the broken typewriter

Fort St. John

After two years of providing a valuable winter service to those in need in Fort St. John, the Warming Centre has closed. With no indication that there will be another in operation for next winter, it’s a situation which worries members of Fort St. John’s City Council.

Councillor Tony Zabinsky says he’s very concerned that the Warming Centre won’t be available for the coming winter. “It is very concerning, if we have a cold winter, not a mild winter, that there’s not going to be somewhere for the recipients (of this service) to go. I caution that we might have to look at that – I’m not saying that it’s our to provide for them, but I know it’s our community that would want to provide for them. It’s something that we’ve really got to work together and look at.”

The history of the Warming Centre has been filled with working together. A Steering Committee, created by assets from the community, got the project off the ground in 2021. These entities which included the City, the Salvation Army, Community Bridge, NENAS and Urban Matters, to name a few, have worked together for the past two winters to ensure that there was somewhere people in need could go to keep warm. Funded by the Union of British Columbia Municipalities, the program was initially only to run for one year. Fortunately, more funds were found to keep the Centre open for another winter, Karin Carlson, Director of Community  Services told Council in her report on April 12.

In response to Zabinsky’s question about the possibility of being able to use the same location this coming winter, Carlson said that because of construction to retro-fit the building for Northern Health’s needs, there will be no opportunity to use the building.

“Is there a thought that Northern Health will have space to provide a warming centre, as well as their health service,” asked Councillor Gord Klassen.

Urban Matters representative, Edward Stanford, said “That is their long term plan. But nothing is to be provided for this coming winter.”

However, Carlson and Stanford said that if space could be found, the staff who had looked after the Centre in the past, would be interested in being involved.

Mayor Lilia Hansen expressed her gratitude to everyone involved in the Warming Centre, for the tremendous job they did over the past two years, adding that she believes lives were saved by having the facility in Fort St. John. “I’m glad we didn’t find out what the alternatives would be, if we didn’t have the warming shelter.”

“I do believe you can tell a lot about a community by the care and compassion that’s shown to the less fortunate,” Hansen said. “I think it speaks well of Fort St. John, that we do have a very caring community.”