Misinformation surrounding Children Matter Community Services' plans for a property in 100 Mile House was cleared up at a Nov. 12 District of 100 Mile House Committee of the Whole meeting.
In attendance at the meeting was Shawn Enns, the founder and acting president of Children Matter Community Services, as well as Tyler Judd, the owner of the property in question, as well as 60 concerned members of the public. Children Matter Community Services was founded in Kelowna in 2022 to provide compassion driven support for children and youth in the community.
"We provide services throughout the Okanagan, we're in the Cariboo obviously, and then up north in Haida Gwaii, the Nechako Lakes area, and we are now branching out to the West Kootenays," Enns explained.
The controversy began when they expanded to 100 Mile House, which Enns said they did because of the need for child services in the community. The organization aims to provide specialized home support services for children and youth - effectively foster and youth care. Enns added that the Ministry of Children and Family Development has issued contracts for areas like 100 Mile House where there is a large need for children and youth services.
"There were contract offers for the 100 Mile area quite early on with this new model, and our company was fortunate enough to be awarded those contracts," Enns said.
Enns and Judd planned to renovate Judd's property to meet these needs and requested council amend its definition of a childcare facility to include their planned foster home. As a result, some of the property's neighbours came to believe a halfway house was being constructed within the community. This led to a petition being circulated, which asked homeowners or renters if they would support group homes for troubled youth or halfway houses in single-family residential neighbourhoods.
"That misinformation was kind of spread throughout the community like wildfire. And so everybody was quite worried that this was just going to be a halfway house," Enns explained.
In response to the petition, District deemed that the bylaw zoning had not been suitable for their services, and the District of 100 Mile House directed Enns to stop the renovations. That's why Enns came to explain their plans and ask the district to reconsider. While several of the concerned neighbours did attend the meeting, it was not a public hearing.
"This really isn't a place for everyone else to engage," stated District of 100 Mile House Mayor Maureen Pinkney.
During the discussion, Coun. Donna Barnett questioned the consideration Enns had given to the neighbourhood and if there would be people coming and going from the property all night. In response, Enns said that it was very important for them to have a good neighbour policy in every community they were operating in. Coun. Dave Mingo also asked how the company does education for the kids within their system.
"We make it a point to try and connect the youth to their community - including education, so creating plans with the youth, trying to enable them to attend classes, either regularly or customized," Enns replied.
In response to another question asked by Mingo, Enns said that there was a zero-tolerance policy when it came to illicit drug use within the house.
"If any youth was to come into that home bearing large amounts of illegal drugs, we follow proper procedure - we call RCMP - contact probation, typically if they are at that point, they're already involved criminally, but none of it is too much of a concern," Enns remarked.
Coun. Marty Norgren, meanwhile, inquired if the program would have an end date, to which Enns replied that it was an age-dependent and circumstance-dependent program.
"This contract that will be rewarded is a three-year term, with the potential for a 10-year renewal, but in terms of how long we take care of the youth - it's very case-specific, because some may be there their whole life until they age out," stated Enns.
Two weeks later, during the Nov. 26 Committee of the Whole meeting, Joanne Doddridge, the director of economic planning and development with the District of 100 Mile House, stated that staff had reviewed all of the existing bylaw definitions and found they were aligned with the Community Care and Assisted Living Act regulations. Council decided that it would be better if Enns went through a site-specific rezoning process, rather than amending the child care definition.
"So a new application will be submitted with some new definitions that we're going to try and get added to this site-specific change, and then we're just working alongside the district to figure out what that looks like and figure out the most suitable definition," Enns stated. "I do respect that they took initiative and responded to the community because that shows they care."
