Chance for public to speak up
City to host public sessions to help form drug strategy
The public will soon have their voices heard by city council in relation to the ongoing drug crisis in the city. And they want to hear your constructive solutions. On Monday, Lethbridge Mayor Chris Spearman, alongside Coun. Rob Miyashiro and Coun. Blaine Hyggen, announced that four facilitated sessions will be held on Oct. 10 and Oct. 11. The consultation sessions will allow the public full opportunity to share their perspectives and collaborate on solutions that would form part of a community-based drug strategy.
Stakeholders, business people and any other interested community members can discuss how the drug crisis is affecting them and share ideas on how to deal with negative effects.
“Today is an important day for our community as we move forward and reach out to our residents to help us find positive community-driven solutions to our current drug crisis,” Spearman said Monday during an announcement at city hall.
“We hear you loud and clear. You love Lethbridge, you have invested your time, your energy and hard-earned money to live here. You want to keep it beautiful and safe for your family and friends and for our future generations. As your Lethbridge city council, we want exactly the same things. This drug crisis is troubling, it’s frustrating and it’s sometimes outright maddening. We don’t have all the answers, but we know our community does. This will be public led.”
The sessions, each to be held at the Sandman Signature Lethbridge Lodge, will comprise the first of three phases of consultation.
They will take place on Oct. 10 from 1-3:30 p.m., or 5:30-8 p.m., and on Oct. 11 at the same times.
Each session will have space for up to 80 participants, while additional sessions may be added if required.
“It’s time,” Hyggen said. “It’s exciting to see we are finally making this move. I’m happy it’s finally here.”
“We are not solving the drug crisis,” Miyashiro said. “What we are doing is to deal with the peripheral issues around the drug crisis in Lethbridge: how do we deal with loitering; how do we deal with debris across the city; and how do we deal with the crime associated with the drug crisis?”
Phase 1 of the consultation process will produce a “What We Heard” report. That report will inform Phase 2 consultations, which will involve a two-day community strategy session later in October with up to 40 targeted stakeholders such as EMS, business people, social service providers, police, housing agencies, and harm reduction service providers.
The Phase 2 consultations will identify desired responses to the drug crisis, any barriers to implementing those responses, and help produce the elements to draft community-based drug strategy.
Phase 3 consultations in early November will include a working group of representatives from key organizations and agencies in Lethbridge who will develop an action plan and draft terms of reference for the council-appointed committee. The terms of reference will require approval by city council.
“We need solutions that respect the range of interests that exist and meaningfully address the difficulties our community is facing because of this crisis,” Spearman said. “Together we will develop a solutions-based substance-abuse strategy that will be created by the community, driven by the community and delivered by the community in partnership with the responsible levels of government and service providers.”
On Aug. 7, city council voted to hold community consultation sessions aimed at tackling issues arising from the drug crisis. Council also voted to establish a special ad hoc committee as soon as possible to address the challenges facing residents, businesses and others in Lethbridge because of the opioid crisis.
“We need to hear from you — all of you,” Spearman said. “Lethbridge is your city and we want to hear from you. It’s important we get the community voice and we do it in an open and transparent way. There’s a lot of information out there on social media, and really, none of that stuff is helping us solve this. It’s creating controversy. What we need to have is face-to-face conversations. We need people to come forward with constructive ideas.”