Province probes homeless men’s trip

Saskatchewan shelter gave them bus tickets to B.C.

SASKATOON • The Saskatchewan government is reviewing whether rules were followed when a social services worker gave two homeless men one-way bus tickets to British Columbia from North Battleford.

Saskatchewan Party candidate Donna Harpauer, who was the minister of social services before the election was called, said in a statement Wednesday the ministry should provide transportation to clients only when a case plan is established by workers and clients.

She said deputy minister Greg Miller is looking into whether this happened on Tuesday, when 21- year- old Jeremy Roy and 23-year-old Charles Curly were given bus tickets to Vancouver and Victoria. According to Harpauer, Miller “will be reminding front-line workers that clients should have a plan in place before they are given bus tickets for destinations away.”

Caitlin Glencross, head of the Lighthouse homeless shelter in North Battleford, said she didn’t believe plans were in place for the two men, who had been staying at the shelter for months.

She was particularly worried about Roy — who has mental health problems — and has never left the province and didn’t know where he would get his medications.

A client at the shelter got a message Wednesday from a person who identified himself as Roy and said he was lost in Alberta after the bus left without him, she said. But Roy is now apparently back on the bus and outreach workers are waiting for the pair’s arrival out West.

At a campaign event in Regina, Saskatchewan Party Leader Brad Wall, seeking re- election as premier, said it’s up to social workers to decide whether to give their clients bus tickets.

“This is not a political thing. We’re having to trust officials that all of the proper processes have been followed, and I certainly hope that’s the case,” he told reporters.

Kerry Jang, a Vancouver city councillor and homelessness advocate, said he was “just tearful” when he heard the two men had been put on a bus to British Columbia.

“I just put myself in those guys’ shoes and I just said, ‘Oh my God.’ If I had mental health issues, no money, no nothing, no supports, put on the bus into the great abyss. Wow. That’s just inhumane.”

Many in Vancouver who have heard the story are reacting with compassion, not anger, Jang said.

“If they come here, we’ll take care of them because we’re not Brad Wall.”

Jang said the plight of the two men highlights the “antiquated and ancient” system Saskatchewan uses to fund its emergency shelters. Shelters receive the bulk of their funding through emergency shelter per- diems, which the Ministry of Social Services pays to the shelters for every night eligible people stay there.

Neither Roy nor Curly were eligible for emergency shelter per-diems; they were staying at the North Battlefords Lighthouse without funding. The shelter could close this spring because of a recent reduction in the number of people the province funds to stay there.

In Vancouver, shelters receive core funding, regardless of who stays there — a practice that should be adopted in Saskatchewan, Jang said.

B. C. Housing Minister Rich Coleman said he was trying to stay out of Saskatchewan’s politics and would not reach out to Wall to discuss the issue because of the provincial election.

“They are in a writ period out there, so I don’t know what the politics around the story or whatever the case may be,” Coleman said.

IF THEY COME HERE, WE’LL TAKE CARE OF THEM.