MOOSE JAW - Mayor Clive Tolley, city hall, the business community, the Good Neighbours Group, and other residents are to blame for the closure of Riverside Mission and cancellation of its building project, the charity says.
Joe Miller, Souls Harbour Rescue Mission’s (SHRM) executive director, told MooseJawToday.com in an exclusive interview that he was “very honest” and clear during the July 9 city council meeting when he said Riverside Mission would leave Moose Jaw and withdraw services if the building project experienced further delays.
SHRM would cancel the project, while Riverside Mission would stop serving meals and offering shelter space, he said during that meeting. SHRM would demolish the more than 100-year-old Manitoba Street location, sell that land and the project’s proposed site to recoup costs, and move to a more welcoming community.
“And now, SHRM is just doing what it said it would do should things continue to drag out. We’re just following through on that … ,” he told MooseJawToday.com. “It is a sad day.”
The “heart of the issue” is the fact Souls Harbour faced “extensive delays” in acquiring a building permit from the City of Moose Jaw, Miller said. It was 12 weeks ago when the charity applied for a permit, and over those three months, it received nothing.
City hall told Miller that the Riverside Mission building project was the only major commercial initiative in the queue. However, he later learned that certain officials were on vacation, that other departments were reviewing the permit application, and that information on the city’s website about approval timelines was inaccurate.
“And by the way, the city has changed that now, but our waiting time is still virtually double what the city’s new timeline is,” Miller said. “Calls have (also) not been returned to us (and) emails not responded to … .
“It’s hard not to look at this process and see it as simply stalling the issue of our permit,” he continued. “It’s either stalling or incompetence — you choose.”
These delays — and others — increased the project’s cost to $5 million from $4 million, which was too much for SHRM to handle, Miller said. Moreover, he and the board were “disheartened” after multiple Moose Jaw tradesmen and companies declined to tender on the building.
“And not to mention, you have a mayor who is opposed to the project. And he seems to be quite comfortable in side-stepping the city’s own policies and procedures to achieve his desires,” the executive director remarked.
“It’s hard not to wonder if he sees himself above the city’s rules — and that’s a real question that the citizens of Moose Jaw need to ask themselves.”
Overall, Miller believes this situation came down to businesses valuing money over the poor and treating addicts and the homeless as worthless.
“Let’s … call it what it is: this is capitalist greed, simple as that,” Miller said. “When the core of the opposition is invested in another multi-million-dollar project (a Hilton Hotel) down the street, well, you can connect the dots on that.”
Miller expressed regret about having to lay off two “very good” employees because of this situational “tragedy,” noting they were dedicated to helping the needy.
Meanwhile, SHRM is not to blame for this situation, but instead, “this is on the negative voices in the community” — like the Good Neighbours Group, the mayor, city administration, some businesses and residents — and an “unwelcoming atmosphere,” he added.
Miller thanked everyone who donated money, saying SHRM spent it all attempting to bring a new building to life. Specifically, the organization spent almost $700,000, which was more than it received in donations.
Even though Riverside Mission is closed, SHRM is willing to work with other charities and churches to feed the less fortunate. It has met with local agencies to discuss how it can fund their efforts and continue helping the community.
Despite Riverside Mission’s closure, Miller celebrated the fact that Souls Harbour had successfully fed and housed people after acquiring the “dilapidated and cost-ineffective” venue five years ago. In 2019, the Regina-based charity found that the Moose Jaw-based charity was in a “dismal state” internally and externally and near collapse organizationally.
“We rescued a deeply divided and struggling operation, invested in it, even guiding it through the pandemic and tough inflationary times,” he said.
SHRM went “above and beyond” supporting Riverside Mission, as it also shared large quantities of food and funds with other charities, which it will continue to do, Miller continued.
“I just ask people to really open their eyes. This is NIMBY (not in my backyard) on steroids. And really, this comes down to valuing one human being over another,” he added. “And I find it hard to see the friendly city here.”
