Latest news with #PaulHemsing
CTV News
12-06-2025
- CTV News
‘Free rein': Saskatoon downtown business owners, residents criticize city's response to ‘street people'
Paul Hemsing says he lives in fear, frustration and disbelief over what he sees every day living in downtown Saskatoon. Hemsing was one of half a dozen speakers at a city committee meeting Wednesday, criticizing the city's homeless response and the variety of crime that goes unpunished. Hemsing said he has to walk over urine, feces and vomit daily, on his way to work. He sees drug use and public intoxication every day. He's been shouted at, and told councillors his spouse was robbed at knife point. 'We watch absolutely stunned as a small group of individuals who are deeply marginalized, yes, are given free rein to break the law, terrorize our streets, destroy public and private property, all while the law abiding, taxpaying citizens of this city are told that they are doing their best,' Hemsing said. Speaker after speaker said they didn't want to take issue with the homeless population at large. Instead, they pointed towards what they called 'street people,' a group who they say choose to live on the street, break the law and cause problems that are affecting their way of life. 'We recognize and support the need for safe spaces for people experiencing homelessness,' downtown Saskatoon business improvement district executive director Shawna Nelson said. 'But I must ask, what about the safe spaces for business owners, their staff and the public?' Nelson and others called for police officers to be more visible downtown and patrol more often. Others called for police to enforce people breaking the law, mentioning open drug use goes unpunished while parking tickets are handed out daily. Hemsing said he always reports the crimes he sees, which includes a man chasing him inside his building and banging on the glass repeatedly. He said police tell him there's a long list of calls ahead of him and they will try to attend if they're able. No officers followed up with him that particular day. 'More - but also doing the job of what they're supposed to be doing,' Nelson said. Saskatoon city councillors (Keenan Sorokan/CTV News) Nelson said some business owners are looking to not renew their lease or move altogether as customers choose to avoid downtown because of safety concerns. City councillors at the governance and priorities committee told people in council chambers they understand the concerns and they're working to increase safety downtown and in Riversdale. 'We hear you,' Mayor Cynthia Block said. 'It may not seem like this is a priority and an urgent matter, but I promise you that it is, each and every single day.' As part of the report before the committee, city administration said encampment cleanups cost the city $600,000 last year. Assistant fire chief Yvonne Raymer said the city has learned a lot from the recently opened temporary homeless shelter downtown, which has a coordinated response alongside Commissionaires and the Saskatoon Police Service. She told the committee that level of co-ordination — to ensure a visible presence of firefighters, bylaw inspectors or police — could be achieved in other parts of the city, but more resources would be needed. Ward 8 Coun. Scott Ford said the city is losing 'the battle,' and more money might be needed to ease concerns and get more people downtown. 'There are street people... they're treated like the victim too when really the victims are the customers and our businesses,' he said. 'And I think we need to change the focus in our mindset in that direction.' A separate report on Wednesday outlined a financial forecast from administration that said property taxes would increase by more than four per cent next year because of the police budget alone, and 9.9 per cent overall if city spending were to continue as is.
CBC
13-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Same-sex couple's discrimination case to go before Alberta human rights tribunal
A same-sex couple says it has been a long and stressful four years, but they're hopeful as their discrimination case is set to go before an Alberta human rights tribunal. Michael Gray and Paul Hemsing allege the City of Medicine Hat discriminated against them by imposing on their home hair salon restrictions that they say other businesses didn't have to follow, along with harassment by officers responding to complaints from neighbours. The director of the Alberta Human Rights Commission initially dismissed the couple's complaint, but last week acting chief Evaristus Oshionebo referred the case to a tribunal. No date has been set. Hemsing told The Canadian Press that they want their dignity back. "We've been in this process now for four years, and we've just been awarded a tribunal," he said Monday from Saskatoon, where the couple now live. "This is quite emotional and upsetting." Oshionebo's decision says the couple ran the hair salon in Medicine Hat, southeast of Calgary, and were forced to move the business into their home during the COVID-19 pandemic. They applied for an operating permit, which imposed limits on hours of operation, how many clients they could see in a week and customer parking on the street, the decision says. Hemsing said it took months to receive a permit when it was supposed to take a week or two. When they got approval, he added, documents were sent to an address the couple hadn't lived at for 20 years. They appealed the limit on the number of clients, as it would have limited their income, Hemsing said. They won, but he said he became stressed and also came down with shingles and later COVID-19. He spent days on a ventilator in hospital. Hemsing said they sold their home and moved to Saskatoon, where they run another salon. Both men have argued the City of Medicine Hat discriminated against them based on their sexual orientation and that they were treated differently from other home-based businesses. They also allege officers harassed them by constantly attending their home in response to gripes from neighbours between December 2020 and December 2021. The complaints from their neighbours, the decision says, were allegedly based on "disapproval of same-sex marriage and that the (city) was or ought to have been aware of this." The commission's director initially dismissed the couple's complaint, saying it was "not unreasonable" for the city to follow up on the parking grievances. "It is understandable that (the couple) found contact from inspectors intrusive. However, the information does not support that the city's enforcement actions were excessive or harassing," the director said. The couple filed for a review and Oshionebo overturned the decision, allowing more evidence on the allegations to be heard. "The issue of whether the complainants' sexual orientation or marital status were a factor in the attendance of their home-based business by the respondent's officers is a genuine issue that can only be addressed in a full hearing," Oshionebo says in his decision. "The complainants have alleged some facts, which if proved by evidence, could establish a link between the alleged adverse treatment (the incessant attendance of their business) and the protected ground of sexual orientation." Lawyers for the city have denied discrimination and argue officers attended the home several times because of numerous calls about an excessive number of vehicles parking near the home salon. City spokeswoman Colleen Graham said in an email that she can't provide comment as the matter is now the subject of a tribunal. Hemsing said no one should suffer like they did. "We lost our home, we lost our business, we had to start new in a new city," he said.
