Cara Loverock
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, November 7, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - It's 6 pm Saturday night and a man known as Calvin is stumbling as he walks down 50th street.

He tells us that he hasn't eaten all day but nonetheless refuses a ride to food and shelter at the Salvation Army.

Kathy Paul-Drover, a volunteer with the Community Service Patrol, helps a man who was found intoxicated at the Stanton Hospital emergency room Saturday night. - Cara Loverock/NNSL Photo

There is not much Lydia Bardak and Kathy Paul-Drover, both members of the Yellowknife Homelessness Coalition, can do other than try to talk him into accepting a ride to somewhere safe. The temperature is -4 C and expected to go below -10 C later that night.

"Part of the idea is that people know we're out there," said Bardak, "It's about trying to build some connection with people."

Besides being members of the homelessness coalition, Bardak and Paul-Drover are also members of the Community Service Patrol, a group of volunteers who spend weekend nights cruising downtown streets and back alleys in search of intoxicated people in need of a warm bed to sleep it off. Bardak is also a Yellowknife city councillor.

The alternative for some is a night in the drunk tank, or worse.

"Be safe is what we're hoping," said Paul-Drover.

"Nobody is found frozen and everybody gets home safe."

The 12-member strong Community Service Patrol is a partnership with the RCMP, as well as various community services such as the Salvation Army and the Centre for Northern Families.

The patrol was put in place early this year in an effort to keep drunks out of jail and find them a safe place for the night, whether it be a friend's house or shelters at the Salvation Army and Centre for Northern Families. The patrol always work in pairs.

Before heading out Saturday night, Bardak and Paul-Drover meet at the RCMP station to pick up their radios and jackets identifying them as Community Service Patrol workers.

They call into the RCMP communications centre to let them know they will be out, plus their names and the license plate number on their van.

After meeting Calvin, a call comes in on the radio about a man found passed out in the hallway of Nova Court hotel on Old Airport Road.

An RCMP officer is also on the scene and the patrol workers go upstairs with him.

The officer awakes the intoxicated man but he is able to speak clearly enough to give his name and explain that he was staying with his cousin in the hotel but was locked out of the room.

The officer offers the man a ride to the hospital where his parents are visiting.

"Mostly, the RCMP just don't need to be tying up all of their time with intoxicated cases," said Bardak.

She said part of the Community Service Patrol's mandate is to help people who don't need to be taken into police custody and also to relieve some of the pressure on the officers who have enough to deal with as it is.

At 7 pm, the patrol picks up a man at the Stanton Territorial Hospital after he was found passed out in the emergency room. He comes with the patrol willingly but has trouble walking to the van. Inside, he said he hasn't had any food that day and really wants to sleep.

He smells faintly of alcohol and tells patrol workers that his sisters are unwilling to take him in because of his drinking. At the Salvation Army he is checked in and put in a room with a mat on the floor and offers many thanks for picking him up.

While at the Salvation Army another woman known to the patrol appears in need of help. Bev is slumped in a corner at the entrance and mumbles that she needs to see a doctor.

Escorted into the van, her face is hidden by a black ball cap. She will not speak but nods that she is all right.

In the emergency room Paul-Drover gives Bev an orange and a granola bar to eat.

At 8 p.m., the snow starts to fall quite heavily. A patrol up 50th street finds Anna coming out of the Reddi-Mart. The pair know Anna and offer her a lift to the women's shelter at the Centre for Northern Families, which she gratefully accepts.

"It's so cold, I've just been walking all day," said Anna, who is not wearing a hat or gloves. She talks of her previous work as a cook and her desire to be able to work again. Bardak and Paul-Drover were both in the first group of volunteers who started with the program about ten months ago.

"I like the interaction side of things," said Bardak who goes out on patrol a couple times a month. "I've never had any trouble with anybody. One on one any of these people are fine."

A woman who is familiar to Paul-Drover is spotted near the downtown liquor store.

"She had been doing so good for so long," she said, disappointed.

She said many street people begin treatment programs but are not always able to stick with it. As the van pulls down an alleyway a group of six young boys run off around the corner. The van pulls up and a two-litre bottle of vodka is found half-empty. Paul-Drover empties the bottle out onto the ground.

Bardak said if youths are found intoxicated they are not picked up by the Community Service Patrol due to liability issues.

Instead the RCMP are called while the patrol keeps an eye on the youths until they arrive.

At close to 9 p.m., a group of people are found walking along 51 St. who appear intoxicated. One woman gets in the van headed for the women's shelter.

A second woman, Alice, wants to go to the shelter, but has been banned for a period of time. Bardak said if someone is banned, it is often because of fights with other clients at the shelter or with staff. It was likely that Alice would not have anywhere to go Saturday night and thus end up wandering the streets.

At 9:30 p.m., a man the patrol know as Jeff is found stumbling around outside the Northern Lites Motel. He asks for a ride but does not have anywhere to go. Bardak sits in the back with him to try and convince him to go to the Salvation Army. He refuses, wanting instead to find an area to camp. The drive continues anyway but Jeff remains unconvinced about the shelter. Bardak warns him that if the RCMP find him he will be taken to into a cell for the night. Undaunted, Jeff exits the van after twenty minutes of failed negotiations and joins a group hanging outside the Gold Range Hotel.

At 10:15 p.m., the patrol is winding down. One man is found headed toward the Salvation Army.

He accepts a lift but said he doesn't know what his name is. At the Salvation Army he is brought into the room with mats.

Patrol co-ordinator, Mike Lowing, said the patrol is still in need of volunteers who are understanding of those found on the streets.

"We need people with a good ability to communicate and a sense of patience," said Lowing, "People who have a sense of caring - treat people with dignity and respect are the hallmarks of our program."

Lowing said the group receives between $20,000 and $25,000 a year from the federal and territorial governments to support the program.

The program has a training session planned for Dec. 8.

The patrol is modelled after a similar community program in Anchorage, Alaska.

"We're still in the learning phase of our program," said Lowing, adding that he hopes to see the program grow.

"We're looking at the people in Yellowknife's social fabric who don't have the resources to make it somewhere, who may be too intoxicated to recognize they need to go home, mostly to a shelter and that's where we come in."