Business leaders from cities across Canada are in Ottawa, calling for help from the federal government to improve safety and reduce social disorder in downtown cores.
The CEO of the Edmonton Downtown Business Association (EDBA) is one of 23 representatives on Parliament Hill this week in hopes of highlighting the issues that are plaguing downtown cores.
“What we’re experiencing in terms of really unacceptably high numbers of people who are unhoused, a mental health crisis, an addictions crisis, crime and public safety issues, all of which are interconnected. These issues are affecting small business,” Puneeta McBryan said from Ottawa Tuesday morning.
“These issues are affecting people wanting to live downtown, visit downtown. It’s affecting tourism, it’s affecting the mental health of people who live and work and own businesses downtown. It’s affecting the Canadian economy and people’s safety and well-being and ability to just exist as a community and be successful.”
McBryan said Edmonton is not alone when it comes to the crime and disorder in its downtown.
“The issues that Edmontonians often talk about in terms of Edmonton’s downtown are Canada-wide and North America-wide issues.”
The International Downtown Association (IDA) Canada, a national coalition of which the EDBA is a member, is calling on the federal government to dedicate more funding to address the addictions, mental health and homelessness crises that it says are impacting every region of Canada.
“The federal government can and should play a larger role in addressing the humanitarian crisis impacting our neighbourhoods,” said Kate Fenske, chair of IDA Canada.
“Main streets and downtowns are the heart of our cities, but they cannot be strong if they continue to face major challenges that make it difficult to attract people, investment and jobs that strengthen Canada’s economy.”
McBryan said a lot of the issues facing downtowns are systemic, and require help from all orders of government. While in Ottawa, McBryan has meetings scheduled with sitting MPs, opposition MPs, as well as government agencies in hopes of getting her message across.
“What we’re hearing from law enforcement, from Crown prosecutors in most provinces if not all, is that there are systemic issues around sentencing and bail that are preventing us from being able to keep our streets and our businesses and our communities safe,” she said.
“We’re talking about including theft in some of the reforms that have been made already because that’s something that’s affecting businesses and there is often violence involved with theft.
“We know that the status quo is not working and it’s resulting in more crime and more harm to communities.”
O-day’min Coun. Anne Stevenson said she is grateful to the business community for stepping up and echoing the city’s concerns.
“It’s really powerful having it come the business community. I think often there’s an assumption that when we’re calling on the provincial or federal government for support, that somehow that’s political or it’s designed to make them look bad. When truly, it’s just bringing forward the needs of our community,” Stevenson said.
“The more voices that can be at the table, the better.”
The councillor, whose ward encompasses downtown, said while the city is able to respond to the symptoms of the issues in the core, a response is not the solution.
“We’re going to always be struggling to keep up as these conditions persist in our downtown,” Stevenson said.
McBryan said a private digital technology school recently moved out of downtown because of ongoing safety issues. She worries if people continue to leave downtown, it will have a negative impact on the city’s economy.
“Our entire city’s ability to be fiscally sound and stable depends on high property values downtown. The city can’t pay for city services across the city without high property values and high property taxes being paid downtown.”
Stevenson described downtowns as the heart of any city, and echoed McByran’s economic concerns.
“In a really financial sense as well, downtown is really an engine of a lot of the tax revenue we generate. It’s the heart of a lot of our business community as well. So when it starts to struggle, that impacts all Edmontonians,” she said.
IDA Canada represents more than 200,000 businesses across the country.