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Some leaders of Edmonton’s Chinatown community and the NDP MLA who represents the area say they’re frustrated over what they call a lack of communication from the provincial government, on the matter of detainee drop-offs.
Last month, CBC News obtained surveillance video of two separate incidents where former detainees were dropped off in Chinatown by a corrections transport van. The first video, recorded Sept. 3, showed one former detainee being let out of a transport van in a private parking lot near the Pacific Mall.
The second video, recorded Sept. 11, showed at least seven former detainees being let out on a Chinatown street at night.
At a town hall held at the Dynasty Century Palace Restaurant in Chinatown on Thursday night, dozens of area residents heard community leaders speak about the issue and what solutions could look like.
Chinatown residents and community members attended the town hall to hear from community leaders on the issue Thursday night. (Nathan Gross/CBC)
Sandy Pon, co-lead for the Chinatown Safety Council, said members of Alberta’s UCP government were invited to the event, but did not show up. She said she feels the government has not been proactive in working with the community to find solutions.
“If we’re not … getting any reply, we’re going to have a very difficult conversation,” Pon said.
“I’m sure [the government] wants to do a great job for the people in the constituency and for the province … but we do need a little care right now, more than ever.”
Pon said the community wants the government to come up with a framework on detainee drop-offs that includes what she calls a “warm hand-off” and plans for rehabilitation.
“We want to talk to the [social] agencies [about] how we can all fill in the gaps and work together,” she said. “This is where grassroots solutions can happen.
“We are asking how we can work together so the homeless population will decrease, the crime and all the disorder will diminish.”
Pon said Chinatown community leaders will continue to meet in the coming weeks to work through possible solutions.
Janis Irwin, the NDP MLA who represents the area, also attended the town hall. She said she’s heard from several constituents that they have not heard responses from the government addressing their concerns on the matter.
“We know we’ve heard that there are some conversations happening [at the government level],” she said. “And that’s great to hear that the government is engaging in conversations.
“Why can they not relay that work back to these Chinatown community members?”
Irwin said the matter of detainee drop-offs isn’t new, but that now having video proof will help hold the province accountable.
“It’s something now that all orders of government need to address and can’t run away from,” she said.
NDP MLAs Janis Irwin and David Shepherd said the matter of detainee releases is the responsibility of the government. (Nathan Gross/CBC)
Alberta’s Ministry of Public Safety and Emergency Services has previously said government officials have met with some Chinatown community members about the matter and take their concerns seriously. The ministry has also said it is reviewing its procedures.
CBC News reached out to the ministry after the town hall to ask about communication with Chinatown community members and whether the government is reviewing how detainees are released.
A government spokesperson pointed to a news conference on Sept. 25, where Public Safety and Emergency Services Minister Mike Ellis said the Chinatown drop-offs were not common practice, and said he had since met with Mayor Andrew Knack to discuss the issue.
“The conclusion was that in both of those cases it was human error,” Ellis said at the September news conference.
“So I can tell you that the commitment that I have from Corrections Alberta, the commitment that I have from the deputy minister, is that they will be taking corrective measures to make sure something like that does not happen again.”