Public discourse over drunkenness and panhandling in Flin Flon’s downtown core has never been so heightened.
But for all of the conversation this problem is generating, very few lasting solutions have been placed on the table.
To be sure, all residents and visitors deserve to enjoy our lovely core without someone aggressively begging for money or harassing them with drunken drivel.
The frequency with which these sorts of incidents occur is debatable. Some people tell me it happens fairly regularly; others say they’ve lived here their whole lives and never had a concern.
Resources
That said, enough people are worried about this issue to warrant appropriate investments of thought, time and resources toward a fix.
So far the community discussion has narrowly concentrated on law-enforcement – calls for more police patrols, more police resources, more police everything.
Proposals have surfaced around surveillance cameras for trouble spots to assist the RCMP and, hopefully, stop crimes from occurring in the first place.
And city council has been asked to examine bylaws to bar panhandling, loitering, and even smoking near store entrances on Main Street.
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Everything so far has been about the heavy arm of the law – pushing the troublemakers out of sight so they become someone else’s headache.
Keeping our busy public areas free of drunk and disorderly conduct is essential. But it does not constitute a holistic approach.
Where, it must be asked, is the conversation around a detox and residential rehab centre?
The problems playing themselves out downtown stem largely from alcohol addiction. When someone is plastered at two o’clock in the afternoon, that person is, plain and simple, an alcoholic.
Are they choosing to be an alcoholic? Not if you know anything about how addiction works. And this particular addiction is one that erases inhibition, sometimes causing the addict to be unusually antagonistic.
If there were a dedicated facility in Flin Flon where people like this could go – either voluntarily or at the urging of the courts – then we could begin to address the issue long-term rather than through the revolving door of petty-crime arrests.
I’m not so idealistic as to think this would magically neutralize the situation overnight. Success would hinge entirely on a client’s will to get clean and sober.
Many addicts have long lost that desire, in part because they have nothing much to “return to” once they re-enter a normal lifestyle.
Life skills
For that reason, any detox and rehab centre would need to emphasize life skills – and better yet employment skills – to help clients flourish in a complete recovery.
The goal of full integration into the workforce may be too lofty for some clients, but at least new life skills could show them how to lead lives of sobriety and respect even if they continue to rely on government assistance.
Flin Flon is hardly alone in dealing with public drunkenness and all of its ancillary maleficence.
Take our northern neighbours in Thompson, where Mayor Tim Johnston has forcefully and rightly called on the province to build a detox centre to complement existing addictions treatment options.
“If we can address the public consumption of alcohol at four o’clock, it likely saves the efforts of the RCMP at 11, 12 o’clock at night,” Mayor Johnston told CBC News last year.
Because of Flin Flon’s geographic location, shortage of jobs and job diversity, and distance from other major residential rehab programs, the problems we currently experience are unlikely to improve without steps that reach the heart of the matter.
None of this is to denounce the great work done by Flin Flon’s existing addictions treatment programs.
It’s just that a detox and residential rehab centre would offer a whole new level of access and supervision from which addicts, particularly those who lack positive social supports, could benefit.
It is time for Mayor George Fontaine and his council to thoroughly examine this concept and begin applying the necessary pressure on the provincial government for funding.
Law enforcement and new bylaws aren’t enough to remedy the social problems present downtown (and elsewhere, incidentally). We need to cut to the root.
