City taking leadership role provincially in opioid crisis, says Spearman
MAYOR HAS WARNING FOR PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT
Mayor Chris Spearman answered critics on Monday that city council is not doing enough to combat the drug crisis and to address the negative spin-offs that come along with it.
Spearman pointed to the City’s leadership efforts at the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association meeting in September to get the province onside for more funding for safe sobering facilities, detox beds and permanent supportive housing, and the City’s advocacy among other small- and mid-sized cities in Alberta to make a common cause to pressure the federal government to act on providing greater sentencing and enforcement tools for drug crimes.
“If you don’t try, you don’t get,” said Spearman. “People are saying in the city of Lethbridge, ‘Where’s the leadership?’ We’re the city that is providing the provincial leadership asking for help in the enforcement area, and then we are advocating for ourself in terms of the health needs.”
Spearman issued a warning to the provincial government that its window might be closing to act and support cities like Lethbridge who are asking for help.
“This is the time where we have to see if this (Alberta) government is going to support its cities or not,” Spearman said. “There is a provincial election coming up, that’s the reality. If we don’t get (these supports we need) in this window, there will be elections. Who knows what will happen in terms of the government’s return to focus on issues that are important to the people of Alberta and the City of Lethbridge?”
Spearman said part of what the City is asking for from the federal government is changes to the law to allow for stiffer sentences for drug trafficking, and the legal permission for police officers, or other local social agencies, to forcibly transport drug addicts to safe sobering sites if they refuse to go themselves— a position which may be constitutionally problematic in Canada.
“Maybe we need stronger bylaws, but certainly we need the ability to transport people who are visibly under the influence,” stated Spearman. “We have to make sure we are pursuing them, and they are receiving the medical care they need. We want to make sure if people are saying ‘No, I don’t want to go,’ that we are not just accepting that at face value and leaving them out to be a nuisance to businesses in the city, and a threat to safety in the community.”
Spearman also said a request had been made by the City for a special federal Crown prosecutor to be assigned to the Lethbridge region to deal exclusively with drug crimes. The recommendations for a special Crown, ability to transport and tougher drug trafficking laws came from concerns raised by Lethbridge Police Chief Rob Davis at the Oct. 1 public hearing of the Community Issues Committee, said Spearman.
“So the three requests from our police chief have been acted on, and we have allies across the province, other mayors, prepared to sign similar letters so we can request that,” said Spearman. “The City of Lethbridge is, of course, going to write its own letters, but I think a letter landing on a minister’s desk with the signatures of 22 mayors on it is going to have a big impact. If we can get the big-city mayors also on board, and both Mayor Iverson and Mayor Nenshi have told me if the police chiefs are on board, then they are on board, too, that’s the next step.”