Try as they might, the panhandling situation in downtown North Battleford is not going away.
Attempts to address that issue were a major item in the monthly report of City Community Safety Co-ordinator Herb Sutton to council Monday.
The main panhandling activity has been happening in the downtown area. Work continues to go on towards addressing the issues there, but Sutton said a couple of things have come up.
One issue identified is that panhandlers will ask people for money and claim they need the money for food.
But Sutton said they do have access to food.
“I just want to be clear, now that The Lighthouse is there and I’ve talked to the manager of the Lighthouse about this, they do have a place to go where they can get food,” said Sutton.
“So despite what they might tell the general public, including they might say, ‘The Lighthouse has banned me so they won’t feed me, so I need money for food.’ And I know people from the goodness of their heart want to help these individuals. But be assured that they will get fed. They may not be allowed into the meeting hall, but they will be able to get food.”
Sutton added, “we have to be really careful with that. As much as our compassion wants us to help these individuals, when you give them money and they already have food, if we think it’s going for that, it probably isn’t.”
The second comment Sutton made was about some work going on with businesses in dealing with the alcohol abuse seen on the streets.
The problem isn’t the use of alcoholic beverages, but the individuals’ use of Listerine, hairspray, and even rubbing alcohol. Sutton says there has been work with businesses to try to curb accessibility of those items.
“I have to say, honestly, the business community has been really positive when you talk to them about it. They’re really open to trying to be part of the solution.”
But Sutton reported that one thing these businesses were noticing is that while individuals may be banned from purchasing these items at certain stores, other people will come in and buy it for them.
“I think we have to somehow get a message out to discourage that, because it’s not helping,” said Sutton.
“And again, when I talked to the manager at The Lighthouse, it’s one thing working with individuals who are using and perhaps abusing alcohol, but when they are using these other alcohol-based items they become unmanageable, particularly with rubbing alcohol.”
Sutton said limiting access to that “would be a step in the right direction.”
