Four or five men sit on the porch of this older house on Fort SimpsonSA国际影视传媒檚 main street quietly chatting among themselves while other residents casually walk in and out at leisure. The building is open to them all day.
There is no shouting or fighting or loud noise-making of any kind. Just some friends hanging out.
It is the hamletSA国际影视传媒檚 menSA国际影视传媒檚 shelter, which opened almost three years ago and could serve as a model for other small communities showing them how a well-run, home-grown facility can work. It is in direct contrast to what is provided in many small hamlets, which is nothing at all. It keeps the unhoused guys off the street and sleeping in places safer than derelict buildings or under open skies, where wild things haunt the night.
It is also Fort SimpsonSA国际影视传媒檚 attempt to keep its people safely housed at home instead of forcing them to migrate to larger centres like Yellowknife for help.
Inside the building are sleeping areas for seven individuals, sectioned off from one another, offering privacy and dignity. There is a large sitting area through the middle with cooking facilities and food supplies at one end. For users, this is their home and they can come and go and make snacks for themselves at will. There is no set time to vacate, nor time when they are allowed in.
There is also a separate recreation space where occupants can watch television, play games, read or use the computer. It's their space SA国际影视传媒� they can do what they wish within prescribed limits.
Limits, though, are not necessary as the guys respect the space and the service made available through project money mostly from the territorial government, though there is never enough and often roadblocks. These guys are alive and safe. What is not to respect?
As we have learned in Yellowknife, an increasing number of the unhoused are coming because nothing is available in their hometowns. The result is that shelter spaces in Yellowknife are overflowing, with violence becoming too common. An increasing number of shelter workers here are dealing with PTSD after having to work with the clients at some shelters.
While the have to intervene occasionally at the Fort Simpson shelter, it is rare. These guys know a good thing. They can come in tipsy at night but willingly turn in their backpacks. They themselves provide a peer-based security service that a more official agency could not. It's their home while they are working to find more permanent housing and employment. Indeed, some have moved out into more long-term spaces.
They are also aware that they have the support of a board of directors and staff who are cheering them on. And while the village does not have an outreach van, community members who, for the most part, support the project, offer rides and whatever help they can. Healing, housing and ending homelessness has become a community endeavour.
In fact, there is a vision to offer a food bank and thrift store from this space SA国际影视传媒� services many small towns donSA国际影视传媒檛 have. At that point, the shelter will be even closer to being all-encompassing.
The board of directors is diverse and all deeply involved in the workings of this community of 1,100. Sitting on it, for example, is Mayor Sean Whelly, the newer owners of the Nahanni Inn who rent out the shelter space, and even NWT MP Micheal McLeod's executive assistant. Each has a vested interest in that they want the clients to succeed because when they get well, so too does the community. Addictions and homelessness affect everyone.
They also know this fledgling operation could serve as a model for small communities everywhere in the North if the funding exists. That would ease the pressure on Yellowknife non-governmental organizations and government services and help Yellowknife too. Currently, too many hamlets have nothing for the homeless and those with addictions, and residents do not want to offer couch spaces any more. Thanks to the toxic drug supply, behaviours have become increasingly unpredictable and violent. People no longer feel safe, even in their own homes.
In Fort Simpson, however, many residents have jumped on the rehabilitation band wagon, offering rides, training or jobs, when they can. Thanks to this centre, managed by Pamela Horesay, formerly with the GNWT career development branch, the thrust is to erase the us versus them divide and get everyone back on track.
It is a life-saver for some. Thanks to the efforts of the staff, some homeless individuals who wandered the streets of Yellowknife and even larger centres where they were at even greater risk, are back home working on their healing.
Of course, the centre is not without its critics. While it is located at the far end of main street, it is on main thoroughfare, much to the chagrin of some. But for the most part, locals are glad to see this service SA国际影视传媒� essentially a beacon of hope for the struggling population.
In another Northern town with -40 C winters and the toxic drug supply sometimes drifting in there too, this experiment in shelter housing is a life-saver for everyone. The hope is the territorial government is watching and learning so that more people in more communities could reap the benefits too.
-Nancy Vail is a longtime Yellowknifer concerned with social justice.
