Smithers Emergency Shelter – “Shrouded in Secrecy”

Gladys Atrill  opened the Public Open Meeting – Monday, November 17th  regarding the Third Avenue Shelter with the following comments, “our purposes is to ensure everyone has clear accurate information directly from BC Housing and the Bulkley Valley Harm Reduction Society.” Unfortunately nothing like that actually occurred. We covered a lot of evidence in this article, so its a long one, but its also what the Mayor of the Town of Smithers is trying to cover up and hide from the public.

Based on what followed in this meeting made it look more like a cover-up, and in doing so got caught red handed  creating disinformation.

There were many people in attendance who disagreed with the project but, for whatever reason, did not speak publicly during the meeting. The silent majority may be cautious in fear of being a target or by the threat of cancellation or incurring additional stress or financial strain in their local businesses.

Clearly the town of Smithers did learn from experience that being open with the public would result in a backlash as it did in the case of the  Capri Motor Inn. The key component is Smithers residents do not want to be punished by way of consequence, for the BC NDP refusing to deal with, or even acknowledge the actual underlying problem. The BC NDP refuses to treat drug addicts or chronic alcoholics, so we become the victims of consequence, while they (the NDP) sell us fake compassion for these addicts in order to uphold their addictions policies.

 

 

Before we go on, I want to make something clear, we do not oppose getting help for those of us in need, what we oppose is using those in need to further political agendas. We need to help people with proper medical treatment, when people are not able to help themselves as is often the case with addiction, we need to institutionalize them with loving care and compassion. Help them heal, and help them back on their feet. They should not be out there at all, they should be in the care of professional help, the fact that they are out there is on the heads of those who refuse to help these people heal.These same people who pretend to care do nothing about the number of family members who end up in body bags. Smithers has seen far to many deaths created by failed NDP drug policies.

Its not a coincidence that the number of overdose deaths in our communities is not published, its by intent to cover up just how serious the problem is in Smithers, Witset, Telkwa, Houston and Hazelton. People in our communities would be up in arms if they knew how many of our neighbours children died of overdose deaths, inclusive of drugs provided under the NDP Safe Supply Program.

 

Thus the “truth” is kept hidden by “intent”.

 

Smithers residents do not oppose housing for the poor.  Smithers  residents do expect goverment to send addicts to treatment, residents do oppose being punished by way of consequence by government doing nothing. In fact the Town of Smithers was not involved in a single project to increase housing for the staggering number of new immigrants in Smithers, or for the working class, or for second generation Smithers residents.

The NDP continue the narrative of  “drug addicts rights to be drug addicts and or alcoholics” regardless of the social cost. The NDP also routinely and deceitfully attack those who are trying to get addicts into rehab as uncaring citizens as we witnessed in that meeting.  Fabricating fake support is another method being used by Nathan Cullen to mislead Smithers residents about this obviously stacked meeting. The BC NDP intentionally choose to NOT fix the problem and as a consequence they expand it as seen by the ever growing number of addicts, that we are forced to call “homeless” once family drives them out of their homes. Its not by accident they always call them homeless when in fact they are drug addicts, and as a consequence cannot live in their existing homes.  Many end up as dead, families are ruined, hearts are broken, but the NDP plow forward regardless of the human toll.

 

 

In spite of all the new buildings in Smithers dedicated to low income, homeless, women shelters, person with severe disabilities, the number of homeless in Smithers keeps growing, equally so is the absence of counting how many are suffering from chronic addictions, and or died from these addictions. Why? Because there is an intentional attempt to mislead the public into supporting people who actually are only  and genuinely homeless, and intentionally hiding the number of addicts driven out of their real homes due to addiction.

 

 

During this last decade not even one apartment, or row housing, was built for working members of our community, clearly the socialist regime wants us all on welfare in order to manage us easier. In fact the last apartment built for working residents of Smithers was built over 50 years ago, and you wonder why businesses cannot find workers who depend on renting housing. The last apartment built in Smithers was the Woodridge Apartments on Fulton Avenue. Its time Smithers recognized the zero vacancy rate for working people, and rather than discouraging them with red tape, find ways to attract them.

Long story short, the residents of Smithers said NO to expanding Smithers as a town “hell bent on housing addicts” from all over the north. Smithers always has and always will support those in need of housing, but draw the line on housing a problem goverment refuses to deal with.

 

It’s very clear that Mayor Gladys Atrill has every intention of imposing housing for drug addicts on the community of Smithers, while she lives well out of reach of the problem in the outskirts of Telkwa. In the next screenshot we are not being told we do not have a choice, but are saying given the options by the Town of Smithers, which one does the public prefer? Its a very decietful way too achieve what you already are determined to do. There was no option of “we object to any of the proposals.”

 

 

---

Continued.

Before we go on there is a very telling video posted by Gladys Atrill on this very same topic back in 2023, that exposes her real agenda. Observe how she describes as a “litany of social issues facing us”, “Obfuscate: to make (something) more difficult to understand“   Then makes the point do we need more supportive housing and to that she says YES. Given that we can expect that all the rest is in defence of making that happen, and this was in regards to the Capri Motor Inn in August 2 years ago. (2023) She defends drug use in public because its legal. She talks about the paraphernalia landing in people properties and listen to her admit the number of homeless is somewhere between low twenties and low thirties, while today barely 2 years later has expanded to 77 homeless. Build it and they will come, the more we build, the more we attract drug addicts, why not pick the location with the highest rewards?

The NDP/ Smithers Town Council hold the belief that doing nothing to end the addiction, and piling the consequences on the backs of the working class, is the greatest way to demoralizing society into obedient complicity with a socialist goverment. Its not about helping drug addicts, its about controlling the public. The master plan of the NDP includes being dependant on goverment both local and provincial for protection, hiring of Blue Hawk Security is all part of that dependency they need to control us.

So the following is a Gladys Atrill promo for imposing supportive housing projects on our community, accepting drug abuse, and keeping addicts out of instutions and placing them in our backyards.

 

 

 

 

 

Seriously does Gladys Atrill want us to believe they were blindsided when we know she was having talks with BC Housing since April 2025 and the key element was finding a suitable location. Does Gladys Atrill want or expect us to believe she was not privy to the locations the BC NDP/ BC Housing being looked at? Will Gladys Atrill deny she is a card carrying member of the BC NDP?

 

“Where secrecy or mystery begins, vice or roguery is not far off.”

 

 

 

A number of very important questions need to be asked, mostly because getting information from BC Housing or the Town of Smithers is like trying to extract a tooth from a wide awake alligator. The secrecy and the lack of upfront information is staggering, leaving the issue wide open to speculation be that right or wrong, so questions need to be answered, we elected them, they are our servants, not the other way around. The NDP is well known for its efforts to obstruct and withhold information from the public.

We need to ask question, we have a right to know, its our community and our taxes being spent.

 

1. 1. Who created the Bulkley Valley Harm Reduction Society?
   2. Was the BC NDP involved in the creation of the Bulkley Valley Harm Reduction Society
   3. Was BC Housing involved in the creation of the Bulkley Valley Harm Reduction Society
   4. Were any of the people who founded this society living in Smithers at the time it was created?
   5. Were the people who created the Bulkley Valley Harm Reduction Society participating in discussions in Smithers, or did they do so from other communities that do not have a homeless shelter.?
   6. Are the people managing the Bulkley Valley Harm Reduction Society using this as a income opportunity or did they have jobs prior to its inception?
   7. Where did the people running the this Emergency Warming Shelter work before they were employed, working in the building they now use in Smithers?
   8. What are the names and qualifications of those managing the Emergency Warming Shelter?
   9. Who hired the people working in the Emergency Warming Shelter?
   10. Who decided the amount allotted for salary of those working there?
   11. Who decided on the salary of the manager?

 

I would be shocked if we actually get answers, but hoping people stop asking is the much more likely scenario leading to the question, who will you vote for in the next election?

 

---

 

What we do know is the BC NDP under the BC Housing does not run Emergency Warming Shelters and requires organizations that do,   based on the timing one can legitimately surmise they were involved in having an organization created after not finding any existing organization coming forward to do so.

When the NDP came to power in 2017, they initially supported expanding harm reduction measures, including safe supply, to address the opioid crisis. Keep that date in mind and look at the next fact “The city’s first tent city is thought to have been established in 2007 at 950 Main Street.” In 2009, the BC Supreme Court ruling in Victoria (City) v. Adams was a landmark decision that reshaped how municipalities in British Columbia, and across Canada, handle homelessness and public space. Now back to this story “They introduced prescribed safe supply programs in 2020, allowing users to receive prescribed opioids as an alternative to illicit street drugs with the goals of stopping people’s purchase of street fentanyl and reducing fatal overdoses. Four years later, there is no scientific proof the program has achieved either.”

The two stories about homeless and safe supply go hand in hand. 2020-2022 “The NDP government continued to tout safer supply as a life-saving measure, despite lacking comprehensive data to support the claim” 2022-2023  “By 2022, the government’s focus began shifting slightly to include the build-up of some addiction treatment along with safe supply.” Every year since the introduction of the NDP safe supply program started the number of dead, all members of families in British Columbia, and it keeps growing at the same rate tent cities are growing.

 

 

As staunch NDP supporter and an elected town councillor Sam Raven admitted publicly that most of these people come from Fort Babine in a social media comment. Both Gladys Atrill and Sam Raven do not own property in Smithers, so “their properties in Telkwa and Witset” will not be affected by decisions made by the Smithers Town Council.  Does anyone even dare to ask the question?   Fort Babine is heavily taxpayer funded, are they sending any help in regards to looking after “their” people? Has the Town of Smithers even talked to the elected band office in Fort Babine?

 

Regarding the above screenshot, pay particular attention to “BC Housing” to rezone Capri Motor Inn from tourism commercial to institutional was voted against. This was the BC NDP requesting an override on this property.

More quotes from that article:

If the rezoning from tourism commercial to institutional went through, 60 new housing units would be opened over three years with the restaurant renovated into a kitchen facility for the development.

During the public hearing, residents nearby voiced concern that the rezoning and subsequent purchase would devalue homes, increase taxes, and the proximity to Walnut Park Elementary.

Letters from businesses along Frontage Road, where the inn is located, also voiced opposition to the town rezoning the property.

Yesterday, BC Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon spoke in Prince George about some of the challenges with creating housing solutions.

“The challenge we have across the province when it comes to housing is everyone knows we need it, but nobody wants it. At some point, we must have difficult conversations about if we want people sleeping in parks and what that comes with, or do we want to give them the shelter and supports that they need?”

 

 

“The obvious solution was “hide” any proposals from the public”   –   “Do not” have public consultations”  –   “Just ram it through when citizens least expect it.”  –  “Pretend you care and proceed anyways.”

 

The reason was obvious, there was a massive public outcry against this proposal, so the lesson both BC Housing and Gladys Atrill adopted was this, never disclose this kind of information prior to implementing an BC NDP initiative. Clearly both knew, and continued to have talks about where and when to target another location. All of these people keep hiding behind “We cannot let them freeze to death” its loudly used as a mantra to hide their intentional agenda from the public, so they could simply ram it down our throats.

 

“The issue here is not the homeless or the cold, the real issue here is abuse of process.”

 

 

Gladys Atrill and the Town of Smithers as well as BC Housing, had no right to decide this behind the backs of Smithers residents, knowing they would oppose this project.

 

Below are legitimate reason to choose mandatory rehab in order to eliminate the problems listed below.

 

The negative elements homeless encampments share with homeless shelters include:

• Higher crime rates
• Increased police calls into the neighborhood
• Damage to residential property by homeless shelter residents
• Significantly increased drug use in the neighborhood
• Increased public intoxication or inebriation
• Increased assaults on and threats to property owners or renters in the neighborhood
• Raw human waste in the neighborhood
• Other dangers biohazards (including used hypodermic needles used for drug injection)
• Unsightly encampments themselves
• Inability to access sidewalks
• Inability to access parks
• Lasting damage to public spaces
• Even higher crime rates than associated with shelters
• Even more frequent police calls into the neighborhood than associated with shelters
• Persistent odors emitting from an encampment

The residents of Smithers have the right to demand governments end putting this on the backs of law abiding citizens and provide mandatory institutionalization for those posing these drug addiction and or alcohol addiction problems harming our community.