Alberta City is taking action to fight crime, addressing homelessness and addiction issues

COLD LAKE, ANOTHER. — In Cold Lake, Alta., drivers leaning through windows at a McDonald’s drive-thru were ambushed by people fleeing and snatching food from their hands.

At Tim Hortons, a worker was attacked for confronting someone who smeared feces on the bathroom walls.

At Home Hardware, customers opened garden sheds to find people living indoors.

Police found makeshift housing in storm drains.

Fire crews responded to more than 20 fires in 2023 caused by people trying to stay warm in the camps.

The local rubbish dump was picked up at night by those looking for furniture and clothes.

Businesses lock their doors during daylight hours. If customers want in, they have to knock.

The local Ramada hotel has built a fence, locks its doors at night and has extra security to combat people who have come in swearing and confronting staff, holding knives, sitting in bathrooms and smoking in stairwells.

“It got physical. I called the RCMP the whole time,” said hotel manager Viva Romanillos.

Romanillos said he starts each day chasing away the people who have gathered overnight in front of the hotel’s locked door.

The disruptions, she estimates, drive away customers at a cost of thousands of dollars.

Cold Lake is a community of 16,000 people located northeast of Edmonton on the shores of the lake of the same name near the Saskatchewan border. To the south is Canadian Forces Base Cold Lake, Canada’s busiest combat base.

Sitting in a local coffee shop, Mayor Craig Copeland says his city’s problems mirror those of many others: homelessness and crime combined with a lack of help for those with mental health problems and drug abuse.

“You see petty crime everywhere,” Copeland said.

He said the number of those roaming and living on the city’s streets has increased to 230 from 30 in five years.

They come from remote communities further north and areas in Saskatchewan, he said.

He added that most of the petty crimes involve repeat offenders addicted to meth, a highly addictive drug that has become cheaper, readily available and leaves people in a psychosis for days.

“These individuals stay awake for about three or four days and wander. Psychosis makes them aggressive.”

Copeland said with the closest homeless services, the city had to open its first homeless shelter about a year ago.

The city also passed an ordinance banning overnight loitering in back alleys and panhandling near businesses. Public banks were ripped off.

Private security has been hired. The police have been directed to charge more people who do not follow the regulation.

About 7,000 kilograms of garbage was also transported from a local camp.

“If we don’t take that approach, you’re rewarding bad behavior, right?” Copeland said.

“We want to send a message that if you’re going to stay in Cold Lake, you need to behave. Otherwise, tell these business owners here in Cold Lake that it’s okay that they’re out of business.”

Mike Ellis, Alberta’s public safety minister, said this week the province is aware of the problems in Cold Lake and is ready to help.

Local Conservative MP Laila Goodridge blamed the problems on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government, saying “crime, mayhem and disorder are the norm.”

Leona Heisler, who runs the local 20-bed homeless shelter, says Alberta and Ottawa need to work together and raise more money to help those with drug and mental health issues.

“Most of the people that are here … lost their children, lost their home. Those are the worst parts of their lives,” Heisler said.

She recalled helping a woman who was dealing with a meth addiction and trauma so bad that staff had to repeatedly stop her from running outside in the winter without shoes.

“She never knew where she was. (She) was talking to the walls,” Heisler said.

She said the city’s crackdown has helped but isn’t solving the bigger problems.

“It’s just a revolving door. It’s just a cycle, Heisler said.

“Over and over and over.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on July 20, 2024.

Fakiha Baig, Canadian Press