BC Premier David Eby will be in Prince George to speak at the annual BC Natural Resources Forum on Tuesday, and local outreach groups are calling on him to make Moccasin Flats one of the stops on his journey.
“I think the main point – if he is willing to do a walkthrough with us – is the underbelly of the issue we have going on here in Prince George… is a lot more complex,” Phillip Fredriksson with End Homelessness Canada told My PG Now.
Fredriksson, and other local advocates, wrote the Premier a letter earlier in the week inviting him to the camp while he is in Prince George. You can find the letter in its entirety at the bottom of this article.
“Because the city does not work directly with grassroots movements, they don’t have a lot of the information that we collect while we are out there,” he said. “We are the boots on the ground.”
In Fredriksson’s opinion, now is the perfect time for Eby’s trip to the Northern Capital because of the extreme cold.
Over the last week, Fredriksson said himself and a handful of other volunteers have been driving around downtown Prince George trying to find people sheltering outdoors and delivering them to shelters.
“It is painful, it is sad,” he said. “It is a warzone. We had a guy leave a day shelter yesterday (Friday) to go outside and smoke his drugs. He nodded off and was found an hour later and was taken to the hospital with frostbite.”
“Just last night, same situation,” he continued. “A young girl, about 25, I drove by her face down in the snow… again, another situation where a person has had to use drugs outside at -30 weather and becomes unaware of the danger of the temperature.”
If Eby does meet with these local advocates next week, Fredriksson said he hopes the main takeaway is looking at the community-lead movements that are happening in Prince George and across the province as valuable resources.
“There is a grassroots movement because the bureaucracy and the red tape has gotten to be too much for the organizations to help people properly,” he said. “I think it is really important the province recognizes that.”
Fredriksson added people can learn more about End Homelessness Canada and Together We Stand here, and here.
Fredriksson has been a key part of a volunteer group that has built and brought over a dozen tiny homes into Moccasin Flats since the fall.
Here is the letter penned to the Premier’s office:
Dear Premier Eby, Minister Kahlon, Minister Dix and Parliamentary Secretary Russell,
The award-winning grassroots movement “Together We Stand!!,” Local Food PG Society and End Homelessness Canada invite you to Prince George for a tour with our community to understand the actions and conditions facing people who are de-housed and precariously house in Prince George.
Recently our City Council invited you for a “personal tour of relevant areas of the City” so that you can appreciate the conditions on the ground and the challenges faced by our community.
We offer a supplementary tour so you can hear what is working and the opportunities that exist to support the housing, healing and learning in our city.
We understand that our current crisis is complex and is shared in many cities across our country. We believe that change is only possible through a human-centered approach that brings multiple actors together.
We are reminded that: “We have no hope for rural and small-town renewal if the various senior governments continue to off-load their responsibilities for providing coordination, infrastructure, and vital services, and there will not be successful renewal if rural and small-town residents and decision makers look only to senior government for support and a vision for the future. Top-down and bottom up supports and engagement must co-create solutions.” ~ Investing in Place, Economic Renewal in Northern British Columbia, Markey, Halseth & Manson
With this in mind, please consider our invitation. We are eager to work together for health, healing and learning, so that our community can stand. It is only by working together that lasting change will be possible.
We welcome you back to Prince George!
Mussi Cho,
Dr. Amelia Merrick, Mary Shultz Together We Stand!! April Ottesen, Local Food PG Society Philip Fredriksson, End Homelessness Canada
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