Furthering reconciliation through emergency shelter
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Summary
Learn English with the First Nations Minister of Indigenous Services, Nathan Newdorf, as he delivers an important announcement in the City of Lethbridge, Alberta. Minister of Aboriginal Services, Jason Nixon, and Indigenous Services Minister of Community Services, Jana Nixon, discuss the importance of First Nations Homelessness in our communities, and the role First Nations have played in providing support to those experiencing homelessness.
Transcript
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Again, with that, we want to continue, and as stated, again, we are very, very proud
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of our partnership with the with the government of Alberta with the city of Lettsbridge this is
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Blackfoot traditional homeland for us so definitely that acknowledgement we are so appreciative so at
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this point I will call on Minister Newdorf to make some remarks thank you thank you everyone
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it's wonderful to be here this morning you may have noticed me arriving slightly late and out
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of breath i apologize i was trapped with a couple other things i might need to ask somebody for a
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ride later is my truck's probably being towed right now but again thank you very much to the
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the shelter for their hospitality and if i can't get a ride hopefully i'll be able to use one of
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the mats tonight but this is a very significant service that we provide that our first nations
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partnership provides for uh a significant demographic demographic of people in lethbridge
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and i want to express how excited i am for this significant uh development on our ongoing efforts
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to address homelessness here in lethbridge this collaboration is a testament to our commitment
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to providing essential support for those experiencing homelessness in lethbridge we
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understand the increasing complexity of this issue and are taking substantial steps to address it
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comprehensively i am delighted that the blood tribe department of health will continue to operate
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the emergency shelter spaces as they have been doing since january 2023 their dedication to this
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cause has been invaluable and we are grateful for their ongoing partnership the blood tribe
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is deeply integrated into our community and this project ensures that they will continue to take a
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leading role in supporting our community homelessness is a multi-faceted challenge
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that demands collaborative efforts and innovative solutions this capital grant is a tangible
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demonstration of our commitment to addressing homelessness and providing sustainable solutions
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for the long term we are dedicated to creating a brighter and more secure future for all of
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lethbridge and alberta working together to build a society that leaves no one behind and with that
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i would like to invite my colleague the honorable jason nixon minister of community social services
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and a friend not just to myself but to many in lethbridge and for the work that he's done to
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to make an effort he amongst all my colleagues he has made numerous trips to lethbridge to see what
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things are like actually on the ground for the people and particularly those who are
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suffering homelessness and and i deeply appreciate his commitment to our community
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and to seeking to solve this in such a comprehensive and collaborative way and with that i'd like to
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Thank you, first of all, Minister, for that introduction, and thank you for welcoming me
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It sometimes feels very far away from here, but it's not that far, and it's always fun
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to be able to drive down and see the amazing things that are happening in your home.
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I'd like to also thank the Blackfoot Confederacy and the Blood Tribe for welcoming me to Blackfoot Territory.
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It is always a privilege to come down to Blackfoot Territory and interact with the Blood Tribe
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and have conversations about the amazing work that is taking place here, the shared work often,
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to be able to help our communities and continue to make Alberta the best place to live.
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I want to recognize the shelter today, the Blood Department of Health, who a year ago took on, a little over a year ago, I think 2023, took on the operation of this shelter.
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The province recognized that we need to do something different in Lethbridge and that it had to look different.
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I'm going to talk a little bit about what we think that means long term.
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But we did know at that point something had to be done different.
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And the Blackfoot Department of Health stood up, took on what is a big challenge and have done an excellent job.
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You know, I grew up in a homeless shelter in Calgary.
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My dad was the founder of the Mustard Seed in Calgary, so I spent a lot of time in homeless shelters.
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And I can tell you, this is one of the best shelters in the entire province,
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and we should give them all a round of applause for the incredible work that they've done.
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I also want to recognize the city of Lethbridge, who has contributed to this two-part announcement
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They have been a tremendous partner with us on the work that we're trying to do
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particularly for helping the most vulnerable in this part of the province.
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but it's really something that I think is quite special
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to see taking place in this area of the province.
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is very much committed to doing shelter different.
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The circumstances that we see taking place on the streets
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or in our homeless populations across the province
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have changed considerably from that time, frankly,
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where I grew up in a homeless shelter. And that has required us to adapt and to make different
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type of policy decisions to make sure that we can have success to be able to help the individuals
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that we're working with. And we have made several changes throughout our emergency shelter system in
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the province in response to that. Stuff like opening up all of our shelter system 24 hours a
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day, seven days a week. We're adding different types of addiction support connections into our
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shelters or different types of transition beds that work with our shelter system or adding women
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only spaces something that we're seeing particularly in edmonton and calgary right now a need for
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not domestic violence spaces well that's important and our province is doing it but women only spaces
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for a population that are sleeping rough on the streets have a place where they can feel a little
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bit more safe and secure and one of the biggest things that we've learned is the need to work with
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indigenous communities to have often sometimes indigenous only shelters but also to make sure
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that we have indigenous leadership not just a partnership but actually setting up indigenous
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communities to lead uh inside our largest cities to be able to help work with this important
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population and nowhere is that more apparent than the city of leftbridge unfortunately the vast
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majority of our homeless population is indigenous in most of our cities but in leftbridge there is
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no doubt about that it's somewhere north of 90 depending on who you would talk to statistically
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but it is a lot and it's also unique because the vast majority of that are blood or certainly
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blackfoot inside this community and it shows the real need to be connected with the blackfoot
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community and with the blood tribe and so this is something that we learned here in leftbridge that
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we are now copying across the province we just recently opened up the new enoch shelter in the
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city of edmonton something that i'm very excited about as we work with that important nation up
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right near our capital city but that started here with the lessons that we learned in this
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very shelter with the important work that the blood department of health is doing and so we
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want to continue that work and so today i'm here to announce two things first is that shortly we
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we will sign an MOU that will extend and make clear that the relationship between the provincial
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government and the blood department of health to run this facility and to be the leader in working
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with our homeless population in southern Alberta and Lethbridge will continue and is going to be
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made clear through that MOU that that will be a long-term relationship and where we want to head
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going forward. The second thing though is that if we're going to do that the Alberta government
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It needs to put our money where our mouth is.
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And so today I'm very excited to announce two things.
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First is that the city of Lethbridge, working to help us achieve this ambitious goal, I think, of the city,
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has made the decision to give a $1.4 million in-kind contribution to this project
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and to turn over this facility, to donate this existing facility in the land to the Lethbridge Housing Authority,
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who is our CBO, our community-based organization that we use as our funder to deal with homeless
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projects. And we will follow suit with that, with an immediate investment of $4 million,
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a capital grant, to come into place to rebuild this facility, to add over 125 spaces to this
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facility, and to add over 30 more stabilization beds in this facility. This, I hope, shows the
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commitment of the Alberta government to doing shelter differently, to recognizing the importance
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of working with the provincial crown, with our First Nation partners, government to government,
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to continue to be able to help protect Albertans and to be able to make Albertans' life better.
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I'm very excited about the work that has taken place down here. I continue to talk about it
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everywhere else I go on the province. And sometimes I'm worried I put a little too much pressure on
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the Blood Department of Health down here because I truly believe what we're building down here
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will be the example to the rest of the province, eventually the example to the rest of the
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country, and maybe even to the world on how we work with homeless populations and true
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reconciliation with our nation partners. So thank you for that partnership, and rest assured,
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as long as I'm the minister, it's going to continue, and we're going to continue to do
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great things together. Thank you very much for having me.
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With that said, it's my pleasure to bring up and introduce an individual who certainly does not need an introduction in this room,
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and that's Councillor Martin Heavyhead, who will say a few words.
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Again, thank you all for being here, and I really just want to encourage the Blood Department of Health to continue their important work
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and to encourage this great community to continue to wrap around that shelter
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and make sure that we have the best organization to care for the homeless anywhere in this province.
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Thank you very much, Mr. Nixon. And thank you, Patrick, for those good words. When you
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met Patrick, you know he's always full of fun. He got stopped in, where was it you got
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stopped Spokane and he told the police, do you know who I am? So now they all know who he is.
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But anyway, good morning everybody. I'm proud to be here today. I'm honored to be here
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on behalf of Blood Tribe Chief and Council to sign the Memorandum of Understanding
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between Blood Tribe and the province of Alberta. After careful consideration and review of our
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engagement with the Lethbridge Homeless Shelter, the Blood Tribe Department of Health has agreed
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to continue with a multi-year agreement to manage the shelter. We hope that solutions will be found
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for homelessness and drug dependency and to discontinue this service. It is however a reality
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that homelessness and drug abuse will continue into the foreseeable future we realize also that
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we are the best organization to provide the best alternatives for our people in this situation
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as leaders of blood tribe it is our responsibility to to represent the interests and well-being
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of all blood tribe members regardless regardless of circumstance and location
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We are proud to stand alongside the frontline staff, our partners and our community members
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And I'd also like to add that we're managing the shelter, we're trying to provide alternatives
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for the homeless here in Lethbridge. And mainly because a lot of our members are on the street
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here in Lethbridge and this is a service that we want to extend out to them. But that doesn't mean
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that we're responsible for all the homeless in the city of Lethbridge and in Southern Alberta,
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where we're focused on managing this place and hoping for the best outcomes for our people.
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So with that, I'd like to thank everybody and I'd like to introduce Charlie Weaselhead,
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ex-Chief, ex-Chancellor of the University of Lethbridge. What else have you done, Charlie?
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There are so many things Charlie has done. He's our Member at Large and Vice Chair for the Blood Tribe Department of Health.
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thank you very much uh okay good morning and welcome uh to our distinguished guests number one
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and of course our board of health who is here with us today management and staff blood tribe
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department of health and of course our friends and neighbors from the city of lethbridge so let
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let me just quickly acknowledge that we're in the territory of the blood tribe proud members of the
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blackfoot confederacy without the support and assistance of the provincial government
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we wouldn't be here today. I want to acknowledge Minister Nixon, Minister Newdorf, MLA East,
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Lethbridge for your support and your assistance that we've come a long ways up to this point.
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The backbone of who we are and what we are about is our board, our senior management, and of course
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I always say we're only as good as our frontline workers and I am very very confident that we have
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the best frontline workers minister in the territory. We've come a long ways you know
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and I think our board and our management did not hesitate when they were asked to provide services
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and assist in the blood tribe shelter. It's our concept you know that we continue to help our
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people wherever they may be off reserve on reserve you know and we have willing partners in the city
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of Lethbridge as well too. I want to acknowledge Mayor Higgin and the council who have assisted
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and guided us in this first year of operation. Believe me it wasn't an easy operation.
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you know there's ups and downs there's hiccups and stuff like that you know
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but truly when i reflect on this uh last year again if it wasn't for our provincial partners
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ministers premier danielle smith and everybody that had the confidence in the blood tribe
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department of health i also want to acknowledge our chief and council who supported us and worked
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in the background with us to come to come to this point, you know. I've always said, you know,
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we need to listen to the voices of our most vulnerable people in the city of Lethbridge
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and beyond that, you know. Their cry for help, you know, has been heard loud and clear,
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both at the government level and administrative level and on the ground as well too. We will
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continue to reach out to partners that may assist us in this and I'm very very happy to hear what
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Minister Nixon said that we are one of the most unique operations you know here in southern
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Alberta and the travels that I do beyond here the comments that I hear and the people that have
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visited us Indigenous communities from Saskatchewan and Manitoba have come to visit this operation
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and take back you know lessons learned with regards to operating within their own community
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and i guess at the end of the day you know we will continue to do what we think is best
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for our our people you know so again i want to acknowledge the board of health you know the
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board of health has come a long long ways and we will continue to work with that you know so again
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today we are here to celebrate the continuous operation of the wellness and the stabilizing
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unit. I'm very, very proud to be a member of the Blood Tribe. I also have a title, it's SR,
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and I'll let you figure that out. Semi-retired. So with that I want to acknowledge our Chair,
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Martin Heavyhead, Minister Nixon, Minister Newdorf, and of course Robin James, Housing Authority.
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And it's my pleasure to introduce our next speaker, Deputy Mayor Mark Campbell.
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Thank you very much, Oki, and an honor to be introduced by a semi-retired guy.
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That's great. Thank you. I really appreciate it, and I know Mayor Higgin sends his regrets.
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He really wishes he'd be here on this special day, and thank you to seeing our distinguished
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minister of the minister um nixon and uh our mla the late uh mason jason nathan newdorf
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late not late no no not that not that late i meant and i just i just uh i got the text your
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your truck is in the police compound just so you know okay
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no i don't i don't give lifts uh want to thank you to the provincial uh the province
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Alberta, Lethbridge Housing Authority and the Blood Tribe Department of Health for
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including the City of Lethbridge in this important announcement and it really is.
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We know managing complex social issues and addressing homelessness requires a collaborative
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community approach which is what we are excited to see happening here today.
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The changes coming to the Lethbridge Shelter will help our community take a huge step forward
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in being able to support our most vulnerable residents in a culturally sensitive way.
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The City of Lethbridge is proud to support the redevelopment and expansion of the Lethbridge
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Shelter through an in-kind contribution of the Lethbridge Shelter property to Lethbridge Housing
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Authority, the LHA. Transferring ownership of the shelter to the LHA will streamline processes,
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removing the city as the landlord between the province and the agencies it funds to manage
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and deliver these critical services. We are also extremely grateful to the province of Alberta for
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the significant funding agreement they have reached with LHA to make this much needed resource
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a reality for Lethbridge. We're confident this change will create a more efficient and effective
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system for those needing support in our community. The City is committed to supporting the Lethbridge
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Housing Authority and the Blood Tribe Department of Health in this transition as we all work
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together to improve the health and well-being of our community. And now my pleasure to introduce
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the CAO of Lethbridge Housing Authority, Ms. Robin James.
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Good morning. On behalf of the Lethbridge Housing Authority, I would like to thank Minister Nixon
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and the Government of Alberta for their investment of $4 million from the Alberta
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Housing Partnership Program into the Lethbridge shelter. I'd also like to thank the City of
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Lethbridge for their investment in kind of 1.4 million dollars of the existing shelter building.
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This investment signifies more than just financial support. It symbolizes a commitment to the ongoing
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partnership between the Government of Alberta, the Blood Tribe Department of Health, the City
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of Lethbridge and the Lethbridge Housing Authority. With this fund we're able to expand and enhance
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shelter facilities ensuring every guest who walks through the door is met with dignity,
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respect and the tools they need to rebuild their lives. Since becoming a shelter provider and I
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I've been involved with the Lethbridge Housing for 17 years and I just wanted to share what
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we've seen in the last year since the Blood Tribe has taken over. So since becoming the shelter
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provider the Blood Tribe Department of Health has worked alongside Alberta Health Services
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creating pathways for individuals in need of physical and mental health supports as well as
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117 referrals to addiction recovery services in their stabilization beds. Well done, well done.
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Additionally, their ongoing collaboration with the ID Clinic, Alberta Works, and Lethbridge
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Housing Authority's coordinated access table, individuals are now being able to begin their
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journey towards long-term housing stability. Prior to the Blood Tribe coming on, many individuals
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would come to us and they would require housing and they didn't have ID and they didn't have
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any income. Nothing was secured. The Blood Tribe Department of Health has done such an excellent
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job with their frontline staff bringing us individuals. They've got ID for them. They've
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stabilized their income. They're bringing someone that we can get them on their feet. It's just such
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a remarkable partnership we have here in the spirit of collaboration we have the power to
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elevate individuals to their highest level of independence by coming together we create a
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supportive environment that fosters growth resiliency and empowerment this collaboration
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is not just about the bricks and mortar of this building it's about building a community where
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everyone has an opportunity to thrive by combining our strengths the government of alberta lethbridge
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Housing Authority and the Blood Tribe Department of Health are poised to create a model of
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shelter that exemplifies excellence, empathy, and effectively addresses our homelessness
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We'll now invite Minister Nixon and Councillor Heavyhead to sign the memorandum.
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So the way I like to do this, open it, no, no, then they get all upset, but it's just
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to do, the pose, this is called posing for a picture, right?
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All right, and we'll now move on to questions from the media. So we're going to start with
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questions here in the room and then move on to the phone lines. Please state your name
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and the outlet you're with, and we'll do one question, one follow-up. So first question, please.
00:40:19.840
Hi, Sarah with Global Lethbridge. I just wanted to ask, you know, if you could give us a sense,
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minister nixon about the demand that we're seeing right now are we at capacity here and and how far
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does this go in terms of meeting the the needs that we have in this community right now so i i
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don't believe that the uh uh leftford shelter reached capacity yet this year i think it's been
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close at times and certainly we know that we needed to expand emergency capacity in the city
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leverage so that's part of why we're headed down this road i believe you know if i hope i got my
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My number's right, and I'm looking at I know who will have them right.
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This is going to expand by 125 beds plus 30, what they call stabilization beds, which operate in this facility.
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The current number, I believe, is 75 emergency spaces.
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So, that, I mean, that's a pretty significant expansion as far as space.
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From what we understand, this should go a long way to keeping us below capacity during high-capacity times.
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We obviously will continue to monitor it, and we will adjust.
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I mean, Lethbridge is a pretty major city, and it needs to have the same level of support
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as we would see that we're doing in places like Calgary and Edmonton.
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In Calgary and Edmonton, I'll just quickly refer to them, because they are obviously
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There's been a lot of news on that, that no time have we broken capacity in those two
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The city of Edmonton right now is 1,801 spaces, which is the most in their history.
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They've been hovering anywhere between 80% and 93% capacity this year.
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And Calgary, a little over 2,000 spaces, I believe, and they'd be about the same numbers,
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usually hovering in the coldest days, a little bit above 90%.
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I think what is most important, though, for this announcement is still a little bit different
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than you would see with the work that we've done traditionally,
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is, again, reaffirming that Indigenous-led process,
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making sure that we're here in a supportive way to support the Blood Department of Health,
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but to allow them to lead this process, to run the shelter in culturally appropriate ways,
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to work with their people, and that we're here in a supportive way, not a leading way.
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And I think that is a model that we are continuing and will continue to mimic elsewhere inside the province
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And I know Rob and James just referred to some of those numbers.
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I mean, those recovery numbers and getting individuals to help is something that's very special here
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and something that we're certainly going to be having conversations with our other shelter providers
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about making sure that they take steps to be able to have similar results follow up nope okay hello
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hi stephanie kostian with the left bridge herald so my question for you is uh there's been talk
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that people have recognized that a lot of the uh individuals experiencing homelessness
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are a younger generation and i was wondering if any of the provided finance would uh help or assist
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with addictions or mental health so the you're correct we are seeing different demographics
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inside the homeless population we're also seeing different drug circumstances over the last several
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years different types of drugs drugs are certainly more deadly and significantly having an impact on
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all of our cities and left bridge is no stranger to that my announcement today is not specifically
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for addiction treatment having said that addiction treatment remains the highest priority
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of the government we are continuing to invest in recovery beds thousands of them across the
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province minister williams the minister of mental health and addiction has the lead on that but the
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role of my department particularly when it comes to housing and homeless shelters is to build a
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system that connects to that new recovery system and so what you see taking place here in the
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shelter system particularly here but is being mimicked across the province
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is building housing to keep people safe deal with emergency circumstances safe
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and warm and deal with medical circumstances or
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but then building a system that connects into that recovery
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process that minister williams and his team is building
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and again to the statistics that robin james from the housing authority just
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that in a very significant way and it's because of
00:44:33.040
that connection here in the emergency shelter to long-term recovery that they're having such good
00:44:36.560
results and did you have a follow-up okay we'll now move over to uh callers online so operator
00:44:45.440
can you please put through the first caller madeline smith cbc hi there this question is
00:44:52.640
for minister nixon uh minister i have an email sent to government employees that indicates ace
00:44:58.640
commencement so the start of new benefit payments are being limited only to people
00:45:03.980
who are palliative deemed emergencies or in hospital and as of this week only
00:45:08.780
cases deemed high priority will be assessed for eligibility can you explain
00:45:12.740
this I don't know the email that you're referring to so I would we'll have
00:45:18.560
somebody reach out to you separate from that but to be clear we have changed each
00:45:23.060
payment dates in the recommendations that we received from the age community to move back to
00:45:29.540
the first of the month that is for the entire system i'm not aware of anything that would be
00:45:33.540
different as the specifics of your email i'd have to see it to be able to give you any context and
00:45:39.940
follow it yeah so uh this email was sent to government employees that deal with
00:45:47.860
AISH applications, from what I understand. It also says there's been a temporary reallocation
00:45:54.440
of resources where they've been asked to do file reviews. What is meant by that? Has the government
00:46:02.080
looked at reassessing AISH in any larger way at this point?
00:46:08.620
So again, speaking to an email that I don't see is not something I'll do because I won't be able
00:46:15.020
to answer it appropriately. But we do age file reviews and file reviews through the income
00:46:20.160
support system often. It's part of the process for managing the system. But again, there's no
00:46:26.720
intention of changing where we're headed with age for the main purposes, which is to continue to be
00:46:32.400
able to make sure to provide significant supports for the severely handicapped in our province.
00:46:37.300
We're proud to be the province with the highest age payments in this country. We're excited that
00:46:43.020
we were able to re-index those payments and continue to stand with the disabled community
00:46:48.260
to make sure that they can continue to have the money that they need to be able to live
00:46:54.800
Okay, operator, can you please put through the next caller?
00:47:07.060
So my first question is actually why a memorandum of understanding being signed today?
00:47:18.620
So to be clear, what we did was in 2023, we went to the Department of Health with the Blood Tribe
00:47:25.820
and challenged them and asked them to take this project on with us.
00:47:34.800
And so what we're doing is signing a long-term multi-year agreement to make clear that this is the model
00:47:39.520
that we're going to continue to use to operate this facility.
00:47:41.880
and so you watched it be signed, it's in agreement right now
00:47:45.600
and the Blood Department of Health are going to continue to do their important work
00:47:50.060
and they're also about to get a significantly expanded operation
00:47:54.220
that will be able to make sure that they can do more of that work
00:48:00.020
Yes, will this extension require the shelter to be closed
00:48:08.260
And if yes, when will start, is there a plan in place so that people can have access to a shelter in the meantime?
00:48:20.240
No, this plan will not require the shelter to be closed.
00:48:24.200
We will continue to work with the Department of Health of the Blood Tribe to provide services during the upcoming renovation.
00:48:30.440
There will obviously have to be some coordination to make that happen, but people will continue to have a warm, safe place to come at this shelter.
00:48:36.660
Okay, and operator can you please put through the next caller.
00:49:06.660
This shelter already offers wraparound services, and it's something that we're going to continue to do with all of our shelters.
00:49:12.680
It's something that we've built throughout our shelter system.
00:49:15.500
It's something that we are seeing with our new navigation center in Edmonton in a faster way.
00:49:21.140
And we're going to take some of the lessons that we've learned from that in Edmonton and expand that to our partners across the province,
00:49:26.840
where we can expedite some of those wraparound services for, I think, what have been some staggeringly positive results in the city of Edmonton.
00:49:34.120
But to be clear, already right here at the shelter is wraparound services.
00:49:38.420
And what that looks like is partnerships with Alberta Health Services, other health care providers, recovery programs, outreach programs, income supports from my department and other ways.
00:49:48.600
And those supports are going to continue going forward.
00:49:51.780
And I want to stress the Blood Tribe has done that in a significant way, very successfully, and that we continue to show other organizations how they've done that because of their results.
00:50:02.740
But we will continue to see wraparound services with our homeless population.
00:50:13.360
Okay, and with that, that ends our time for questions.