(Nigel Maxwell/paNOW Staff)

By Jaryn Vecchio

Helping Homeless

P.A. group advocating for limiting access to alcohol to help with city’s homeless crisis

Jan 13, 2022 | 5:00 PM

A community group in Prince Albert believes a way to help combat the city’s homeless crisis is to limit everyone’s access to alcohol.

The P.A. Community Alcohol Strategy Steering Committee (CASSC) gave a presentation to the city’s council on Monday where they outlined changes they believe would help those struggling with an addiction.

Brian Howell, a member of CASSC, explained local stores are open daily from 8 a.m. to 3 a.m.

He believes having them open for 19 hours each day really only benefits those addicted to alcohol.

“When we were dealing with homelessness last summer, we were coming by River Street, and we would find people at 8 a.m. sitting outside a certain business waiting for it to open.”

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Howell noted a more reasonable time frame would be 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Another change brought up during the presentation was limiting the number of spots people can get their hands on alcohol. There is a limit, which currently sits at 10, for the number of licenses the city of P.A. can hand out for liquor stores, however, this doesn’t include bars and restaurants.

Councillor Tony Head agreed with the suggestion, adding having a store in the downtown core where the majority of homeless people stay is a bad mix.

“I would like to see this store moved out of this general area downtown because I do think it’s a big hindrance to our population downtown and our individuals who are suffering from addictions.”

According to Howell, CASSC has no desire to make alcohol illegal.

“We can be a society that provides people with the freedom to enjoy themselves while at the same time providing a degree of legislation that reduces the harm and the social impact of alcohol.”

Meanwhile, if any of these changes were to happen, the Saskatchewan government would need to be on board.

The province is responsible for all alcohol-related rules.

P.A. Mayor Greg Dionne did say during Monday’s meeting they would advocate for these possible solutions directly to the provincial government.

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Jaryn.Vecchio@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow