The mayor of a New Brunswick municipality that declared a state of emergency due to unprecedented levels of homelessness — and a recent death of an unhoused person — says he was taken aback by the dismissive comments on the matter from a provincial minister.
New Brunswick’s minister of public safety, Kris Austin, said Tuesday that the state of emergency declared by the municipality of St. Stephen is frivolous and disappointing. Last week’s death, he suggested, was no more serious than a car accident fatality.
Austin’s comments, said St. Stephen Mayor Allan MacEachern, lack compassion and downplay the seriousness of the situation in the small community.
“I don’t like his choice of words. I don’t appreciate that. There’s no compassion there, and I’m not happy with the response at all,” MacEachern said in an interview Wednesday.
The state of emergency declaration accuses the provincial government of failing to provide housing and social services to the area, where 70 people are homeless in a community of about 4,150. According to the town’s declaration, “a resident of a public space” died last week, which is “a situation which will only become more likely” as winter sets in.
St. Stephen RCMP sergeant Scott MacKenzie said police responded to a 41 year-old man in need of medical attention in St. Stephen around 3 a.m. on Dec. 2. Police and emergency responders attended the scene, and the man was transported to hospital where he died several hours later. MacKenzie would not say if the man was experiencing homelessness.
Austin said Tuesday the situation in St. Stephen “does not fit a state of emergency.”
When pressed about the recent death, he added: “People die all the time in car accidents. We don’t (call) a state of emergency over vehicles on the road.”
MacEachern said the municipality had no other choice but to issue the declaration and pressure the government to use its budgetary surplus to help fund housing and shelter.
“We need to deal with the urgency of this, this is an emergency,” he said of people sleeping rough as the temperature dips.
Austin said Tuesday that federal, provincial and municipal governments have a role in addressing homelessness. The minister accused MacEachern of “trying to skirt that responsibility” and suggested the town offer a warming shelter to its homeless population.
In response, the mayor said a local homelessness committee, of which he is part, has been working for weeks to prepare a property for temporary shelters, a move that was approved by council. Then recently, MacEachern said, the province informed the municipality that “the property is not suitable, with no reasoning for why it’s not suitable.”
This move has temporarily halted the project, MacEachern said.
Representatives from the government of New Brunswick did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
MacEachern said he’s frustrated by the lack of support from the province. “We municipalities don’t have the tool box or the budget needed to deal with these issues,” he said.
The council’s declaration does not call out Austin, but it asks five other ministers for immediate help, including the province’s education minister for buses if they become necessary in response to the emergency alert. The declaration gives the province permission to “provide for the evacuation of citizens at risk of exposure, illness, and death to a location where the adequate care and protection can be provided.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 6, 2023.
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