Homeless crisis gets new attention

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A feast of stew and bannock was provided to inner city residents by the Edmonton Aboriginal Committee on Homelessness on Oct. 25 in an effort to create awareness for the plight of Aboriginal people found homeless in Alberta's capital city.

The luncheon was attended by more than 500 inner city people at the Bissell Centre and was sponsored by Human Resources Development Canada, Native Counselling Services of Alberta, the Stan Daniel's Healing Centre, the Edmonton Maximum Security Institution and COSTCO.

According to homelessness committee co-chair Marg Milicevic the event was successful, but seeing so many people in need was disheartening to her and the volunteers.

"It was great. This luncheon is something we would like to have on an annual basis. We were able to provide a feed for a lot of people, but it was sad to see such a high need within the community," she said.

The committee formed in 2000 and was a result of community consultations that addressed homelessness and housing issues for Aboriginal people. The group meets once a month.

"Homelessness is a major concern, not only to our committee, but to the Edmonton Housing Trust Fund, the Edmonton Joint Planning committee and a lot of different government bodies. It is an issue that is being addressed, but it is not happening as fast as we would like it," said Milicevic.

The committee is involved in looking at housing issues and setting some priorities in the way issues are to be addressed and in what order.

"Although the talk is that the vacancy rate in Edmonton is next to zero per cent, we feel that no one should live on the street. It does not matter where you come from and who you are, homelessness is a concern to all of us and we are trying to make recommendations. We make recommendations and create an awareness of housing shortages and we also advocate for and about Aboriginal people as a whole," she said.

A homeless count done on Oct. 23 in Edmonton will not be available to the public until Nov. 22. Milicevic welcomes people to attend a national homeless day conference on that day, called Home Sweet Home. It is organized to respond to the housing crisis and will take place at the Milner Library Theatre from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

The conference is free to the public, but participants are asked to pre-register by fax or e-mail. A number of workshops will be available to the delegates, and author Senator Douglas Roch is scheduled as the keynote speaker.