Emergency Shelter Overview On the “Closed” Agenda

Nov 17

In addition to the usual items on the agenda around this time of year such as:

amending the upcoming year utility rate bylaw amendments for electricity and gas,
a delegation from the Medicine Hat Women’s Shelter Society presenting on Family Violence Prevention Month,
council will also be discussing the Emergency Shelter Overview.
This conversation will happen behind closed doors. This has been a concern for members of the public.

2022

The Mustard Seed (Seed) took over running the overnight emergency shelter from the Salvation Army. They wanted to move the overnight shelter closer to their daytime programming in the North Flats but after public outcry in the neighbourhood, they withdrew their application.

After hearing about the withdrawal, council led by Mayor Linnsie Clark directed staff to look at locations for a 24/7 shelter as we are the only city of our size in Alberta to not have one.

The Seed eventually bought the 8th St SE Salvation Army building for the overnight shelter instead of using the location on North Railway.

2024

A meeting was held at the police station with representatives of the Mustard Seed and angry residents ab out the social disorder around the Allowance Avenue site; it did not go well.

Allegations Leveled Against Mustard Seed At Community Meeting

Late in the year, The Seed then applied to add 20 beds to the Allowance Avenue location at the request of the provincial government. The public said no as they had no end of issues around that site ranging from an increase in litter to public drug use and sex acts; residents had a right to be outraged.

Mustard Seed Application To Add 20 Overnight Beds To Allowance Ave Location DENIED

NB - The minister responsible, Jason Nixon, took over the Ministry of Seniors, Community and Social Services which was created for his brother Jeremy Nixon. Their father is Pat Nixon, founder of the Mustard Seed. This seems indicative of a disturbing conflict of interest.

NOW

Two of the three public members on the task force have been elected to council (the third is a former council member), they have been appointed to the task force as council members.

This opens up two spots for members of the public.

None of the nearly 30 task force members appear to have any current lived experience.

At the end of the video below, you can see councillors Dan Reynish, Cheryl Phaff and Yusuf Mohammed walking past.

It took 4 police officers to give Geraldine a $2500 graffiti ticket for the unforgivable crime of chalking on the clock tower at City Hall.

The Owl has photographic evidence of other chalk graffiti on a building in the city that did not garner a ticket.

A lit candle earned a visit from the police.

It was type of candle you would see in a car emergency kit used to help stranded motorists to stay warm.

After she extinguished it in front of the police officer, a fire truck was still called out.

Yes, a fire truck.

The Owl has the recording of the call made to fire services dispatch.

NB Geraldine has now been fined a total of $5250 - she received another graffiti ticket for chalk pus a ticket for erecting a tarp in a park to keep the snow off her while she healed; the land is her medicine.

Even after being fined over $5000, Geraldine had high praise for most of the police officers, it is only a few that have been less than respectful.

three years later and We Are no closer to a 24/7 shelter

The city’s own 2025 Housing Needs Assessment Report paints a picture of a city in the throes of a severe and worsening housing crisis.

Here are some of the most pressing issues.

1 in 5 renter households are in severe core housing need.

The number of households spending over 50% of their income on shelter has skyrocketed.

In 2021, the Affordable Housing deficit was 2350 units; the deficit has only increased since then.

Vacancies are at 1%.

Homeless people are being deemed “unhousable” because they refuse to give up their pets - Medicine Hat Community Housing Society (MHCHS) has a no pets policy - meanwhile, BC Housing has had a pet policy since the late 1980s.

*Source - City of Medicine Hat Housing Needs Assessment*

It also tends to inflame public opinion, directing the anger towards the homeless themselves.

It has been open season on the homeless population for quite some time and this will only make people more emboldened in the attacks on our vulnerable population.

There have been drive by attacks with BB guns on public streets. This outrageous behaviour often goes unreported by the vulnerable population as they fear

Getting fined for trying to survive
Being dismissed by police officers who don't care

The attacks are not limited to drive-bys. The vulnerable have been attacked by people fuelled by alcohol at supervised consumption sites (bars and pubs). Staggering out of the bars at last call, some of the patrons of the supervised alcohol consumption sites decide to entertain themselves by beating up the most vulnerable of our population.

When their makeshift shelters are dismantled, they’re told they can pick up their possessions at the police station - when they arrive to do so, they are often given a violation ticket. Rather than risk being given a fine they cannot afford to pay, they will start all over.

Most of the homeless that the Medicine Hat Owl has spoken with are from here - maybe they went away for a while to go to work or school but they returned back home when things went sideways for them. Maybe they got divorced, maybe they had health issues, maybe they have substance use issues. Yes, some are being transported here - by Correctional Services - to the location of their conviction.

To say that there are busloads of homeless being sent to Medicine Hat - that is a flat out lie. Let’s face it - the services in Medicine Hat are not any better than ones in larger cities. Larger cities often have more to offer.

NB: The Weinie Wednesday Ladies and the Doughnut Lady are included in with the Kookums in the following statements.

While the Kooukms give out food, hugs and hope, the Medicine Hat Police Service gives out violation tickets.

While the Kookums engage with the homeless population, Medicine Hat City Council members walk right past them on the street, not even looking them in the eye.

While the Kooukums are actively getting things done, the City hems and haws and does jurisdictional scans.

Medicine Hat announced an end to chronic homelessness in 2015, in 2021 the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness agreed.

That same year The Mustard Seed opened up its Community Centre in Medicine Hat in the North Flats offering daytime supports including food, clothing, laundry services as well as access to agencies.

(Right now we have 35 emergency shelter beds and over 100 homeless. Shelters are not meant to be a permanent solution, they are meant for emergency use. To reduce the number of homeless, an increase in affordable housing is required.)

Mustard Seed Allowance Avenue location Medicine hat

2023

The Seed again tried to open up the North Railway location (formerly the Champion Centre) as a sober living facility and that was denied upon appeal by the neighbours.

Appeal Filed Opposing Sober Living Facility, Results Expected Wed June 14

The Nitsitapi Kookums group was started. Together with the Weinie Wednesday ladies, they feed lunch to the street people 7 days a week filling a huge gap. The Doughnut Lady has been operating for quite some time as well, distributing baked goods from McBride’s bakery to the street people at the end of the day.

All of these women and the men who help are well respected by the street people.

Medicine Hat Police Station the night of the meeting Oct 8 2024. You can see two officers in the windows on the right in the community boardroom named ***Aahkoinnimaan ni,*** meaning a word that translates as the sacred pipe, a symbol of justice and peace that has a traditional role in the resolution of issues.

2025

The city in its infinite wisdom decided to start up a Resilient and Inclusive Community Task Force to address social disorder earlier this year. Their main task was to find a location for a 24/7 emergency shelter. They kept their deliberations secret from the public as they knew the public would not be happy with any site they selected.

The secrecy did not help.

An attempt to open a 24/7 shelter on Saamis drive at the old union hall was unsuccessful - again, neighbourhood objections caused the Mustard Seed to withdraw their development permit application.

Leader of the Nitsitapi Kookums, Geraldine Lidberg (Stuber) held the second annual 36 hour homeless challenge outside of City Hall from Nov 7-13 2025. (It was extended after they were shot at with a BB gun which triggered the PTSD of a veteran; Geraldine pivoted and it became a healing lodge for the rest of the seven days that they were there.)

Geraldine said that not one of the current council members stopped to talk with them at all, even the ones who passed them on their way to the Remembrance Day Ceremonies last Tuesday. Council also had an opportunity to speak with the people before or after the Nov 10 council meeting - nothing. Council could have learned something by speaking with people with current lived experience who were literally right outside the building. Instead, Geraldine and the other advocates for the homeless were harassed by members of the public.

There was no drug use, no alcohol use, no disorderly behaviour and they left the area in such good condition, you could not tell that anybody had been there.

The first of two tickets for graffiti - the medium used was chalk. Other incidents of chalk graffiti on buildings in the city this year did not result in tickets.

Rents have skyrocketed with one company owning a majority of the rental units in the city.

There is an atmosphere of fear; renters fear to complain about living conditions lest they get blackballed or forced to move out if the dwelling unit is condemned.

What is quite disturbing is how this report manages to perpetuate a convenient and persistent myth.

The Housing Needs Assessment suggests that the increase in people experiencing chronic homelessness are partly due to an "influx of vulnerable populations" from other jurisdictions.

This tired narrative—that our homeless population is imported from elsewhere—allows the city to deflect responsibility onto outsiders, rather than confronting the uncomfortable truth that our housing crisis is homegrown, fueled by a lack of affordable units and inadequate incomes for our own residents.

*Medicine Hat Police Service Facebook post, posted weeks after the attack. Please contact police if you have any information about this truck used in the crime.*

The City’s communication department has been silent on this matter as has the new council.

Rather than approaching the situation head-on, the City chooses to do their work in secret behind closed doors.

While social media is rife with people saying that homeless people are all thieves, drug addicts and a detriment to society who deserve to get assaulted, the silence from the City is deafening.

Instead, the City publishes a document that promotes the misconception that the blame lies on the outsiders coming here.

Last week the Owl emailed all 9 council members and asked about the events outside City Hall; we have received no response from anybody, not even an auto-reply.

Recap

Not enough shelter beds

Not enough affordable housing

Attacks on the vulnerable

Lack of city communication

A city report blaming outsiders

People being deemed “unhouseable” because they refuse to surrender their pets

People potentially going to ”Debtor’s Prison” because they cannot pay their fines

The Blackfoot as well as many other indigenous cultures have a concept of “All My Relations”. Everyone is considered to be family and everything is connected - the animals, the plants, the earth, the sky, etc.

If the City of Medicine Hat really wants to engage in Truth and Reconciliation then engaging with the Kookums and the other people bringing hope and food to the street people is good place to start. They could learn a lot from them including how to get things done.

It’s been over three years; it is time to try something different.

It is time for a Made in Medicine Hat solution.