'How do people keep warm?' Demand for warmth outpacing supply in winter months
'How do people keep warm?' Demand for warmth outpacing supply in winter months
Regina housing advocates Joey Reynolds and Donnie Wood are speaking up, with the hope to spark change to make sure everyone has a warm place to stay, especially at night.
Reynolds has been in and out of homelessness for the past two decades and is all too familiar with spending nights outside in the cold.
“Not quite freezing to death,” he said. “But very frozen when I would wake up.”
Wood helps other find housing and volunteers at various food and soup kitchens.
Wednesday morning, temperatures in Regina hit minus 50 Celsius. Frostbite can occur within two to five minutes of exposure in those conditions.
“How do people keep warm?” asked Wood. “It doesn’t matter what type of winter clothes you have, you’re still going to be cold when you’re out all night.”
Carmichael Outreach said weekly, there is someone coming to their shelter in serious condition caused by the cold.
“We’re going to experience that more and more as we get deeper into the winter,” said development coordinator Amanda Benesh.
During the day, there are six options for warming shelters in the city.
The Newo-Yotina Friendship Centre, ‘SWAP’ on Albert St., The John Howard Society, Carmichael Outreach, Awasiw – The Warming Place and the Regina Public Library are open for individuals looking for warm up, have a coffee or hot chocolate or snack.
Only Awasiw is open during the night.
“In the evening, it’s very limited,” said Benesh.
Benesh said Awasiw’s capacity is about 30 beds for two hour increments. It is also an over 30 minute walk from All Nation’s Hope to Carmichael.
“What are they supposed to do in minus 50? Walk to a new safe place? It’s not an option,” she said. “Everybody has a right to a roof over their head and a warm place to stay. We’re not asking for much.”
While temperatures will remain below zero in the next few months, the extreme cold is expected to make its return.
Wood and Reynolds hope they will see action before the situation turns deadly.
“It’s about priority,” they said. “What is the priority for this community?”
W5 goes deep into the narco heartland to interview a commander with one of Mexico's most brutal cartels. W5's documentary 'Narco Avocados' airs Saturday at 7 pm on CTV.
Memphis authorities released video footage Friday showing Tyre Nichols being beaten by police officers who held the Black motorist down and repeatedly struck him with their fists, boots and batons as he screamed for his mother and pleaded, ''I'm just trying to go home.'
When selling a home, Canadians may be exempted from paying capital gains tax on a residential property -- if it's their principal residence. On CTVNews.ca, personal finance contributor Christopher Liew explains what's determined as a principal residence, and what properties are eligible for the exemption.
The head of the Canada Revenue Agency says it 'wouldn't be worth the effort' to fully review $15.5 billion in potentially ineligible pandemic wage benefit payments flagged by Canada's Auditor General.
A review has been launched after police officers were recorded restraining a handcuffed Indigenous child on the floor of a Vancouver hospital – an incident the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs has denounced as "horrendous."
The World Health Organization will announce Monday whether it thinks COVID-19 still represents a global health emergency but Canada's top doctor says regardless of what the international body decides, Canada's response to the coronavirus will not change.
Hyundai cars in Canada don't have the same anti-theft issue compared to those in the United States, a company spokesperson says, following reports that two American auto insurers are refusing to write policies for older models.
Sixteen Scottish curlers and 16 Canadians squared off against each other Friday morning as part of the 2023 Strathcona Cup, a tournament taking place across Canada.
Upward of five centimetres of snow fell in Calgary early Friday morning and officials said conditions were good, but the situation deteriorated later on Friday, leading to plenty of crashes and road closures.
The self-proclaimed spiritual leader accused of sexually assaulting four of his female followers between 2017 and 2020 made his first court appearance in Edmonton.
New details have emerged in an ongoing civil lawsuit against the City of Leduc as court documents detail allegations that women working as firefighters experienced systemic discrimination and sexual assault.
An Alberta government email review of whether Premier Danielle Smith’s office interfered with Crown prosecutors has taken a confusing turn, with duelling statements from two spokespeople on what was investigated.
The TTC is adding dozens of staff across the system daily in an effort to increase safety as it grapples with recent violent attacks that have left many riders shaken.
Toronto police have released images of a suspect wanted in connection with a stabbing at a TTC subway station in Etobicoke that left a teenage boy injured on Wednesday.
The Parliamentary Protective Service says it expects as many as 500 people to gather on Parliament Hill for an event this weekend to mark the one-year anniversary since the start of the 'Freedom Convoy' protest.
A review has been launched after police officers were recorded restraining a handcuffed Indigenous child on the floor of a Vancouver hospital – an incident the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs has denounced as "horrendous."
B.C.’s public safety minister made the right call asking for more information before approving Surrey's policing plans, according to two city councillors.
On Jan. 29, 2017, six men were killed and five others injured shortly after evening prayer at the Quebec City Islamic Cultural Centre. Montrealers gathered Friday to commemorate the victims and call for action amid a rise in hate crimes.
In an emotional and powerful speech at an International Holocaust Remembrance Day event in Ottawa, a survivor stressed the importance of remembering the millions of victims murdered by the Nazis during the Second World War and underscored the need to stand up against anti-semitism and hate.
The Francois Legault government announced the formation of an interdepartmental 'action group' on the French language to find ways to halt the 'decline' of the language in Quebec.
Victoria’s newest council has greenlit a contentious housing initiative that makes it easier to densify neighbourhoods, after a tumultuous and lengthy debate that’s gone on for years.
In trying to prevent of a large tax increase, Halifax councillors face another problem. They have to find more than $13 million in savings -- that means cuts.
The manager of a Tim Hortons in North Bay was wrong to fire a long-term employee because of her physical limitations, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario has ruled.
The body of a 29-year-old Sudbury nurse was recovered Wednesday night from a lake near Parry Sound after her snowmobile went through the ice, police say.
Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) shut down a section of a Perth County roadway Friday after they say a passerby discovered a body in the area overnight.
A Kitchener elementary school is responding to reports of a suspicious man who appeared to be watching or following students on two separate occasions.
