Community helps keep people off the street

Feb. 20, 2009

There isn't a visible problem with homelessness in Miramichi because there are support systems to help people in need, says a spokesman for the Miramichi Police Force.

Community police officer Cst. Todd Chadwick said there are several groups that work hard to meet the demands of people within the community.

"We have very good support here in Miramichi."

It's a much different situation that the one he saw in Vancouver when he was on a trip with a group from the Miramichi.

The group stayed in a part of town where there were many homeless people sleeping on the street. He said the kids looked out the windows of the place they were staying in and saw a man curled up in a sleeping bag on a vent as he tried to stay warm.

"We drove in there and our kids were in awe."

Chadwick said the problem is more visible in cities like Vancouver because when people fall through the cracks there isn't enough support to help them.

"They've been falling through the canyons in those big cities."

In the Miramichi, services like the Miramichi Youth House and the Salvation Army are there to help if the need arises. Although the problem isn't visible like in bigger cities, there still is a need for their services.

Gail MacKinley is the case manager at the youth house and said they had 21 referrals for housing last year from youth in the Miramichi.

Since January they've already had 13, including four where the parents moved out west and left their kids behind because they didn't want to move with them, she said.

"It's that kind of deal. We're taking off and you choose."

MacKinley said she didn't have any statistics to show how many people live on the street in Miramichi, but the numbers are available in other cities around the province.

"If the public had access to this I think they would really start to understand the situation in our city."

She has only been with the youth house for a year and a half, but the board has been together since 2002, she said.

"They said they have never seen numbers like this."

Salvation Army Cpt. Wilson Sutton said his organization doesn't have the facilities to house homeless, but they have put some up in hotels for a night and helped them get to shelters in Moncton.

"Not a lot, but a few cases every three or four weeks when they get people looking for a place to stay."

A four bed homeless shelter is in the works for the Salvation Army and Sutton said they are working on the plans for it.

"Those things take time and you need to have the Is dotted and the Ts crossed."

This is Sutton's first winter at the Miramichi Salvation Army. His last posting was in Ottawa where he said there were more options of places for the homeless to stay.

"Here we just don't have that."

Chadwick said the police do encounter people who need help and refer them to services like the Salvation Army or youth house to get them help.

"We're seeing a lot more stress in the community. If they're dealing with police something went wrong."

But even when people do end up on the street, there is not a high level of crime associated with it in the Miramichi, he said.

"If it was a statistic on a map it would be a blip."

Chadwick said we don't see the same problems as cities like Vancouver because the groups in the Miramichi help people in need before they end up on the street.

"They're finding these people before they fall through the cracks."

Chadwick said if someone was driving through the Miramichi at night and saw someone sleeping outside they would notice.

"It would be something that stands out prevalantly if we seen somebody sleeping on a park bench."

City police officers carry cards with emergency contact information, like for the Salvation Army or other services, and if they encounter someone in that situation they approach them to see how they can help.

It doesn't happen very often that they encounter someone who is sleeping in a public place because they have nowhere else to stay, he said.

"I won't even give it a number but I'll say very rare does that happen in the community because we have such a strong support network."