Dozens of people took the streets on Wednesday to raise awareness about the growing homelessness problem in the city.
The message was that more needed to be done by the city and the community in order to help the increasing number of people who are finding themselves without a home.
“We’re trying to make the community people aware that there is homeless in Prince Albert and it shouldn’t be shunned,” said march organizer, Rosemary Bird.
The march began between the YWCA’s Our House and the Prince Albert Indian and Metis Friendship Centre. It made its way from there along 15th Street to Central Avenue, before taking a brief break at city hall.
There, Mayor Jim Scarrow addressed the crowd and said it was important for keep fighting for more resources for the homeless, but he added that the current council was making strides in the right direction.
“It’s better today than it was some years ago,” Scarrow said to the crowd. “There’s more opportunities for the kind of housing that we want all of our citizens to achieve.
“We’re working hard as a community with all our partners to find more units for accommodation.”
After a stop at city hall, the march wound its way back to the Friendship Centre. The crowd gathered in the gym for refreshments and sat in a circle.
At the front of the room was an arrangement of 11 candles, each on representing a homeless person who had died in the city in recent years.
adesouza@rawlco.com
