Uncertainty continues to surround the funding situation for The Lighthouse Serving the Battlefords.
Still, officials with the City of North Battleford expressed cautious optimism at Monday night’s council meeting that a resolution will ultimately be found for the well-publicized funding issues of the organization.
In particular, local officials have been stepping up their calls for some sort of secure core funding from other levels of government – something not in place at the moment.
Last month, North Battleford’s community safety coordinator Herb Sutton had told council The Lighthouse faced a 50 per cent shortfall, after Social Services had informed The Lighthouse that a number of clients would no longer be funded by the agency.
Since then, the scramble has been on to address the funding shortfall and keep the Lighthouse open. In January, Battlefords Agency Tribal Chiefs Community Development Corporation stepped up to the plate with funds to keep the Lighthouse operating until the end of March.
Most recently, The Lighthouse held a successful Coldest Night of the Year fundraiser event on Saturday night.
That raised upwards of $30,000, according to Herb Sutton’s report to council at their meeting Monday night.
City council also stepped up Monday with a matching contribution of $25,000. Revenue was found from municipal operating grant funds to cover that contribution, and once again was designed to address the funding shortfall.
The resolution was approved unanimously, but not before there was grousing by councillors about a lack of support from other levels of government.
“I think it’s more a provincial or federal mandate,” said Councillor Greg Lightfoot. He said he hoped “people in the community understand our frustration with how it’s being dealt with.”
Lightfoot wanted to see the federal and provincial government come up with core funding. Councillor Ryan Bater agreed, making clear he thought funding The Lighthouse was a provincial responsibility.
“Saskatchewan, I believe, is the only province in Canada where there is not core funding at the moment to shelters, which is something that’s a little bit shocking to me,” he said.
Right now, Social Services funds clients at the North Battleford Lighthouse on an individual, per diem basis.
Mayor Hamilton shed some light on some of the discussions going on behind the scenes with other levels of government regarding core funding.
“I have in fact had … some promising conversations with ministries, officials, ministers, cabinet ministers and their assistants over the last number of days and over the last weeks. I’m very confident these situations are being taken very, very seriously by those who are going to be making these decisions.”
The mayor called the meetings “very productive” and expressed confidence something would come in the “coming months – it’s not going to be tomorrow.”
It had been a tumultuous last few days on the whole funding issue, as news reports have flooded the media over the funding woes impacting the entire Lighthouse operation in both North Battleford and in Saskatoon.
A full-blown political uproar erupted last week on the issue. The opposition New Democrats pounced after reports surfaced in the media that The Lighthouse had been hard hit by provincial funding cuts.
Opposition leader Cam Broten denounced the “cuts” in a media scrum with reporters last week, blaming the provincial government for the situation. As well, Battlefords NDP Candidate Rob Feist said in a phone interview with the News-Optimist that the future of The Lighthouse Serving the Battlefords was being put in jeopardy.
“The Lighthouse is set to close at the end of March 2016 and that’s going to be a huge, just a crushing blow to the community,” said Feist. “It’s something New Democrats, not just here but across the province, are taking very seriously.”
As for what caused the shortfall, Feist said it was due to the province “changing the definition of who is homeless and who is fundable.”
In response to the opposition criticism, provincial social services minister Donna Harpauer had gone on the Brent Loucks morning show on CKOM last Wednesday morning. In that interview, Harpauer denied her ministry had cut any funding to The Lighthouse at all.
She told Loucks that statements made about a change of criteria were “just not true.”
What is not in dispute is that The Lighthouse in North Battleford has faced a significant budget shortfall. BATC CDC funding addressed the immediate crisis but is still only a temporary fix.
On Monday, Sutton submitted his February 2016 report updating council on the ongoing situation. In that written report he noted funding for North Battleford Lighthouse was “still not secure.”
Sutton stated “reports from Saskatoon suggest that the Ministry of Social Services has intervened with some funding, and more importantly with a commitment to look for long term, sustainable solutions for the resource issue.”
But based on conversations with the manager of the North Battleford Lighthouse, Caitlin Glencross, last week, Sutton’s report stated none of that funding provided in Saskatoon was earmarked for the Battlefords. As well, while the BATC CDC provided interim funding through the end of March, nothing was in place beyond that time frame.
“Without a solid plan for sustainable funding, the future of the North Battleford Lighthouse is still in jeopardy,” Sutton stated.
Nevertheless, in his presentation to council Monday night, Sutton was encouraged by the support shown for the Lighthouse during the Coldest Night of the Year initiative Saturday.
“I’m just really pleased that the community came out and supported like they did,” said Sutton.
“I think it was very timely, with the spotlight on The Lighthouse and the spotlight on North Battleford, for the community to step up like that and show their support. I can’t help but think that’s going to be very positive moving forward in trying to find sustainable funding for them.”
Sutton went on to say he was aware that “a lot of work was being done to find that sustainable funding, I think we’re beginning to see strong support at various levels of government, so I’m pretty hopeful that there will be a longer-term solution found. And of course, if we don’t have The Lighthouse we’re back to square one where a lot of these folks are going to end up in police cells, and we already had the conversation that that’s not the most appropriate place or the best use of resources for that. So hopefully we won’t have to start over again.”
In speaking with the Regional Optimist following the council meeting, Hamilton reiterated the need for core funding to alleviate the challenges of maintaining operations on a 12-month basis at The Lighthouse.
“Core funding will sustain operations throughout the entire year,” said Hamilton. But where the money would come from is still under discussion.
One possibility the mayor said he has suggested to a number of ministers is that funding could come through revenues from the sale of alcohol, as many of the problems seen in the community are addictions- and poverty-related.
“It seems like a no-brainer to me that a portion of receipts generated by the sale of alcohol should possibly be going towards working with those affected by the addictions issue.”
Hamilton said others have suggested this idea as well.
As for the resolution of council approving the $25,000 matching contribution to The Lighthouse, Hamilton said the vote was “a demonstration of the work being done there,” while also “recognizing there are challenges, funding challenges, and we want to be part of the solution.”
