Derek Slattery (courtesy Moncton City Council/Rogers TV)
A resident from downtown Moncton brought his concerns surrounding increased illegal drug use in his neighbourhood to City Council.
Derek Slattery lives on Cameron Street, and he says they just don’t feel safe in their neighbourhood anymore, “It sits on the border of Victoria Park. Over the years, there has been a dramatic increase in homelessness, which has brought with it illegal drug use in our neighbourhood.”
He says they’re finding dirty needles and alcohol swabs, which pose a risk to their kids, “Crews are working in the park there. A lot of the stuff is literally mowed into the grass that is there. Would you let your children run around barefoot, rolling in the grass? I know they are collecting and cleaning up some of this stuff, but if you mowed over these syringes, there’s no guarantee that there aren’t still needle bits laying there.”
Slattery says efforts to create affordable housing will solve part of the problem.
But there is a bigger issue on homelessness, drug use and criminality that is present in the neighbourhood that needs to be dealt with..
“These people literally prey on the homeless that are trying to get away from the drug use. There is an underlying element that is not helping people move beyond the drug use. I would suggest the Codiac RCMP needs more funding and more people on the ground daily to be monitoring this stuff. All of my neighbours would attest to the fact that it is everyday. We don’t feel safe in the neighbourhoods and letting our children go out and play in the parks is just not something we are willing to risk in the downtown area.”
He adds, “It’s almost like the monkeys are running the zoo at this point because they have all of the power. There were ten families in the park on Thursday night, everyone of them left, except for my wife and I, because they were afraid. They had little children there and they didn’t want to be dealing with this. We’re just tired of it.”
Acting RCMP Superintendent Ron Da Silva says they are aware of the concerns, ” We’ve increased, every team has members downtown all the time, as long as we are not on priority calls, so I am hoping we start to see a shift.” He adds, that the summer is now over and he wishes they could have started sooner, but hopefully they will be able to make an impact and keep it going.
Slattery says, “I have spoken with by-law enforcement officers and RCMP officers who have told me that the services that the City provides are so generous, as far as free food being handed out three times a day, free needles, clean needles, that are actually attracting people from as far away as Saskatchewan to come here and take advantage of the services provided here. If free food is going to be given out three times a day or free needles, is there no way of making sure that is given to people who are in programs and who are trying to get better?”
Ward one City Councillor Shawn Crossman says this is an issue not only in the downtown, but in other parts of the city as well. He says he is dealing with issues in parks in the Sunny Brae areas of Lewisville, and kids and seniors are afraid to go to the parks where individuals are sleeping on benches, “There are other cities throughout New Brunswick that are sending one way bus tickets to Moncton and it still continues today. It is our tax dollars and it is our police force that have to deal with it and it is our communities that have to clean it up and deal with it on a daily basis, and it has to stop.”
Crossman says it is almost as if they have taken the parks away from the residents.
Ward two City Councillor Daniel Bourgeois thanked Slattery for having the courage to come to Council and speak about these issues, “What hit home to me, and I’ve heard it before is the fact that children are seeing this and to a certain extent sometimes children are victims of this.”
