'It's insulting': Advocates, vulnerable population, denounce decentralization in Moncton, N.B.
'It's insulting': Advocates, vulnerable population, denounce decentralization in Moncton, N.B.
The Humanity Project on St. George Street in downtown Moncton, N.B. (Derek Haggett/CTV)
Trevor Goodwin has been helping Moncton, N.B.’s, vulnerable population for almost his entire adult life.
The senior director of outreach services at the YMCA of Greater Moncton doesn't think the idea of decentralizing services for the homeless from the heart of the city to an industrial park is fair.
“It's punishing them really, saying, 'Well, you're homeless. You don't deserve to have a sense of community. You don't deserve to be in our downtown,’” said Goodwin.
Last week, downtown business owner Thierry Le Bouthillier told CTV News he's been a victim of crime numerous times over the years.
“The downtown core is our livelihood, it's the heartbeat of our city,” said Le Bouthillier on Friday. “We need to remove these services right in our downtown and to relocate them into a more appropriate area.”
He and other business owners believe the city would be better off if homeless services were located away from the downtown in an industrial zone.
That doesn’t make sense to Goodwin who said services like soup kitchens, shelters, churches, the YMCA and other services are all ingrained in the downtown.
While he’s open to any suggestions or ideas about what to do with the city’s homelessness crisis, those ideas need to be well thought out.
“I truly don’t feel that trying to decentralize a population from an environment that they’re so heavily ingrained in and a part of is, not only is it best practice, but it doesn’t have the interests of everyone at heart,” said Goodwin. “It seems to be coming from more of a business standpoint. Individuals looking out for themselves.”
Goodwin believes if the vulnerable population is moved away from downtown, they’ll just simply return when they want.
Mickey Maguire is currently staying at one of the city's four homeless shelters, but he hopes to be in an affordable housing unit in a week or so.
He vehemently disagrees with the idea of decentralization and doesn’t support the idea of the Moncton businessman in any way.
“It's insulting, degrading, dehumanizing -- prejudice beyond anything. I would like them to personally have nothing for just one week. Be put out in the streets, in the elements, whether it's winter or not, with nothing,” said Maguire.
Debby Warren, the executive director of ensemble, a drug overdose prevention site, says drug users will come back to the downtown core even if the services are elsewhere.
“I understand people don’t want to see it, don’t want it to exist, but it does,” said Warren.
Warren doesn’t think anything would change if services were moved to an industrial park.
“You’ll still have addictions disorders without treatment, without adequate accommodations. They’ll still need to find a source for their unsafe supply. So they still will come back,” said Warren.
“Sweeping it under the carpet, so to speak, by moving us to an industrial park won't work. This is their community too. And I know they say we want to take back our community, but it's a collective community.”
Warren suggests if any downtown business owners are dealing with reoccurring crime or drug use on their premises they should advocate toward the provincial government and not Moncton City Hall.
“City hall is doing their best and they hear it and they feel it. We all feel it,” she said.
CTV News reached out to the City of Moncton for comment on Monday, but no one was available.
Donald Trump said Thursday that he has been indicted on charges of mishandling classified documents at his Florida estate, igniting a federal prosecution that is arguably the most perilous of multiple legal threats against the former U.S. president as he seeks to reclaim the White House.
The Supreme Court of Canada will not hear the appeal of an Alberta woman who was unwilling to be vaccinated in order to get a life-saving organ transplant.
What happens to the brain when you take gravity away? According to a new study looking at astronauts both before and after space travel, that experience causes physical changes that researchers believe requires at least three years between longer missions to recover from.
As wildfires rage across Canada in what’s being called an unprecedented season, one expert says there’s more that individuals and communities can do to adapt and prevent forest fires from causing widespread devastation.
Rescuers in Washington state are praising the resourcefulness of a 10-year-old girl who survived on her own for more than 24 hours in the rugged terrain of the Cascade mountains after getting lost while out with her family.
Air pollution from wildfires remained well above healthy levels across much of southern and northern Ontario and several communities in British Columbia and Alberta on Thursday.
Video has surfaced showing a Mississauga, Ont. transit bus plowing into stopped traffic in a crash that left one person dead and at least eight injured on Thursday morning.
Quebec's precarious wildfire situation is expected to remain stable over the next 48 hours but residents displaced by the raging forest fires likely won't be able to return home until early next week, Premier Francois Legault said Thursday.
An Ontario man charged Wednesday with first-degree murder in the death of Claudia Iacono, the daughter-in-law of the late Montreal Mafia associate Moreno Gallo, was arrested the day after the killing in Ontario on unrelated drug charges, public records show.
Donald Trump said Thursday that he has been indicted on charges of mishandling classified documents at his Florida estate, igniting a federal prosecution that is arguably the most perilous of multiple legal threats against the former U.S. president as he seeks to reclaim the White House.
A $100 million class action lawsuit launched on behalf of alleged victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy on Manitoulin Island has been abandoned after the victims reached individual settlements with the church.
Donald Trump said Thursday that he has been indicted on charges of mishandling classified documents at his Florida estate, igniting a federal prosecution that is arguably the most perilous of multiple legal threats against the former U.S. president as he seeks to reclaim the White House.
In the summer of 2022, London, Ont. barber and business owner Eddie Lopez suffered a brain aneurysm, heart attack, stroke, and seizure. He remains in hospital to this day.
Two years after two statues were knocked down and damaged at the Manitoba Legislature, one is now back up and Indigenous leaders are upset by the decision.
As interest rates continue to rise, the cost of buying a house in Ottawa and across Canada is becoming more expensive. Many homeowners are now forced to extend their mortgage payments.
A man who killed his ex-wife’s cousin will spend life in prison with no chance of parole for 15 years, a judge decided on Thursday at Saskatoon’s Court of King’s Bench.
Tumbler Ridge, a community with a population of 2,400 in northeastern B.C., has been ordered to evacuate Thursday due to the danger posed by an encroaching wildfire.
A day after the NDP government presented its 30-point plan to address the crisis at Surrey Memorial Hospital, the official Opposition is pledging to build a tower, while acknowledging their role in the situation.
Regina's mayor says the city's fire department had growing concerns about the health, safety and well-being of those living in a homeless camp that was dismantled on Wednesday morning.
The mayor of Port Alberni says she does not expect the highway to reopen for several days at least, and she is asking the province to open more forestry roads to truck in much-needed supplies to communities west of the wildfire.
The Humanity Project on St. George Street in downtown Moncton, N.B. (Derek Haggett/CTV)
