Tensions rise in Charlottetown neighbourhood after serious assault, issues at seniors' housing

Warning: This story contains details of an assault that some may find disturbing

A Charlottetown woman says she's afraid to go outside in the community where she grew up after an assault earlier this year — and she's not the only resident to voice concerns about the changing neighbourhood.

Kate Lee lives on Victory Avenue in downtown Charlottetown. A few blocks away sits the Community Outreach Centre, a provincial facility established in 2021 to help people without homes get access to services.

"The neighbourhood has really changed," said Lee. "I don't think the area can handle any more."

Lee says she was walking home at about 10 p.m. on May 7 when she saw three young women in a nearby parking lot, one of them kicking a car.

"I told her she was a twit," said Lee. "Her friends and her took offence to that."

Lee says the women followed her and pushed her down onto the sidewalk.

"[I] literally got my head kicked in. I had throttle marks around my neck," she said. "I was unconscious for a few hours. I'm not sure how many hours."

Lee went to the hospital for treatment the next day. Weeks later, she says she's still dealing with the aftereffects of the attack.

"I forget things," she said. "I don't like to go outside unless I have to. I get headaches. It's really hard to wash my face."

No leads, say police

Lee can't definitively connect the young women who attacked her to the Outreach Centre, but she sees it as a symptom of how the neighbourhood has deteriorated since the centre opened.

"I don't know if some of them [the centre's clients] realize how much damage they're doing to the neighbourhood," she said. "I mean, needles lying around. There was a lady on Orlebar [Street], her dog brought in a bag of used needles, like a Ziploc baggie. It's just gross."

Charlottetown Police Services chief Brad MacConnell told CBC News nearby security cameras weren't any help but the investigation into Lee's assault continues.

However, he said, "We do not believe it was related to the Outreach Centre." 

Police say 36 assaults were reported at the centre in 2022, all involving people at the centre, either among clients or between clients and staff.

MacConnell isn't aware of any cases of centre clients assaulting anyone else, but he knows residents are worried.

"We know that there are concerns," he said. "I'm acutely aware of the perception of safety from neighbours and passersby that see certain activity and are concerned or unsettled by it. There'll always be isolated incidents."

'A time for understanding and compassion'

Two police officers are dedicated to the centre, with funding from the province. They reply to calls about incidents at the centre, but also spend time building relationships with the goal of being able to better defuse any issues that do arise.

The population served by the Community Outreach Centre is a vulnerable one, said MacConnell, and he asked for understanding and compassion about the work being done there.

The way that we need to deal with issues has to evolve.— Chief Brad MacConnell

"These are important services delivered. They have to be delivered somewhere," he said.

"This is a time for understanding and compassion throughout our city and province, and understand that things that once were are not always the way they are now, and the way that we need to deal with issues has to evolve also."

MacConnell believes the centre's high visibility location is partially to blame for the concerns.

The Community Outreach Centre was established at what had been the Charlottetown Curling Club in June 2021, and its operation was taken over by the Adventure Group in April 2022.

Director Roxanne Carter-Thompson said centre like this almost always spur complaints from neighbours.

A youth centre run by the Adventure Group had to move three times, she said, until they stopped putting a sign over the front door — and the complaints stopped.

"If they had known that we were there, and the population we were working with, anytime something got stolen you can bet our clients would have been accused of it," she said. "But when they didn't know we were in the area, there were no incidents reported."

Carter-Thompson has her own issues with the Community Outreach Centre's location, saying people driving by are sometimes abusive, shouting insults or directing lewd comments at clients outside the centre.

A place to be supported

But like MacConnell, Carter-Thompson said services have to be delivered somewhere.

"If they weren't at the Community Outreach Centre, where would these individuals be? They would be all over Charlottetown, and that presents a problem," said Carter-Thompson. "At least when they're here, there are trained staff that are here to support them."

The centre connects people to provincial services to help move them away from homelessness, but also provides financial counselling, phone and computer access, and help for people looking to complete their high school education.

And the need for those services is growing dramatically. Carter-Thompson said the Adventure Group had 350 clients when it took over two years ago. Now it has 710.

Dealing with trespassers

Seniors living in nearby Champion Court are among those saying the Outreach Centre is creating problems in the neighbourhood.

They say non-residents find their way into the secure building, roaming the hallways and using the laundry room. When people were found sleeping in the common room, management decided to shut it down altogether — including for legitimate residents.

"We had to lock it all down because of them coming over, getting in, sleeping on the couches," said resident Wayne Casford. "They're disrupting our lives, and we probably don't have that long left. Let us live it in peace."

Melanie Moffat said the change has been a loss for the building's residents.

"People used to be able to come in and play cards at night, or just social gathering in the daytime and enjoy each other's company. It was a way of meeting other people when you move into a new place. That has changed," she said.

"We miss it, and we're trying to figure out a way to have those times again."

Challenges go back years

Carter-Thompson said problems in the neighbourhood aren't new, though.

"There's been lots of challenges in this area over the years, long before the Community Outreach Centre came to the curling club," she said.

As for MacConnell, he doesn't believe the problems in the area are out of line with anywhere else, given the population density and high traffic.

"As far as problems being displaced from other areas of the city, I think it's too early to tell," he said. "Certainly we're mindful of that, and it's not the only area of the city that is challenged."

Lee doesn't dispute that the Euston Street area hasn't been the place she grew up in for a long time.

"But not to the point where you can't have bathrooms [in the local coffee shop] because people are overdosing in them," she said. "You can watch [people] selling drugs and doing them … It's really obvious."

Another move?

The centre's location on Euston Street was supposed to be temporary; its services had been offered at three different spots before it settled into the former curling club.

Now that provincial space on Park Street is no longer being used for COVID-19 screening, Carter-Thompson herself has said a new outreach centre would ideally be located there, next to a provincially operated emergency overnight shelter complex made up of modular units.   

There are people who are looking to be helped, and there are waiting lists, and there's not enough room.— Kate Lee

The provincial government has been inviting people to an information session this coming Wednesday "to discuss the proposed expansion of health and social services at the 68 Park Street property."

That's expected to include the long-awaited overdose prevention site that will be operated by PEERS Alliance and overseen by the Department of Health and Wellness. 

It's unknown at this point whether the Community Outreach Centre might be involved somehow.

The session will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. at Memorial Hall in the Confederation Centre of the Arts. 

Whatever happens next, Lee doesn't know what the solution is.

"I do feel for the people with mental illnesses," she said. "There are people who are looking to be helped, and there are waiting lists, and there's not enough room."