EDMONTON — The mayor of Edmonton says he plans to declare a housing and homeless emergency because the system has reached what he calls a “breaking point.”

Mayor Amarjeet Sohi says in a blog post that he has called a special city council meeting for Monday where he will move to declare the emergency.

The announcement comes a day after police dismantled the last of eight homeless encampments deemed by the city to be “high risk.”

It also comes as the Coalition for Justice and Human Rights, which has filed a lawsuit over the city’s encampment eviction policy, seeks an injunction putting restrictions on the city and police response to camps in certain situations, such as when temperatures get too low.

In his blog post, Sohi says the number of people flowing into homelessness is exceeding the capacity of the social system.

He says that if council approves the declaration, he plans to invite provincial Social Services Minister Jason Nixon, federal Housing Minister Sean Fraser and Cody Thomas, grand chief of the Confederacy of Treaty 6 First Nations, to an emergency meeting on the issue.

In a statement issued in response to Sohi’s announcement, deputy premier Mike Ellis said Premier Danielle Smith ordered in November that an emergency cabinet committee be created in response to the issue of crime and gang-related activity within encampments in Edmonton. 

Ellis says the province is working on a plan with Alberta Health Services, Edmonton police, the Confederacy of Treaty 6 First Nations and several city departments.  

Nixon says in the same statement that it is “dangerous” for the mayor to suggest that vulnerable people have nowhere to turn.

“This is false and will lead to more folks choosing not to seek out shelter because they fear they’ll be turned away,” he says.

Nixon says Edmonton has “more than enough room” for every homeless person to have a safe place to stay.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 11, 2024.

The Canadian Press