Homeless camp residents should be left alone by community
By Lethbridge Herald on July 16, 2022.
Editor:
As a new resident and a former mental health professional I’m not sure what the solution is for these encampments.
I’m sure it distresses those neighbours who witness what can only be described as Third World living conditions.
Surely It time to state the obvious, which is: treating addictions and mental health problems cannot be the only solution and in fact might be the cause of undue stress.
These encampments are an eye sore, ugly and may I suggest racist.
They capture a group of mostly compromised aboriginals, the majority of which in a previous era would be jailed or institutionalized, and they exist on their own terms.
Are we in the majority unable to have these people as neighbours because they are our scapegoats?
How dare they taint our lives with their chaos, poverty and otherness. We need them to be isolated from us, removed and sanitized.
I get it. But our churches, temples, synagogues and mosques don’t. They want converts, not aimless addicts.
Let them be.
Bruce Paproski
Lethbridge
13-12
Obviously a new resident who hasn’t yet experienced first hand a break in of his home, or an assault in one of our beautiful parks.
Get your head out of the sand!
Let’s build a wall, white brothers, make it 12 feet high and make them pay for it! We could call it Fort Lethbridge. There would be dancing in the streets again.
Our homeless here are no comparison to the illegal invasion at the US southern border. I can bet with certainty that none in our encampments are illegal. Your inference is moot. I do see this morning that since they decommissioned the Y camp so those at City Hall and wannabe MLA Miyashiro don’t have to be reminded of what they created every minute of day, there is a new site at the south end of the Scenic Drive over Whoop up bridge and several down the 4th Street pathway. Nicely done gang, out of site out of mind the saying goes.
There’s a big No Trespassing sign at the entrance to the reserve; why not put one at the entrance to Lethbridge coming from there? Nothing racist about that, just equality.
I am shocked to hear that only homeless camp residents are doing assaults and break ins. Anyway, when POTUS can send armed thugs to murder the vice-president and attempt to install himself as Dictator Forever JUST BECAUSE his diaper rash is bothering him and get away with it…. well… there is no more law and order.
When braindead pukes with big rigs can block our hiways and border crossings and halt international commerce and call themselves freedom fighters… well… there is no more law and order.
How about if they set-up next to your house Bruce? If you hear gun-shots Bruce…Don’t’ worry about it! If they break-in to your house or garage like my neighbor has and I caught them on the last occasion (Yes they were both native) don’t worry about it because they are victims of society correct Bruce?
Until you have lived in this city as long as a-lot of us have YOU HAVE NO CREDIBLE SAY!
Ship the whole lot of them back to the reserve where we know they have homes!
No credible say? Eat 20 tons of feces and die.
Oh such hate! Herbert!
What the law says
Hate speech falls under Section 319 of the Canadian Criminal Code.
Under the heading “Willful promotion of hatred,” Section 319.2 states that “every one who, by communicating statements, other than in private conversation, wilfully promotes hatred against any identifiable group” is guilty of a criminal offence.
Yup sure is even if it is the truth!
…and your point is ? You may wish to acquaint yourself with an important factor in legal interpretation before you start weaponizing the Criminal Code. It is not just what the law ” says” as much as what it ” means” which is of significance. Focus on the word “PROMOTES”. Fair comment and expression of a personal opinion does not constitute ” promotion” . Of course, if you are part of the cancel culture vulture squad this means nothing to you and you do not see the hypocracy in suggesting the ” law” as you interpret it be used to silence an opinion that clashes with your stilted world view while turning a blind eye to the criminality of the conduct which is the subject of the comment. Last time I checked theft, assault, mischief to property, trespass were all still offences.
Be careful Kal, one of your equally light minded friends might turn you in for your comment to Citi as wilful promotion of hatred against white people . Once your start the stupid train it is hard to select who gets run over…..
What the law says
Hate speech falls under Section 319 of the Canadian Criminal Code.
Under the heading “Willful promotion of hatred,” Section 319.2 states that “every one who, by communicating statements, other than in private conversation, wilfully promotes hatred against any identifiable group” is guilty of a criminal offence.
You are simply repeating yourself Kai….
Better than the froth you spout.
What the law says
Hate speech falls under Section 319 of the Canadian Criminal Code.
Under the heading “Willful promotion of hatred,” Section 319.2 states that “every one who, by communicating statements, other than in private conversation, wilfully promotes hatred against any identifiable group” is guilty of a criminal offence.
You say: “Until you have lived in this city as long as a-lot of us have YOU HAVE NO CREDIBLE SAY!”
If we take your suggestion at face value, a couple of questions come to mind. First, how long does someone need to have lived in Lethbridge in order to be able to share their views? Second, is that which you clearly see as a “privilege” to be limited to Canadian citizens, or can it be extended to extended to Permanent Residents as well.
Well I have been here all my life! In fact my late Grandpa helped build our High Level Bridge 1908. So that I figure more than qualifies me to speak in any way on such matters!
Bruce on the other hand is a newbie and should at least study or research the impact of such so-called home-less encampments on our city.
Secondly I will not fall for your “Race Baiting.” but nice try anyways!
I welcome you to the community Bruce! For someone that has just arrived and doesn’t understand the attack on our city that gave us an internationally known reputation of having the busiest consumption site in the world, mentioned on the CBC mini-series Pure, as a place the cartel leader character was moving to since it was ideal to conduct business, downtown businesses devasted costing many their livelihoods, our city police/fire/EMS run ragged, our parks and neighbourhoods being impacted and some where people will no longer use them for venues for events, and more . . . I will not attack you for the comment. You need to gain more knowledge and see the real issues.
I say this not to attack you:
First, you assume all of these people suffer from mental health issues.
Second, Canada is one of the best countries to live in this world and not a Third World country.
Third, you assume they are all aboriginals that we refer to.
Fourth, you assume they are rejected by religious institutions in the area.
I will stop there . . . there is more though.
You are not aware that many have homes they could be living in and some are on our streets that just don’t want to work, don’t want our help, don’t want to live under any rules. Many reject any rules that would help them stay in government paid homes, they want to do what they want, when they want and if that impacts others . . . too bad.
If they just set up their encampments to sleep and stay, which I think you believe, it wouldn’t be bad . . . they are aggressive, they intimidate, they assault people just walking by and at the Civic Center where the recent shooting was, they blocked both sidewalks so seniors could not go the the Lethbridge Senior Center or pool for their aquatics exercise without having to walk a block extra.
I am not sure how long it has been or where you practiced mental health care or what your training is, but in this city, we have been devastated for several years with issues that are fixable, that can be avoided and alternatives employed.
Because of mistakes made trying to solutions that worked, many people died on our streets!
We health mental health professionals that believed harm reduction worked and when the supervised comsumption site opened the numbers of fatal overdoses increased, the numbers of addicts increased, crime went up 6000% that is right, 6000% around that site. Kids bicycles were stolen all over the city, home break and enters dramatically increased along with vehicle break ins, etc., and our small Canadian city went from having a great name as a clean city and a place to retire became #1 on Canada’s crime index.
These encampments increase crime within the area dramatically and in many cases are where the street dealers operate from, weapons are common to be found, and multiple police responses dealing with assaults, disputes and by residents just trying to get to work or to a business.
You are not aware and I am not holding you to your comments made . . . you came in part way through a major issue that is growing and in a city that has been battered at the taxpayers and residents cost . . . then there are all the lives that have been lost senselessly!
Leaving them alone will only increase the issues on both sides . . . BC put their heads in the sand and just kept throwing money at the issues for 19 years and it has taken over and spread like cancer, with thousands dead because of a failure to acknowledge they need to change their approach.
You are also unaware of the hard work many have done trying to get these people off the streets and into homes and back into society! Also, there are many churches involved, often on the streets handing out food, water, clothing and support and there are several churches in the city that I am aware that have those who want to come at their services and try to help them get off the streets.
Please . . . take some time to research the issues, unless you want to continue to see your taxes go up, services go down and more people dying needlessly!
Great response ewingbt but sadly I fear will fall-on woke-deaf-ears!
There’s a big No Trespassing sign at the entrance to the reserve; why not put one at the entrance to Lethbridge coming from there? Nothing racist about that, just equality.
I go to the mountains for the weekend and come back to news that we should just leave these people in the encampments alone?
Not sure what to say to the ‘news’. The questions are:
What do you mean by ‘mental health professional’ since that could many things, even the reception clerk. Many at the SCS considered themselves addiction professionals who took 24 hours of online courses or a 2 week course before/during working there or the free harm reduction courses that got the Harm Reduction Specialist name, many of which had no recognised accredation in the professional healthcare world, so what type of mental health professional, since you stated this?
With too many laying claim on this platform to inflated or false credentials or claims you will have to forgive me if I am suspicious.
Why did you move to this city? Did you not do some research before moving?
Do you realize that if left alone the issues will only grow? Theft, vandalism, B&E’s, violence, bio-hazards to be cleaned up, health and fire issues that not only threaten the encampment occupants but nearby residents and more negative issues would all inrease until it would be a nightmare dealing with them.
There have been many fires started, one threatened other houses and a nearby business. Can you imagine if the Civic Center caught fire? Violence is common to these encampments, although shootings rare, stabbing will kill you.
After camping for the weekend, I can tell you that these encampments are nothing like the group of respectful people who gather to camp that I just left and I am suspicious that you may very well be one of those camping out on our streets. No matter how you look at it, you need to get a better understanding of the issues.