David A
Senior Member
No, it just makes the problem go somewhere else, but it doesn't fix it. So what if the place the homeless person goes to does the same thing and gives them a one way ticket and they just come back.
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- Thread starter Stevey_G
- Start date
The_Cat
Senior Member
If addicts are sent to Edmonton from other centres, that’s a problem. Is there any way to have prevention and treatment centres there?
Oilguy
Active Member
Yeah, you gonna fly people back to Slave Lake, or Fort Chip or Lloydminster? Cmon you aren’t being serious that’s the answer to this issue are you?Ultimately, this is the BEST way to handle this issue across the globe except NO ONE will say it out loud. Good for this guy!
Santa Monica business owner offering one-way tickets out of town for homeless people
California business owner John Alle launched a program offering free, no-questions-asked flights home for unhoused people in LA County with an ID and a contact at their destination.www.independent.co.uk
Whatup
Active Member
This isn't a global problem - many jurisdictions have reasonable and enforced drug polices and laws that strictly prohibit consumption and sale of Class A drugs - it's not rocket science, however apparently for many places in North America I guess it is.Ultimately, this is the BEST way to handle this issue across the globe except NO ONE will say it out loud. Good for this guy!
Santa Monica business owner offering one-way tickets out of town for homeless people
California business owner John Alle launched a program offering free, no-questions-asked flights home for unhoused people in LA County with an ID and a contact at their destination.
IanO
Superstar
Unsure if it is a spree or just a coincidence, but I've seen a lot more tempered glass bits from broken car windows around the area of late.
roe_
Active Member
Yeah, cause throwing addicts in jail has worked before...
Avenuer
Senior Member
This, something Calgary doesn't have to deal with and you can see how that's impacting their Downtown area relative to ours.
Oilguy
Active Member
Not entirely true, Stephen’s avenue is becoming a bit a nightmare at certain times. Still their downtown is so much bigger, and so much busier and the problem is less and so all of that makes it much, much less of an evident problem just by simple dilution.
The_Cat
Senior Member
It’s sad to see Edmonton build anything nice, only to be taken over by homeless and gangs.
NicolBolas
New Member
Edmonton simply needs to enforce by-law we already have in place.
I hate to say but we just need to come to the realization that we can't save everyone. Yes, there are people who want a ticket out of homelessness and addiction, we should support that. However there are also people who don't, they want to be high and have no desire to better themselves.
We shouldn't have to sacrifice our city's reputation and livability for 0.03% of our population.
I hate to say but we just need to come to the realization that we can't save everyone. Yes, there are people who want a ticket out of homelessness and addiction, we should support that. However there are also people who don't, they want to be high and have no desire to better themselves.
We shouldn't have to sacrifice our city's reputation and livability for 0.03% of our population.
IanO
Superstar
We also need the beats to get going and have FAR more visibility in key areas.
policyenthusiast
Active Member
Visibility means nothing without enforcement. I'm sure we've both seen plenty of vagrant crime that nearby EPS officers ignore.
SarcasticMarmot
Active Member
So I am definitely one of those “bleeding hearts” y’all like to rail against in this thread, but the thing I don’t understand is how the blame for the increase over the last few years is landing on those of us in the social services sector. Our work has been devastated over the last 5 years, and it has cleanly tracked with the growth in social disorder, homelessness, and drug use. We went from 7 day use drop-in facilities to 0. We lost our outreach teams. The supervised injection services have been significantly reduced. And at the same time the police and province have greatly increased their budgets, launched the “Community Navigation Centre” downtown and the “Healthy Streets Operations Centre” in Chinatown, which both despite branding are enforcement first projects. Even the horrific Chinatown murders are blamed on Social Services when it was the Police who brought him into the city where he was banned from being! Source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/justin-bone-chinatown-homicides-bail-release-1.6483440
I know I am pushing against the tide and that enforcement feels good, but it will be just as successful as the war on drugs. Of course, not everyone who is homeless is on drugs or committing property crimes but when you learn society doesn’t care about you its pretty rational to decide you don’t care about society. Most of these folks have been in and out of jail consistently, where do you think they learned their anti-social behavior? Going to jail for longer isn't going to make things better, so is the plan to lock them up indefinitely? Most of these folks never end up out on bail (who can afford it) they are held indefinitely at Remand (largest prison in Canada) before even being convicted of a crime. From what I have personally witnessed they end up released because the system is so backed up and time served before trial is counted as 2x, or frankly because the police paperwork is so poorly done that the prosecutors end up dropping the case because they don't think they can convict.
I know I am pushing against the tide and that enforcement feels good, but it will be just as successful as the war on drugs. Of course, not everyone who is homeless is on drugs or committing property crimes but when you learn society doesn’t care about you its pretty rational to decide you don’t care about society. Most of these folks have been in and out of jail consistently, where do you think they learned their anti-social behavior? Going to jail for longer isn't going to make things better, so is the plan to lock them up indefinitely? Most of these folks never end up out on bail (who can afford it) they are held indefinitely at Remand (largest prison in Canada) before even being convicted of a crime. From what I have personally witnessed they end up released because the system is so backed up and time served before trial is counted as 2x, or frankly because the police paperwork is so poorly done that the prosecutors end up dropping the case because they don't think they can convict.
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TAS
Senior Member
Thanks for this perspective.
channing76
New Member
Society and the government do care actually. But if you don't care about yourself you wont care about society, and that's the common theme from my experience, i spent my 20s addicted to everything I could get my hands on, living in a tent in our ravine systems and in prison. Nothing is black and white but I truly believe in this city, in this country if you want to better yourself you can, but you need to want it.