Medicine Hat councillor says city in ‘crisis mode’ ahead of task force launch

Hider will join nearly a dozen other task force members made up of political, non-profit and community leaders for an inaugural meeting from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on March 11 at the police headquarters.

Organizers say they aim to meet bi-weekly from then onwards.

The group is coming together while a search is underway for a new unified location for The Mustard Seed. The non-profit is about to cease its daytime operations following a stop work order from the city.

With that and other challenges facing the city in mind, Hider said the task force needs to move quickly on solutions.

“It has to be a timely matter,” she told CHAT News.

“I believe our unhoused population has grown to about 110, and we need to figure something out sooner than later.”

MP Glen Motz, who represents Medicine Hat and the area around it, said he will bring his law enforcement experience, his 40-plus years living in the community and his time on a Parliament public safety committee.

The Conservative MP blamed the current Liberal federal government for the issues in cities across Canada caused by mental health and addictions.

“Much of it is tied back to the economy, but more so the justice system failures that the Liberal government have implemented,” he said.

The group will also include representatives from Medicine Hat Community Housing Society, Miywasin Friendship Centre, Alberta Health Service, the Medicine Hat Police Service and the Southeast Alberta Chamber of Commerce.

The one-off task force was given the go-ahead by council in early February when it voted to support a proposed terms of reference.

The group, charged with producing actional solutions within six months, was listed among council’s priority shortlist it hopes to complete ahead of the fall municipal election.

The city’s public services head Joseph Hutter said the city has a facilitator role and, while it did the work of bringing the task force together, it won’t lead the effort.

“We don’t plan on necessarily running the meetings or having a ton of say in the content of the meetings,” Hutter said in an interview at city hall Wednesday.

“We just want to be there as a good partner and to recognize all the work that’s being done in the city.”

Council added a stipulation when it approved the task force’s terms of reference that the city cannot chair the group.

Medicine Hat-based political consultant Jim Groom said the group may be less effective by having political leaders on it.

“I don’t see it as being a political committee and yet it’s structured as a political committee, and I’m not sure that’s really what this should be,” Groom said.

“It should be more of an operational hands-on, let’s get this done now (group), because I think everybody knows what needs somewhat to be done.”

In response, Hutter said there’s a good mix of task force participants, including two seats set aside for members of the community.

“That could be somebody with lived experience or perhaps a local business owner or something like that, so I think that those two roles can help fill the gap,” Hutter said.

Groom, a former political science professor at Medicine Hat College, said if the task force can lock in its strategic objectives at the start at a high-level then meaningful action could be taken.

“Then they have to delineate it down to those folks that are actually going to roll it out and have some effectiveness,” Groom said.

“Otherwise, it’s just going to be another document sitting on a cabinet getting dusty and nobody’s going to implement it, because nobody understands exactly the thrust of it or the direction that they want it to take.”

by Eli J. Ridder

Medicine Hat councillor says city in ‘crisis mode’ ahead of task force launch

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