City Sees No Problems With Homeless Issue Being Solved In Secret

By Robert Thomas

Did they or didn’t they?

According to Mayor Clive Tolley they didn’t.

But according to the official meeting minutes approved at two regular Council meetings they may have.

If they did then the potential is at least one Moose Jaw business had their confidential information inadverdently provided to a third party lobby group.

Or was the group directly responsible for pushing the long-term City of Moose Jaw retail tenant out?

But even if they didn't the mechanics of holding the majority of discussions on a major social issue with major impacts Canada-wide in private behind closed doors brought questions.

Questions surrounding a special interest lobby group SquareOne being allowed to discuss their plans to spend upper level government tax dollars behind closed doors on more than one ocassion.

Plans which will see the City terminate a long standing lease at William Milne Place with realtor Global Direct Realty and hand the space over to groups wanting to convert it to a homeless warming shelter.

These were the questions put to Mayor Clive Tolley during the post Council media scrum.

A line of questioning Mayor Tolley did not appreciate.

“You know what of all of the questions tonight you are trying to find something negative about what I see as good things happening in the community,” Mayor Tolley said after being asked a series of questions.

The questions were about the secrecy, optics and mechanics of the deal to free up City sublet space to create a warming shelter for the homeless.

The City will terminate a sublease agreement with a commercial tenant and turn that space over to the Moose Jaw Non-Profit Housing Corporation.

As part of a different agreement - not involving the City - the lobby group SquareOne will partner with the Moose Jaw Non-Profit Housing Corporation to turn the space into a warming shelter for the homeless.

The Mayor preferred the media ask questions about the end results and not the means to arrive there.

“We are going to have to disagree on this. It’s fantastic that we have got this building that we can actually play a part in to create a facility by turning it back over to the Non-Profit Housing Corporation and letting them work with these homeless people to come up with solutions,” Mayor Tolley said.

“To me this is fantastic. This has been a couple of years of watching people freeze in Moose Jaw. It has been very difficult on me. I’m just excited about the fact there is a solution in place. There is some provincial money,” the Mayor said.

He said the Ministry of Social Services has provided interim funding and there is now a search for more continuous funding.

Other than cancelling the sub-lease to open the space for the facility the City at this time is not providing any financial support.

The City has a complicated lease agreement regarding the building and sub-lease of the main floor retail space and parking lot.

“We are already impacted so it made a lot more sense if we can find a central location where they have support there. Our understanding this is not just a free for all. They are going to have people there, navigators to help them work through the system,” city manager Jim Puffalt said.

It needs to be noted social issues such as homelessness are a provincial and not a municipal responsibility.

The federal government has kicked in billions only to have the Aufitor General report there is no evidence if programs are effective and worse there are more homeless.

There has however been some municipalities, such as Saskatoon, who have gone it alone to provide funding.

During Council's discussions of the issue mention was made several times about what exactly could be revealed by Council at a public meeting.

Mayor Tollie said SquareOne being there would not mean they were privy to any discussions.

He said it is a regular practice where third parties spoke came to Executive Committee and give their presentation in-camera and then leave.

He did not explain why SquareOne's proposal would need to be in private.

Council has become notorious over the past few years with the number of in-camera Executive Committee meetings rivaling the number of issues dealt with at a public Council meetings.

No explanation was given as to why SquareOne's proposal to help solve the local homeless crisis - a major public issue often swept under the rug according to the grouo itself - was delivered in private was provided.

It needs to be noted representatives from SquareOne attended portions of two in-camera Executive Committee meetings.

SquareOne was at a special unannounced in-camera one item Executive Committee meeting on January 30th.

Despite the January 30th special in-camera Executive Committee meeting being voted on by Council the meeting taking place is not listed on the City’s web-site as ever takIng place. The meeting included representatives of SquareOne through part of it - Source - City of Moose Jaw web-site

They also appeared a second time behind closed doors at the publicly announced in-camera Executive Committee meeting on February 13th.

Despite appearing at two Executive Committee meetings and having the issue brought up at January's regular in-camera Strategic Planning Session Mayor Tolley said like all third party groups they simply present and then leave before the discussions or any decision is made.

MJ Independent has learnt during the January Strategic Planning Session Councillor Crystal Froese and vice-chair of SquareOne spearheaded the issue.

Mayor Tolley did not provide any explanation if SquareOne was asking for space or was specifically asking for the space in the William Milne Place building.

It is a well known fact SquareOne has been looking for space Downtown one block off of Main Street.

A Main Street homeless warming shelter had been ruled out due to the number of complaints by merchants about the warmup centre previously operated by the now defunct Rainbow Retro.

The identity of all of groups who are part of SquareOne is still a mystery.

The Mayor described them as the group of local people coming together and trying to coordinate all of the groups involved in assisting the homeless in the city.

Asked at a previous presser Mayor Tolley said they were a group Councillor Froese was part of.

An email asking SquareOne what groups exactly made up the organization did not provide a list but rather listed what they called their accomplishments.

At Monday evening's presser Mayor Tolley said there should be no worries as they were a group of local people solving the local homeless crisis.

SquareOne members have said in the past there are 107 homeless people in Moose Jaw.

A figure which has been publicly discredited due to the shoddy methodology it was arrived at and an individual now publicly accused of fraud by their former employer as the source of the number of homeless in the community.

SquareOne was set to make an official homeless count in the latter part of 2022 but it is unknown if the count was made, it’s medology if it was made and the results.