St. Mary’s Parish in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan faces a difficult decision of how to keep the church safe because of the homeless who crowd around the area of the church, reports CTV News.
St. Mary’s Parish experienced an uptick of property damages such as human waste being present on the property due to the homeless who were staying there. There was also an increase of concern because of the drug use and needles found on the property of the church.
During a meeting of the Saskatoon development appeals board it was noted that homelessness around the area of the church posed an increasing concern for the safety of church-goers who attend St. Mary’s Parish.
The parish priest, Fr. Kevin McGee explained to the board that his parishioners did not feel safe with the homeless around the church. As a result, the church decided to put up a chain link fence around the office which is roughly 2 meters high, violating the city’s 1 meter adherence for the property. Due to the chain link fence being in violation, the church was ordered to remove the fence and put a shorter one up.
Fr. McGee managed to have the Saskatoon Police Service to hold an assessment of the security in hopes of supporting his appeal to the board. The consultant working this case, Karen Farmer commended efforts to help the situation. The end of their assessment ruled as a success to helping decrease the vandalisms that were found- graffiti, needles and others. Farmer also noted that on the open side of the church where the people come to stay after being intoxicated, it would be helpful to plant raspberry bushes.
While the Saskatoon Police Service was in favour of the chain link fence and the work the church had done to increase security, the Saskatoon by-law enforcement manager Leanne Delong gave an opposing opinion. Delong stated that this would give special treatment to the church and not to neighbouring properties.
Our Lady of Guadalupe’s, First Nations and Metis Roman Catholic Church deacon, Paul Labelle, also opposed the appeal, stating that the fence made the church feel more like a prison. Labelle believes that the fence would not fix the problem, and he had seen that there was a hole cut into the fence, with trash and remnants of people’s belongings found inside. He even saw people sleeping on the property within the fence.
Ultimately the board went with Fr. Kevin McGee, ruling that the fence does not have any inconsistencies with restrictions on the neighbouring properties.