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- A sobering centre opens — five years after it was recommended, a year after it was scheduled and with less than half of the capacity originally promised
A sobering centre opens — five years after it was recommended, a year after it was scheduled and with less than half of the capacity originally promised
Plus, the city has been paying out some of the people whose belongings were destroyed in Moccasin Flats, but not many. And dog physiotherapy!
Audrey McKinnon, reporting for CBC in September 2018:
On a cold November in 2016, Jamie Shanoss was arrested after midnight and taken to cell T-1, commonly referred to as the drunk tank.
He had been picked up for being drunk in a public place when a police officer found him intoxicated and sleeping on the sidewalk.
He died less than two hours later on the heated floor of cell T-1 between three other cell mates …
His family sat in the front rows of a Prince George courtroom this week as an inquest into his death methodically combed through the details of the hours before and after his death.
The seven person jury found the Kitwanga man's death accidental, caused by acute alcohol poisoning aggravated by cocaine use. It made three recommendations to prevent future similar deaths, including a recommendation the local health authority explore the creation of a Prince George sobering centre — a recommendation that was heavily endorsed by Insp. Shaun Wright in testimony Thursday.
"In my opinion being lodged in a police lockup really isn't the appropriate place," he said.
"Especially in a larger centre, where there should be adequate resources to provide some sort of intermediate medical care facility where they can be properly treated and supervised."
Shaun Wright would repeat some version of those lines pretty much every year, when giving his annual update to council or when being asked about piorities for the year’s ahead. Various councillors and politicians would talk about it being a needed facility. But it wasn’t until June 2022 when the province finally announced that one would be coming, with the centre expected to open in fall 2022. “This is a medically supervised place for someone to sleep safely when they're acutely intoxicated," said the-then B.C. Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Sheila Malcolmson at the time.
Well, fall 2022 came and went and it didn’t open. In June of this year, it was said the centre would be opening in July. It didn’t.
But yesterday, the sobering centre was officially announced as open in partnership with Northern Health and Carrier Sekani Family Services.
Not only is this years later, it’s also less ambitious in scope than was planned as recently as last year. In the June 2023 announcement, the province said the centre would have “as many as eight to 10 beds that will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.” Yesterday’s announcement? “The centre is currently supporting clients overnight, four nights a week from Thursday to Sunday.”
There’s plans to eventually expand it to 24/7 but given how long this took … who knows?
Only a handful of people who say their belongings were destroyed by the city have received a payout
You’ll recall that in November 2021 the city used heavy machinery to destroy shelters in the Moccasin Flats homeless camp, a move that was later ruled illegal by a judge. As part of that ruling, Justice Simon R. Coval found that those who had their belongings destroyed could seek compensation from the city.
In updated reporting from Kate Partridge at CBC, the city says it has settled seven claims while the remaining 26 that were filed are considered inactive, despite some of those people still actively waiting for results. And one of the people who did have their claim settled says it is much less than the value of what she lost but, because of confidentiality agreements she had to sign in order to receive anything, she isn’t allowed to discuss the details of what she got. Full story here.
Quick news:
The Citizen is running a series on people sharing the story on how they came to be unhoused, starting with a 58-year-old residential school survivor who was sexually abused and struggled with alcoholism. “I think I slept three weeks out of the time I've been here.”
Thanksgiving weekend could bring record high temperatures in Prince George.
PG RCMP seeing increase in cyberbullying, sexting complaints with school back in session.
UNBC has launched its new strategic plan, along with a video and website. Lots of buzzwords?
More fire training in Prince George makes case for new facility?
I’m going to take the long weekend, so next newsletter will come out Tuesday. Unless I change my mind.
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