available 24/7 on a trial basis through the winter. The fire department has also increased its presence, patrolling the city during the overnight hours in their trucks. And police will have additional officers working overnight to provide extra security in the business district and downtown throughout November.
The new measures come after a rash of break-ins, vandalism and an arson in the downtown that has frustrated business owners, city officials and police.
It's an issue unfolding across the country, according to Tim Rissesco, president of Downtowns Atlantic Canada, an umbrella group of business improvement associations that's based in Dartmouth, N.S.
"It's a bit of a national problem that has kind of come from west to east," he said. "We can sometimes see what they're dealing with in Vancouver or Ontario, and see what's coming for us, or what I guess now has already arrived."
He said a spike in homelessness and untreated mental health and addiction issues has put people in desperate situations, and it's playing out in our downtowns.
"Small businesses suffer, perhaps go out of business. Communities stop using their public spaces. We become less attractive to visitors and newcomers. Lots of things can happen when our downtowns begin to fail or begin to fray at the edges," he said.
"And above all that is, we're allowing a whole host of people to suffer with untreated addictions and mental health issues and without proper places to live. That's probably the greatest tragedy of it all."
Last week, about 100 business people from the Fredericton Chamber of Commerce gathered to discuss what small business owners are calling a growing problem with social issues affecting the downtown.
Fredericton-Oromocto MP Jenica Atwin, who was a guest speaker at the breakfast meeting on Wednesday, said she understands their concerns.
"I hear the businesses, and I want them to know that I've got their back," she said.
Atwin said she's aware of "an explosion in the Fredericton region" around homelessness and addiction.
"I've witnessed the increased visibility of vulnerable people in our community. I've seen and felt and been personally impacted by the crime and victimization in our communities. I feel the despair and the anger and the hurt," she said.
There were an estimated 1,100 homeless people across the province last year, she said, nearly 200 of whom were in Fredericton.
There are federal programs to support housing, addiction and mental health services, but Atwin acknowledged "it's not enough."
New Brunswick Green Party Leader David Coon said he hears a lot of concerns "from both business owners and residents and in the constituency who live in the downtown area and even beyond."
He said they are "telling me they don't want to come downtown anymore, they won't let their kids to come downtown."
Need to build 'supportive downtowns'
Rissesco said he has seen some progress in Nova Scotia, especially in the past year, with the addition of safety navigators who provide "assistance and guidance to people that are street involved" as well as more community police officers.
He said the Nova Scotia government has also done a better job with housing, including the addition of a tiny-home community in Lower Sackville. But it's often the most vulnerable people with severe addictions and mental health issues that are the last to be housed, he said.
Rissesco said he has asked for a summit of all of the Atlantic premiers "to talk about what's working in certain areas and what needs greater collaboration" when it comes to the region's downtowns.
The Canadian Urban Institute, a national charity that's been looking at the quality city life for three decades, is also planning to hold a day-long summit in December on the mental health challenges and the need to build supportive downtowns.
Mary Rowe, the institute's president and CEO of the Canadian Urban Institute, said the response to these issues needs to be more nimble. She pointed to how authorities responded to the start of the pandemic, wasting no time deciding whose jurisdiction something fell under and just "figured it out."
But Rowe said the important thing to remember about what's happening right now is that urban environments are not static.
"They've been evolving for millennia," she said. "Cities are remarkably resilient. So I don't panic about the, 'oh, it's the end of downtown or it's the end of cities.'"
She said urban centres fulfil that "desire that we have to be in proximity to one another and the creative energy that exists" are not going to be replaced.
"I think the only doomsday future you would have is if you weren't paying attention. And I don't think that's the case here. I think lots and lots of folks are paying attention."
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