We Canadians are happy to agree with Americans that we’re boring, but we tend to be smug in the knowledge that we are more civilized. Wetaskiwin, Alberta certainly puts paid to that particular delusion.
Affordablehousingaction.org reads stories about housing and the lack of it from around the world. One of the ugliest we’ve ever read about homelessness comes courtesy of the citizens and city council of Wetaskiwin as they handle of a small collection of people who are homeless.
“They’re trying to kill us,” says one. We’re inclined to agree that it certainly seems that way.
Not a single person in the city can claim kudos for ending homelessness. Neither can the homeless outreach program Open Door and its workers. But this city is the first we’ve encountered where the workers and Open Door, their employer, are punished for their failure, threatened with fines if they attempt to provide aid or even attempt to enter one refugee-like encampment on the outskirts of town.
There’s much more depressing city council behaviour to be had. On the subject of death, drugs are inevitably mentioned. One city councillor suggested that the homeless flock to Wetaskiwin to party hearty at city expense.
Of the four recent deaths in the small homeless population, one was a drug overdose1, two were untreated medical conditions, and there’s been one suicide. Open Door is forbidden to lend a hand. For those living outdoors in tents and facing a typical harsh prairie winter, Wetaskiwin must indeed seem like a barrel of drug-fuelled good times and laughs.
The additional ugliness in the following article is worth a read to if only to appreciate that, however maliciously and gracelessly your community treats its most vulnerable citizens, there are god-forsaken cities in this world where such behaviour is even worse.
Read more in the Alaska Highway News: ‘They are trying to kill us’: Alberta city at odds with homeless outreach group
According to Wikipedia, the city’s name comes from the Cree word wītaskiwinihk, meaning “the hills where peace was made”. There’s a big gap to be spanned to live up to those origins.
