IH will not cut off food

Regional directors suggest sanctioning charitable aid

Some local politicians believe they may have found the answer to driving the homeless from downtown Penticton.

Presenting at the Regional District of the Okanagan-Similkameen’s meeting on Thursday, directors Judy Sentes and Michael Brydon suggested using Interior Health to stop individuals who feed the homeless once a week.

Sentes and Brydon both also sit on the Okanagan-Similkameen Regional Health District board. The OSRHD, they said, has two opportunities a year to address Interior Health and discuss health-related concerns. They are to meet with IH on Oct. 31. Sentes told their fellow regional directors that the OSRHD plans to tackle the issues of needles and the homeless population in downtown Penticton.

“One night a week, a group of well-intentioned people are bringing prepared food down to the middle of our downtown area. That has caused concerns about safety.

“So the issue is, where is IHA’s food control?” Sentes asked.

“This food is really necessary in a lot of ways,” countered director Helena Konanz, who expressed concerns about involving the IH and stopping the group. “I’m worried that these people won’t get the nourishment or food that they need.”

Mayor Andrew Jakubeit also argued it’s better to provide the homeless people food than have those people digging through the trash to eat.

Director Toni Boot also sought clarification on the OSRHD’s intentions, asking if the concern was really about food preparation and distribution safety, or about community safety.

Sentes said the OSRHD’s hope is IH will intervene to use the “safety of the food as a mechanism to get to the fact that it’s drawing people into our downtown core and creating an issue.”

“We’re trying to use food safety as an excuse to limit this,” added Brydon.

In a statement issued after the meeting, IH’s director of environmental public health shot down the idea.

“I can say definitively that Interior Health would not proactively target individuals providing food to the homeless,” said Courtney Hesketh.

“It is not our role and that is not the intent of the Food Premises Regulations.”

The OSRHD also intends to address IH about the harm reduction kits it provides to drug users.

The kits include needles, which Sentes says is contributing to the problem of used needles on the ground.

Jakubeit said the OSRHD consider a program where, rather than giving out needles each day, they should be given out only when a user brings dirty ones in for disposal.

“There has to be some kind of accountability … then users are more likely to collect themselves,” he said.

Sentes also suggested retractable needles. Although more expensive, she said it could solve the problem of used needles accidentally pricking people.