Pubdate: Wed, 02 Dec 2009
Source: Yukon News (CN YK)
Copyright: 2009 Yukon News
Contact:   http://www.yukon-news.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1125
Author: John Thompson
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hr.htm (Harm Reduction)

THIS IS WHAT HOMELESSNESS LOOKS LIKE IN THE NORTH

The No Fixed Address Outreach Van provides nursing,  warm clothing 
and harm-reduction supplies, such as  clean needles and crack pipes, 
to Whitehorse's  down-and-out.

It also offers food.

On any given night, the van's workers may offer soup  and sandwiches 
to about 70 residents.

They often run out, says Patricia Bacon, executive  director for 
Blood Ties Four Directions, which helps  run the van.

Bacon addressed a touring parliamentary committee in  Whitehorse on 
Tuesday. The committee, led by Tony  Martin, the NDP's MP for Sault 
Ste. Marie, has spent  more than a year listening to the thoughts of 
frontline  workers on how the federal government can better fight poverty.

For Martin, Bacon's testimony brought home the  challenges faced by 
Yukon's poor.

Here, homelessness is largely hidden, she explained.

The indigent cannot sleep on the streets in the winter.  Instead, 
they rest in drug dens, flop houses and the  Salvation Army's 
emergency shelter during the cold  months. They trade sex and drugs 
for shelter when  necessary.

And often, the only medical services these residents  use is what's 
on offer from the outreach van, said  Bacon.

"This is what homelessness looks like in the North,"  she said.

"It's a shocking eye-opener in a country as wealthy as  Canada," 
Martin said in an interview afterwards.

Canada needs a national housing strategy, said Laura  MacFeeters with 
the Yukon Anti-Poverty Coalition.  Yukon's tight rental market, 
antiquated tenancy laws  and shortage of affordable housing all 
thwart residents' efforts to lift themselves out of poverty,  she said.

She also called for the creation of a disability  pension. Yukoners 
with long-term disabilities are  frequently in no position to work, 
yet they're stuck on  the welfare rolls and, as such, are expected to 
repeatedly prove they're still unemployable.

That creates needless headaches for disabled residents  who have 
enough challenges as it stands.

For example, if you suffer from a mental disability,  chances are you 
have difficulty wending your way  through the territorial bureaucracy 
in order to access  various government services.

And you won't find much help to do this - especially if  you're a man 
who is mentally disabled, but not mentally  ill.

There are advocates who help women and the mentally ill  access 
government services, but there's currently  nobody to help mentally 
disabled men navigate the  bureaucracy.

The Yukon Council on DisAbility tried to create such a  position in 
September, but the territorial government  said no.

The council's staff spent much of the summer helping  clients fill 
out paperwork or parse jargon used by  government officials.

"We were going to court with people the whole day,"  said Amy Martey, 
the council's employer liaison and job  coach, in an interview.

Eventually, staff had to tell clients they couldn't  help them with 
their problems with government.

"That's not what we want to do," said Martey.

Yukon's Department of Health and Social Services, which  administers 
the Community Development Fund, turned the  group's funding request 
down, deeming it didn't fit  their mandate.

The council is supposed to help the disabled improve  their education 
and find work. It's not supposed to be  an advocacy group.

So it's back to square one. The council is now talking  with other 
nonprofits about working together on another  application to create a 
disabled advocate for the  territory.

Meanwhile, Yukon's disabled face long waits to receive  other kinds of help.

Need a mental health councillor? Expect to wait several  months, said Martey.

Similarly, those who need a supportive-living  councillor face waits 
of one to two months, she said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom