About the Episode

On this special podcast version of The Breakdown, we are proud and excited to share a conversation with Founder and CEO of “Be The Change YYC”, Chaz Smith. As the expression goes, the measure of any society is how they take care of their most vulnerable. There’s no question that some of the most vulnerable Albertans are the ones who survive on the streets. The number of homeless Albertans in our province continues to grow, and their vulnerability has only increased during the Pandemic. As part of the early pandemic response, the government of Alberta set up several warehouse style shelters across the province, but those shelters have received a lot of criticism. In Calgary, part of the initial response to care for the homeless population was to house members of the homeless population in vacant hotel rooms, but this option was squashed by the province citing suicide concerns and stating that the rooms would have to be retrofitted to removed string and wires, despite the ready availability of these items on the streets where the homeless spend most of their time. Additionally, the province obtained exemptions to decrease the required social distancing from 2 meters to 1 m inside of homeless shelters, which to many, created a significant double standard. This is our extended conversation.

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