The Research Project

2007-06-05: Edmonton, AB

The Prairies

We went directly from the airport to a meeting with Marliss Taylor and Rosemary Fayant and the staff of Streetworks. I had always thought that Streetworks was a program of Boyle Street Community Services, but Marliss corrected me on this. Streetworks is a non-profit program, run by a group of agencies called the Council. Boyle Street is one of Streetworks five sites, and is the banker agency for the program. In fact, HIV Edmonton, which has another one of Streetworks’ needle exchange sites, is the Chair and Marliss's boss. The only site we visited, however, was the one at Boyle Street ... our loss!

Boyle Street Community Services describes itself as "a unique place where people get down to earth help that works. The reason is simple - the programs meet individual and community needs by building on the strengths of people in a holistic and practical way." They house a number of programs, including Streetworks, They include adult outreach, family support, youth services, mental health support, housing support and a drop in activity centre. "Respect for self and others are key ingredients for a healthy life. Everyone who comes into contact with Boyle Street Services is treated respectfully and is expected to treat others that way."

Many of the homeless people in Edmonton are Aboriginals, and Boyle Street's site reflects this. There is a great deal of Aboriginal art, much of it created with input from program participants, and Aboriginal values inform the service philosophy. Hope Hunter, Boyle Street's director, discussed with us the concept of extended family has impacted the development and operation of the agency. And how important respect is to Boyle Street's acceptance and success in the Aboriginal community .

Anyway ... back to Streetworks.

Streetworks is a harm reduction program and is responsible to a number of agencies in Edmonton, which gives holistic support for its holistic services. Founded in 1989 as Needleworks, its focus was essentially on needle exchange. Over the years, it became obvious to the outreach staff that "it was not just about drugs" and that the people they were seeing needed a very broad, comprehensive range of services. In 1995, nurses were brought on to the team and the program changed its name to Streetworks.

Streetworks is the embodiment of comprehensive harm reduction practice. It is community-based, user-driven, non-judgmental and broad-based in that it addresses both basic needs and the systems which isolate, alienate and marginalise people. It recognises that quitting drugs may not be realistic or desirable for everyone. It is a dynamic program which involves those who access its services in the planning and operation. The team includes nurses and community workers and a staff physician. There is a very busy drop-in, comfortable and chaotic, and an outreach van which goes out at various times of the day - including early mornings. Streetworks has a highly actualised client centred approach and have produced a variety of excellent printed booklets and a video on Hep C.

Streetworks recognises that people have inherent strengths and skills, which make them natural helpers. It draws on these strengths and on the values of people living in its community, identifies and supports these "natural helpers", and assists them in building their knowledge and employing their skills as volunteer and paid workers.

Streetworks has the only overdose program in Canada which trains people currently using drugs to administer Narcan to people who overdose on opiates. So far the workers have made nine "saves". The program is a pilot project with a research component. It ends in June. (Will this be another incident of "death by pilot", when a program proves is success and is then forced to close for lack of funding?) Overdose programs of this sort run successfully in numerous cities in the US, where they are NOT pilot projects.

Later, Geoffrey took us on a ride-about, visiting various agencies (needle exchange sites and the Boyle Macaulay Health Centre among others) and "locations of interest" - rooming house neighbourhoods, laneways, etc. The stroll and drug-use areas are extensive, with no central scene. He told us about the unaddressed basic needs of homeless and needy people in Edmonton, washrooms, for example, most of which are off limits. A place to sit and rest. There are very high fines for loitering, jay walking, urinating "in public". There are few places to escape summer heat or winter cold, both of which can be extreme. There is an extensive underground passageway near city hall; but if a homeless person stops for a moment, she/he is subject to arrest for loitering. If they can afford it, they can ride back and forth on the subway, but only for 90 minutes - the time limit of a ticket. People who are poor feel like they are under constant surveillance.

The impact of the economic boom in Alberta is huge. So much new money, so many new jobs! The population is rapidly expanding - faster than housing is being provided; and in Edmonton, as in other parts of the province, places to live are in short supply and increasingly expensive. Transient workers - newcomers to the city who cannot find market housing - take priority in shelters/hostels. Traditional homeless residents are lower priority and are out on the street more. Winter and summer, there are people camping in tents along the river valley, which is illegal, and they are often driven away by the park rangers. The more visible the homeless people are, the more harassed they are and the more at risk. Services face rising demands, and funding has not kept up with the increased needs.

We held a focus group in the Boyle Street Community Services building. One participant had attended the International Harm Reduction Conference in Vancouver last year, and several had attended one or more of Alberta's provincial Harm Reduction Conferences. Probably it is because of this there was a greater awareness among participants in this focus group of the relationship between drug laws and the health and well being of people using drugs.

-- Walter

note: Since we left Edmonton I have seen a couple of interesting news items in the Globe & Mail First, it seems that there are now approximately 2,600 homeless people in Edmonton. A minister (of the church, not the government) suggested that they be allowed to camp in the parks. Not bloody likely, I would guess, But at least someone is thinking out loud about a way to resolve the issue.

Another item: Edmonton has noticed that some citizens are urinating in public (laneways?) after the bars close. The City acknowledges that they are normal people with normal needs and apparently is considering the installation of some public urinals - but only in the entertainment district. Clearly, there are some scofflaws that Edmonton would not like to drive away, and some that it would. Or is it that homeless people do not have the right to have natural urges or, if they do, must learn to control them indefinitely?

- Walter