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City’s eviction adds further strain to services

A letter to the editor from Lorraine Dick.
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Editor, the Gazette:

I would like to address this message to City Hall regarding the dozen or so letters they received this past summer complaining about the tent community occupying the land near Whispers of Hope.

Those letter writers had every right to ask City Hall to do something about a growing problem of campers along the river behind Whispers. Unfortunately, City Hall decided that the best course of action was to evict Whispers.

However, this action only increases hardship on the homeless folks (among others who to dine at Whispers to make ends meet) and puts even more strain on the volunteers that serve the vulnerable. Unlike City Hall with their knee jerk reaction to a problem that is affecting all of Canada, the volunteers of Grand Forks will continue to find ways to help the vulnerable.

The best thing our City Hall could do right now is to rescind their eviction notice and work with BETHS, Whispers, Housing First, Boundary Women’s Coalition and other groups in town to find suitable temporary housing for the winter and a more permanent solution in the spring. Since this is a national crisis, please don’t feel you have to solve this problem alone.

Lorraine Dick

Grand Forks