WESTLOCK – Will Alberta Supports offices across the province reopen to walk-in traffic?
If you talk to the province, the answer is yes, while the chair of the Westlock & District Family and Community Support Services advisory board isn’t so sure they will.
Ultimately, that’s the question Town of Westlock councillors want Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock MLA Glenn van Dijken to definitely answer at an upcoming meeting — CAO Simone Wiley said July 7 they haven’t yet received a response from the MLA’s office, so any face-to-face with council won’t happen until August.
The motion to seek an audience with the MLA came on the heels of a 10-minute presentation at the June 28 Town of Westlock council meeting from councillor and FCSS advisory board chair Murtaza Jamaly, where he told the group it’s his understanding the offices will continue to provide services, but only over the phone or online — Alberta Supports offices have been shuttered to walk-in traffic throughout the pandemic. Mayor Ralph Leriger, who along with the rest of council voted unanimously to ask for the meeting with van Dijken, said the possible elimination of walk-in service is “very concerning” for the community.
“At this point in time our council needs to take action and at least send a letter to our MLA advocating that Alberta Supports opens their front doors and allow for the general public to resume in-person services. That said I think a meeting (with the MLA) is warranted,” said Jamaly.
“These are important services for the people in our community and they need to continue. I’m so appreciative and unsurprised our council is wholeheartedly behind this. But we need to encourage other councils to reach out to their MLAs and say that this is a problem. And if after the discussion with our MLA receives no traction, then I’d like to see this go to AUMA as a resolution on the floor.”
Added Coun. David Truckey: “These are not decisions being made at the local level. Somewhere, someone is making this decision without what I would call much forethought at all.”
Offices will reopen, says province
In a July 7 e-mail, Community and Social Services press secretary Rob Williams said that the pandemic forced the government to temporarily close Alberta Supports centres to in-person visits, but now that Stage 3 of Alberta’s Open For Summer plan has arrived, “we are developing a plan to resume in-person services.” Alberta Supports is meant to help people access programs related to disabilities, employment, homelessness, financial assistance, abuse, and family violence prevention.
“Until such time, any client with emergency needs can call the 24/7 Income Support Contact Centre at 1-866-644-5135. Since offering services remotely, staff have been able to deliver financial supports on the phone and online effectively and consistently — more quickly than when a client visits a physical office in some cases,” said Williams via e-mail.
Jamaly countered that the people who need these services don’t always have access to a cellphone, or a computer with Internet access and are “falling through the gaps in the system.”
“The intent is not to say the local people here in Westlock (at Alberta Supports) haven’t been doing a good job. I think they’ve been doing a great job because if they couldn’t help, they were familiar with the other organizations in the community who could,” Jamaly continued. “Now, when someone ends up at a call centre, the person on the other end has a list of the things that they can do and if it isn’t on the list, they can’t help.”
Other agencies picking up the slack
Jamaly said he had pages of cases that should have been dealt with by Alberta Supports, but ended up at FCSS offices — they ranged from a 17-year-old girl whose grandfather was in hospital and she had no money for food, to a single mom or two trying to get out of an abusive relationship but had no phone and couldn’t afford groceries.
“To me quite frankly this is unacceptable,” said Leriger. “The people who have the most need and have the least access to technology are being told the only way to access these services is through technology. To me this is just another attack on society’s most vulnerable. It couldn’t be more counterintuitive.”
Jamaly, who’s also the northeast region rep on the Family and Community Support Services Association of Alberta, said FCSS programs are struggling to fill the gap.
“We have met with Alberta Supports as a provincial organization. In that discussion we’ve said that “consistent” isn’t the right answer here. The challenges in each community are unique and that being able to access individuals at the local level is vital to the success of the program,” said Jamaly.
“I will commend FCSS programs across the province because through our resilient nature we have found a way to help these poor folks.”
Truckey said the issues facing FCSS are being mirrored at the Westlock Municipal Library as the closure of Alberta Supports to walk-in traffic has added another stressor to all local agencies.
“The library staff is regularly asked to provide assistance in all sorts of things that they have no training to be dealing with,” said Truckey, who’s on the Westlock Intermunicipal Library Board.
“While they are willingly do it and try to assist, it’s not their function, it’s not their job, it’s not what they’re trained to be doing.”
George Blais, TownandCountryToday.com
