The biggest ally drug consumption site advocates have is silence. Your silence and inaction will be declared as being your agreement to what they have proposed in your neighborhood. It's time to act...
1) Letter WritingMake sure public officials and key decision makers know many people oppose the proposed Boyle Street "Health Hub" location on 81st Ave in Ritchie / Old Strathcona.
YOUR LETTER WILL HAVE IMPACT. Please make sure you send a copy to our email address !! Further down the page are contact email addresses for known key contacts. You could frame your letter in this way:
You may want to highlight some of the primary and common important SCC issues in your letter:
Guidance - On How to Structure your letter Some recent letters: (posted as examples for letter writing) Click on each item to view. Letter to Premier and Ministers outlining possible alternate solutions and locations. (Jan 24/23) Letter from a resident re: Safety Concerns (Jan 21/23) Letter from 81ave business patron to Alberta Ministers and City of Edmonton Councillors (Jan 20/23) Letter to Monique Gervais Timmer Executive Director Licensing and Compliance and Monitoring Branch Alberta Health Services (AHS) Proposed Boyle Street Community Services Supervised Consumption Services including compliance standards and 200M land uses around proposed injection site. (Jan 16/23) Letter to Minister Milliken from Scona Concerned Citizens (SCC) (Jan 15/23) For additional letters please click Here Please write as many letters as you can. One letter can be resent several times. Organizations, key contacts and decision makers are listed below. Please cc [email protected] when you write ! |
2) Sign the PetitionSend a message to our email address if you have paper copies that need to be dropped off or picked up. Thank you!!
Sign Online & Send the Link to Others: Sign & Ask Others to Sign a Hardcopy: Download a copy of our paper petition. petition.pdf Print it, copy it and get as many Albertans' signatures as you can. email for pick-up: [email protected] We need every member of our Scona Concerned Citizens to collect signatures from as many like-minded people as possible. Please personally ask your neighbors, co-workers and friends to sign.
If you can go "door to door", including in your apartment or condominium - please advise us via email so we can coordinate our efforts. PLEASE RAMP UP YOUR EFFORTS NOW TO GET AS MANY ON-LINE OR PAPER SIGNATURES AS POSSIBLE. KEY EVENTS ARE COMING WHERE DEMONSTRATING BROAD OPPOSITION IS KEY. 3) Support Our Cause - Social Media !
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The Minister of Mental Health and Addiction, and the Premier of Alberta are our highest priorities. The Ministry is responsible for license approval to permit illegal drugs to be consumed at the site. The Province is purportedly planning to provide $2.15m per year in operational funding.
The City of Edmonton approved the Boyle Street development permit to convert the Marbles beauty salon to a "health service". City council - including the Mayor and the Counsellor for Old Strathcona supported zoning and related matters enabling the site.
A formal Appeal has been made asking the City of Edmonton Subdivision and Development Appeal Board to overturn the City Development Permit approval. A decision is pending.
The United Conservative Party recently won a majority Provincial government promising to focus on Safe Streets and Compassionate Intervention - to address crime and focus on rehabilitation as opposed to enabling consumption. Quoting the Premier from the UCP platform site: “The answer to addiction and public safety is not more drugs or looking the other way and hoping for the best. It’s stepping forward with compassion, intervention, treatment, and recovery while also having zero tolerance for actual crime.”
Our efforts should therefore focus on the Premier, and the Minister asking them to not approve the "Health Hub" on 81st Avenue as it contradicts their promises and the platform by which they were elected.
Thank you for your ongoing efforts! Alberta has a new Minister of Mental Health and Addictions as well as new policies on the current Opioid Addiction Crisis in Alberta. We are asking members to write a letter to Minister Dan Williams asking his Ministry to reject the application from Boyle Street for the Overdose Prevention Site and to Find a Better Location. Minister Williams can be reached at: [email protected] You are encouraged to send Scona Concerned Citizens a copy of your letter at [email protected]
***(Some points that need to be highlighter to the associated ministers and the City are listed in blue below)***
Scona Concerned Citizens fully supports effective efforts to tackle the opioid crisis in Alberta, and this effort should not come at the expense of neighbourhoods and businesses.
Feel free to copy/paste or write your own letter. Some items you may want to include, could be:
*The Alberta Government’s commitment to a Recovery Oriented System of Care. The MAIN purpose of the site is to provide a space for the injection of drugs. Using Boyle Street’s data from the Edmonton Convention Site, only 0.2 of 1% of visitors to the site accessed a referral to Detox services. 0.4 of 1% of visitors to the site accessed a referral to long-term or traditional housing. This cannot be considered a successful model for accessing recovery oriented supports. Why would the Alberta Government fund a model which clearly is not supporting recovery?
*This statement is also from the Recovery Oriented System of Care document:
"While acute interventions are important and have saved lives, it has come at the expense of supporting the long-term wellness and recovery of individuals, families and communities."
The location of this site will have a major-impact on the long-term wellness of this vibrant, growing community. (Increased crime, debris, loitering, encampments, drug dealers)
*Boyle Street has a requirement to ensure “arrangements are in place for the emergency transfer of clients to a hospital as needed.” At this location, there are no appropriate setbacks for the building to allow transfers to take place. Emergency vehicles will need to park in the middle of the street, blocking vehicles, other business, and impeding the flow of traffic on this vibrant, retail oriented street. Boyle Street must Find a Better Location.
*The Alberta Government’s commitment to creating safer communities. Releasing individuals who have just consumed illegal drugs directly into the community, next to retail stores, daycares, and senior’s housing, does not create a safer community. Appropriate buffers must be in place for this type of site and these do not currently exist with this pedestrian-oriented retail location.
*Reasons this location is inappropriate: the proximity within 500 meters to daycares, senior’s housing, children’s activity locations, residences and businesses without any buffers, congregating areas, or emergency medical services access make this an inappropriate location. The concentration of services in one location: Mustard Seed, sleeping services provided by churches and YESS are all close by and provide some redundant services.
The Development Permit for the location has been rejected at the Municipal level. I encourage the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions to use this time to re-evaluate, withhold funding, and not to approve this location for the Strathcona Health Hub.
Sincerely,
Important letter writing contacts are below:
Below is a list of people who need to hear from you.
GOVERNMENT OF ALBERTA (GoA) *
Premier of Alberta Danielle Smith [email protected]
cc:
Jeremy Hexhan, Executive Assistant to the Premier [email protected]
Marshal Smith, Chief of Staff [email protected]
Mike Ellis, Deputy Premier, [email protected]
and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services
* the Province is providing funding to the Boyle Street Health Hub - purportedly $2.15m/year
Premier of Alberta Danielle Smith [email protected]
cc:
Jeremy Hexhan, Executive Assistant to the Premier [email protected]
Marshal Smith, Chief of Staff [email protected]
Mike Ellis, Deputy Premier, [email protected]
and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services
* the Province is providing funding to the Boyle Street Health Hub - purportedly $2.15m/year
MINISTRY OF MENTAL HEALTH AND ADDICTION
Minister of Mental Health and Addiction Dan Williams [email protected]
cc:
Chief of Staff, Office of Mental Health & Addiction Eric Engler [email protected]
Ministerial Assistant, Mental Health & Addiction Aidan Toal [email protected]
Deputy Minister Evan Romanow [email protected]
Chief of Staff (Deputy Ministers Office) Lindsay Graham 780 819-1669
Issues Manager (Deputy Ministers Office) Stacy Rogan 587 873-5337
* Minister Williams has the responsibility for the Health Hub license and funding approvals
Minister of Mental Health and Addiction Dan Williams [email protected]
cc:
Chief of Staff, Office of Mental Health & Addiction Eric Engler [email protected]
Ministerial Assistant, Mental Health & Addiction Aidan Toal [email protected]
Deputy Minister Evan Romanow [email protected]
Chief of Staff (Deputy Ministers Office) Lindsay Graham 780 819-1669
Issues Manager (Deputy Ministers Office) Stacy Rogan 587 873-5337
* Minister Williams has the responsibility for the Health Hub license and funding approvals
CITY OF EDMONTON
Mayor Amarjeet Sohi https://www.edmonton.ca/city_government/city_organization/mayor/contact-the-mayor
Counsellor of Ward Papastew (our ward) Michael Janz [email protected]
Mayor Amarjeet Sohi https://www.edmonton.ca/city_government/city_organization/mayor/contact-the-mayor
Counsellor of Ward Papastew (our ward) Michael Janz [email protected]
MLA for Edmonton Strathcona Rachel Notley [email protected]