CANMORE – A Town of Canmore-led program in the area of Vanmore showed a massive uptick in users in the third year of the Safe Park program.
A presentation at Canmore’s Oct. 17 committee of the whole meeting outlined 60 individuals and 50 vehicles use the space after having fewer than five participants the first year and 13 people and 11 vehicles last year.
“I’m really glad to see the increase in participation,” said Coun. Wade Graham, who noted he has spent parts of most of the last 10 summers travelling and living in a van. “That’s amazing. We’ve come a long way in a number of years. When we first were doing this, I was looking at the numbers and going ‘I don’t know how this is sustainable’.”
The program, which ran from June 1 to September 30 between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m., included two public parking lots. It was approved by council as a pilot for 2020, but postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It formally started in 2021, but has been running in one-year intervals and is subject to council approval at the budget for a possible 2024 return.
Statistics provided by Town staff showed of people who used the program, 28 per cent were in the food and beverage industry, 23 per cent in construction and 12 per cent worked in hotels, while others worked in retail, government, healthcare, education and community services.
The average age was 30 and the gender split was divided 50-50 between males and females. People came from across Canada, but also Europe, Australia and South America and all users of the space were new to the program.
“The program really is serving our seasonal workforce,” said Elle West, the Town’s community evaluator.
“Some would stay seven nights a week, but many would not. … Even though there were 50 vehicles signed up, we very rarely ever had those parking lots full of 50 vehicles. It would more often be 10 to 15 in each lot each night.”
The number of inquiries increased from 17 in 2021 to 39 in 2022 and 72 in 2023. There were a total of 117 municipal enforcement interactions and 2023 was the lone time a ticket was issued.
In 2022, at the same time the program was running, municipal enforcement issued 34 tickets for illegal camping and 59 this past year.
There are new signs at parking lots, informing that overnight parking is not allowed, as well as signage as people enter Canmore off the Trans-Canada Highway. A report noted a security company patrolled the lot twice between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
The program costs dropped from $40,650 in 2022 to $35,700 this year, but the staff report highlighted that figure could change as deposits were returned to people.
“I’m very grateful because I know we had a lot of debate at finance committee last year around bringing this program back in 2023 because we saw two years of a pilot that had really low numbers, but I think this year was the year of recovery and we see it in the amount of people living in their vehicles,” Coun. Tanya Foubert said.
“It’s a mixed thing for me because I don’t want us to have to do this. I want us to house people, but we can’t house everyone right now so I’m glad we have another option to keep people safe.”
In 2023, the program cost was $150 for the season with a $50 refund if the person followed the agreement for using the space. That compared to $10 a night in 2022. It also included one-time employment verification instead of every two weeks in 2022. For people to use the program, they have to be employed locally.
“I was very concerned we were enforcing something without having a compassionate response and I believe that this is a compassionate response for the summertime,” said Mayor Sean Krausert. “I believe the Homelessness Society of the Bow Valley brings a compassionate response in the wintertime, so to have this available where people really need them – some is by choice and some is necessity – it really helps balance it in my mind.”
