MLA Michael Sather and his staff, including Constituency Asst Carmen Ortega, organized a forum on homelessness problems this past Thursday, June 8th, at the Ridge Meadows Seniors Centre. The forum was the leading, page one item in Saturday's Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows News, one of the Black Press Ltd papers. [http://www.mapleridgenews.com/]

It's worth noting that along with social policy adovcates like Seth Klein of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and Kathy Chui of the Salvation Army, there were two representatives of the Ridge Meadows RCMP detachment, including the Officer in Charge, Jim Wakely. While social policy advocates emphasized the impact of reduced welfare rates and eligibility, the police emphasized drug and alcohol troubles, but neither disputed the other's observations.

Certainly, insofar as the drug and alcohol dependent are concerned, there is a pronounced shortage of detox and treatment spaces and resources, despite huge public revenues being raised from alcohol, far more than in the U.S. for example.

The forum was attended by about a hundred interested memebers of the public, including former Liberal MLA, now Councillor, Ken Stewart, the man who lost to Sather in May of 2005.