This letter was written by Friends of Medicare's Leduc-Beaumont Chapter Chair, Cam Heenan, and was originally published in the Edmonton Journal and the Leduc Rep on July 16, 2024.
Leduc city council’s decision to backtrack on creating an emergency winter shelter is disappointing and only expands Leduc’s gap in health and human services. Shelter is not a luxury — housing is health care and a right entitled to each of our community members. Last January, temperatures in Leduc plummeted to -46 C, weather where frostbite can occur in minutes. Alberta experienced over 200 ER and urgent care visits for frostbite that week alone. The impacts of extreme weather are disproportionately borne by houseless community members and it is our responsibility to care for them.
Mayor Bob Young’s idea of sending houseless people to Edmonton is not a solution. His comments that you can’t access other services in Leduc, like having a child or cancer treatment, don’t justify this choice. Rather than addressing this list of lacking local services we send folks to Edmonton for, council is adding to it.
We need to ensure community members can access support where they live, not dozens of kilometres away. There have been 10 deaths in Leduc since our permanent shelter space closed two months ago. Council may emphasize the price of an extreme weather shelter but the cost of failing to preserve local services is much higher.
Cam Heenan, Chair of Friends of Medicare Leduc Chapter