Alberta city takes action to fight crime, address homelessness and addictions

In Cold Lake, Alta., drivers leaning through the window at a McDonald’s drive-thru are being accosted by people rushing past and grabbing their food out of their hands.

At Tim Hortons, an employee was attacked after confronting someone who had smeared feces on the bathroom walls.

At Home Hardware, customers have opened up their sheds to see if people are living in them.

Police found makeshift housing in the sewer system.

In 2023, the fire brigade had to extinguish more than 20 fires started by people trying to keep warm in camps.

Every night the local dump is emptied by people looking for furniture and clothes.

Businesses close their doors during the day. If customers want to come in, they have to knock.

The local Ramada hotel has built a fence, locks its doors at night and has extra security to keep people from coming in and swearing, confronting staff, waving knives, hanging around in bathrooms and smoking in stairwells.

“It got physical. We were calling the RCMP all the time,” said hotel manager Viva Romanillos.

Romanillos says she chases away people every day who gather outside the hotel’s locked door at night.

She estimates the disruptions are driving customers away and costing 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 border with Saskatchewan. Just to the south is Canadian Forces Base Cold Lake, Canada’s busiest fighter base.

Sitting in a local coffee shop, Mayor Craig Copeland says his city’s problems are similar to those of many others: homelessness and crime coupled with a lack of help for people with mental health issues and substance abuse.

“You see petty crime everywhere,” Copeland said.

He said the number of people living on the streets of the city has increased from 30 to 230 in five years.

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

He added that most petty crimes involve repeat offenders addicted to methamphetamine, a highly addictive drug that is becoming cheaper and more readily available and can leave people psychotic for days.

“These individuals stay awake for three or four days and they wander around. The psychosis makes them aggressive.”

Copeland said the city had to open its first homeless shelter about a year ago because the nearest homeless services are hours away.

The city also passed an ordinance banning loitering in alleys at night and aggressive panhandling outside businesses. Public benches have been removed.

Private security has been hired and police have been ordered to charge more people who do not comply with the rules.

Approximately 7,000 kilos of waste were also removed from a local camp.

“If we don’t take this 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 have to behave. Otherwise, you have to tell these business owners here in Cold Lake that it’s okay to go out of business.”

Alberta Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis said this week that the province is aware of the issues in Cold Lake and stands ready to help.

Local MP, Conservative Laila Goodridge, blames the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for the problems, saying “crime, chaos and disorder are the norm.”

Leona Heisler, who runs the local 20-bed homeless shelter, says Alberta and Ottawa need to work together and provide more funding to help people with drug and mental health problems.

“The majority of the people that are here … have lost their children, they have lost their homes. This is the worst part of their lives,” Heisler said.

She recalls helping a woman who was addicted to methamphetamine and had suffered such severe trauma that staff repeatedly had to forbid her from running outside in the winter without shoes.

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

She said the city’s tougher policies have helped, but they don’t solve the bigger problems.

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

“Again and again and again.”

Fakiha Baig, The Canadian Press