$7.5M approved for new west Edmonton shelter; Sohi asks for more housing from the province
$7.5M approved for new west Edmonton shelter; Sohi asks for more housing from the province
By a unanimous vote, Edmonton councillors decided Wednesday to dip into city savings to open a new emergency shelter in a west end hotel.
The motion that passed 13-0, also included the grim news that at least five unhoused people have recently died in encampments or on city streets, according to firefighters and police.
"This is a very short term intervention to get us through this cold winter, and my hope is that we will meet with the province immediately to fill the gaps, but also talk about long term strategy," Mayor Amarjeet Sohi told reporters.
It will take about a month to transform the Bedfort Hotel and Suites on Stony Plain Road and 155 Street into a 24-hour, 200 bed, respite from the cold.
The $7.5 million price tag includes set-up costs, around-the-clock security, food, overdose response, a health centre and outreach services.
It will be operated by the Jasper Place Wellness Centre and includes a partnership with the Tallcree First Nation.
Housing and homelessness is provincial jurisdiction. Sohi met with ministers Jeremy Nixon and Rebecca Schulz last week to discuss a long-term plan.
The province announced last month a total of $187 million for addiction and homelessness programs, including 450 more shelter spaces planned for Edmonton.
In a statement provided Wednesday night, Nixon said he was also working to open "as many as 150 more spaces in the near future."
“These proactive steps show that addressing this issue is a priority for our government, and we will do whatever it takes to keep people safe and warm," he wrote.
"I am confident that if we continue in a partnership with the City of Edmonton, not only will we be able to address concerns for this winter, but also come up with long-term solutions in helping people overcome homelessness.”
The city says there are currently more than 2,750 unhoused Edmontonians and more than 1,250 of those people are sleeping in shelters or outside.
The mayor wants Alberta to fund 1250 permanent shelter spaces and build 500 supportive housing units as well as roughly 100 transitional homes.
Finance Minister Travis Toews said last week that more funding for homelessness in Edmonton might be coming in February's provincial budget.
With files from CTV News Edmonton's Jeremy Thompson
W5 goes deep into the narco heartland to interview a commander with one of Mexico's most brutal cartels. W5's documentary 'Narco Avocados' airs Saturday at 7 pm on CTV.
Memphis authorities released video footage Friday showing Tyre Nichols being beaten by police officers who held the Black motorist down and repeatedly struck him with their fists, boots and batons as he screamed for his mother and pleaded, ''I'm just trying to go home.'
When selling a home, Canadians may be exempted from paying capital gains tax on a residential property -- if it's their principal residence. On CTVNews.ca, personal finance contributor Christopher Liew explains what's determined as a principal residence, and what properties are eligible for the exemption.
Aryna Sabalenka, a 24-year-old from Belarus, who won her first Grand Slam title by coming back to beat Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 at Melbourne Park on Saturday night, using 17 aces among her 51 total winners to overcome seven double-faults.
With a deal under negotiation between Ottawa and provinces, and premiers invited to a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in early February, the issue remains one where the Tory leader's position appears somewhat murky, including to some inside his own party.
A Palestinian gunman opened fire outside an east Jerusalem synagogue Friday night, killing seven people, including a 70-year-old woman, and wounding three others before he was shot and killed by police, officials said.
The head of the Canada Revenue Agency says it 'wouldn't be worth the effort' to fully review $15.5 billion in potentially ineligible pandemic wage benefit payments flagged by Canada's Auditor General.
Using phones and tablets to communicate in encrypted chatrooms, a rapidly growing group of U.S. and allied troops and contractors are providing real-time maintenance advice -- usually speaking through interpreters -- to Ukrainian troops on the battlefield.
Tyler Toffoli and the Calgary Flames rebounded from one of their ugliest losses of the season and picked up an important two points in the Pacific Division before starting the All-Star break.
Upward of five centimetres of snow fell in Calgary early Friday morning and officials said conditions were good, but the situation deteriorated later on Friday, leading to plenty of crashes and road closures.
Aryna Sabalenka, a 24-year-old from Belarus, who won her first Grand Slam title by coming back to beat Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 at Melbourne Park on Saturday night, using 17 aces among her 51 total winners to overcome seven double-faults.
Sixteen Scottish curlers and 16 Canadians squared off against each other Friday morning as part of the 2023 Strathcona Cup, a tournament taking place across Canada.
A Saskatchewan man who had his charges stayed based on pandemic delays in court will be headed back for trial, after a ruling from the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal.
Three downtown business organizations are advocating for the City of Regina to locate a new multi-purpose events centre and central library branch in the downtown core.
The Halifax Thunderbirds hosted its annual Every Child Matters night Friday, which included a pre-game ceremony to draw attention to and honour the victims and survivors of Canada’s residential school system.
Record collectors in Newfoundland will have a chance Saturday to paw through selections from the vast vinyl library belonging to 98-year-old radio station VOWR.
The transformation of a house in downtown Toronto – from a multi-unit with below market rent to a luxury single-family home – is not an anomaly. But rather, housing and legal experts say it is emblematic of why a housing crisis continues to grip the city.
While the deadline to file your taxes is months away, there are some personal tax credits Ontarians may qualify for that require some time pilfering through receipts to get them.
On Jan. 29, 2017, six men were killed and five others injured shortly after evening prayer at the Quebec City Islamic Cultural Centre. Montrealers gathered Friday to commemorate the victims and call for action amid a rise in hate crimes.
In an emotional and powerful speech at an International Holocaust Remembrance Day event in Ottawa, a survivor stressed the importance of remembering the millions of victims murdered by the Nazis during the Second World War and underscored the need to stand up against anti-semitism and hate.
The Francois Legault government announced the formation of an interdepartmental 'action group' on the French language to find ways to halt the 'decline' of the language in Quebec.
The Parliamentary Protective Service says it expects as many as 500 people to gather on Parliament Hill for an event this weekend to mark the one-year anniversary since the start of the 'Freedom Convoy' protest.
Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) shut down a section of a Perth County roadway Friday after they say a passerby discovered a body in the area overnight.
A Kitchener elementary school is responding to reports of a suspicious man who appeared to be watching or following students on two separate occasions.
The manager of a Tim Hortons in North Bay was wrong to fire a long-term employee because of her physical limitations, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario has ruled.
W5 goes deep into the narco heartland to interview a commander with one of Mexico's most brutal cartels. W5's documentary 'Narco Avocados' airs Saturday at 7 pm on CTV.
The chief of the Williams Lake First Nation says he would support excavating possible unmarked graves at the site of the former St. Joseph's Mission residential school if that's what elders and the community decide is best.
A review has been launched after police officers were recorded restraining a handcuffed Indigenous child on the floor of a Vancouver hospital – an incident the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs has denounced as "horrendous."
The chief of the Williams Lake First Nation says he would support excavating possible unmarked graves at the site of the former St. Joseph's Mission residential school if that's what elders and the community decide is best.
