Divisions fester over proposed super shelter

With spring around the corner, divisions still fester over wisdom of building super shelter in Happy Valley-goose Bay

Perry Trimper stepped outside the Legion in Happy Valley-goose Bay on Friday, where a darts presentation was taking place, so he could talk in peace.

It was March 17, but the temperature was above zero. Labrador has had unseasonably warm weather lately, so much so that the renowned Cain’s Quest snowmobile challenge had to be cancelled midstream about a week ago.

“Everything’s melting. We have insufficient snow to run some of the Labrador Winter Games,” the Lake Melville MHA told The Telegram in a phone interview.

The conditions serve as a stark reminder of accelerated climate change in northern regions, but also that a simmering problem is about to come to a rolling boil again soon — the trauma of dozens of transients living on the trails around town and often causing grief for themselves and for local residents when they meander into town looking to feed their addictions and cause trouble.

‘WE FEEL THE URGENCY’

Estimates last fall had the number of transients at about 80, a figure that has increased steadily since the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric project brought new jobs to the area more than a decade ago, and with it an increased transient population, most of whom come from surrounding Indigenous communities.

Many are grappling with severe mental-health and addictions challenges, including intergenerational trauma.

In the heart of winter, there’s the fear that one of them may perish in the cold rather than take shelter — six have died in the last few years.

In warmer months, the issue becomes security and lawlessness around town.

“We feel the urgency and, unfortunately, complaints are starting to come back in about different situations in the community,” Trimper said.

But he admits the long-term solution for the problem — a proposed $40-million homeless shelter and apartment complex — is not gaining traction with a large segment of the population.

“People are frustrated. This is an issue that’s been boiling the last two to three years, and I understand why there’s exasperation out there and why many people felt the need to sign something,” he said, referring to a recent petition against the proposal signed by more than 900 people.

The population of Happy Valley-goose Bay is about 8,000.

“Half of what’s in that petition, frankly, I completely support and agree. There’s also misinformation in there and a direction that I would suggest is not at all consistent with what the experts are telling us we need to do.”

DETOX PREFERRED

The petition, initiated by local business owner Sacha Fraser, primarily calls for a detox treatment centre rather than a no-barrier shelter.

But it’s not just about opposing the shelter, Fraser says. It’s about putting the money to good use by taking a more diversified approach.

The sense among many in the community is that such a facility will simply enable people to continue their selfdestructive behaviour rather than encourage them to change their ways.

Fraser wants to see smaller community-based shelters rather than a central hub in the middle of town. And her petition’s preamble says any treatment centre should be in a more isolated area surrounded by wilderness, “a place that offers peace, serenity and hope,” rather than the proposed site of Hamilton River Road near the town’s main strip.

“The whole notion that the solutions have to lie in one facility is part of the issue,” she told The Telegram Saturday.

“Given the wide variety of needs that we’re trying to address, it’s not necessary to put everything under one roof.”

ONCE SIZE FITS ALL?

A major point of contention is the proposal to offer a managed alcohol problem, something that only seemed to surface late last year when it was confirmed by Housing Minister John Abbott.

The harm-reduction strategy is offered in some other provinces, but only one such program is offered in Newfoundland and Labrador — a recently renewed pilot by the St John’s Status of Women Council.

Trimper and others recently visited a facility near Ottawa called The Oaks that offers an hourly dose of alcohol to residents rather than allowing them to risk their own lives and the lives of others while they’re binge drinking.

But Fraser points out that the person who runs the program says it’s a last recourse for people who’ve had no success with more traditional methods of rehabilitation.

She wonders how it can coexist under one roof with services designed to help people kick addictions.

“The issue is that now they’re seeming to want to retrofit this managed alcohol program in an emergency shelter with supportive living units, with this, with that. No one is really clear on what this building is going to look like.”

Trimper sees it the other way around, pointing out how hard it would be to recruit people into a detox program right away when many aren’t even interested in food and a warm bed.

“It’s a very abrupt change in what’s going on with an individual if you go from the situation that many are going with now, living very rough with a serious addiction, through to a detox centre,” he said. “Some may be ready for it. Others, it takes a gradual progression. For some, it comes from watching others, and this is the model that happens at The Gathering Place in St. John’s.”

NEED FOR EMPATHY

Trimper frequently points to a breakdown in communication as being the main problem.

Fraser begs to differ.

“I don’t agree with Perry that there’s been a breakdown in communication. I feel — and I said this to Minister Abbott at a meeting in January — that they’re building a plane as they’re flying it,” she said.

“If we do need a new emergency shelter here in Happy Valley-goose Bay, then that’s what we should build. We don’t need a super facility that tries to encompass a whole continuum of support in a way that really isn’t organized or doesn’t make sense.”

Fraser adds that some Indigenous people supported and even advised her on the wording of the petition preamble.

Both Fraser and Trimper insist they do not want to lose sight of the central issue.

“We really need to step back and think about what’s happening here. These are fellow Labradorians that are really struggling and we need to help them,” Trimper said.

Fraser admits many residents have written emotional and inappropriate things on social media. It’s born out of long-standing frustration, she says.

“It’s very difficult in some cases to have compassion for people and sympathize with them when they have victimized you, when they have victimized your property, when they have victimized your children on the bike trail,” she said.

In the meantime, Trimper says the premier and ministers are discussing three new measures to boost security in town this year. But he won’t unveil them yet.

“I’m reluctant to talk a lot about it until it’s done, because if it doesn’t get done, then there’s a whole bunch of talk about what happened, and what should have happened and so on,” he said.