About 23 years ago, a Gazette scribe by the name of Richard Foot penned a column about the outrage 100 petulant M.D. of Sturgeon (which has since changed, of course, to Sturgeon County) residents expressed over a proposed new housing development.
“First we need better roads,” one woman blasted at the council of the day.
“Sturgeon Heights is getting overcrowded already,” chimed in another.
“Lots of us moved out here to enjoy the life in the valley, and I don’t want to see any agricultural land lost,” pleaded yet another, who obviously, or conveniently, forgot that the very act of her moving to the valley was using up agricultural land.
And so it goes when you get a bunch of people in a room, arguing their ‘not-in-my-backyard’ case to local politicians. The whipping of frenzy is palpable, and the piling on of half-truths or outright lies unmistakable.
Fast forward to today, and lo-and-behold, we are again witness to a county dust-up. This time it’s over a proposed Hope Adventure Centre near the Riverside and Hu Haven subdivisions. The centre is the new name for the Boysdale youth camp that operated from 1948 to the early 2000s. Two evangelical pastors are hoping to turn what was once summer camp into a year-round educational retreat, to be used by youth ages 18 to 24 who’ve grown up in government care and are transitioning to independent adult life.
One of the pastors running the centre, John-Mark Gal, told the Gazette that youths in the camp would need a referral from Alberta Child and Family Services and a background check coming from foster care and would have to pass additional screening.
Cue the dramatics.
Unfounded statements erupted from a contingent of about 50 county residents who told their county councillors they want nothing to do with the Hope Adventure Centre. An impassioned Cindy Cook said Gal’s group planned to significantly change the campsite’s operation from a partial-year youth-based camp to a year-round one with “up to 60 ever-changing adult clients who had previously been living on the streets.”
Cook claimed that out of the 84 families in the region, about 80 per cent had signed a petition opposing the camp. She later told the Gazette that, “There’s no information on how they vet these adults,” adding she’d be okay with the camp reopening if it was summer-only and for young kids like the old Boysdale camp.
Ignore the fact (which was, indeed, ignored) that the Hope Adventure Centre group spoke on the project at a community meeting hosted by then-mayor Tom Flynn and published an open letter on their plans. Ignore the fact that the land in question is zoned for a camp and the folks behind this plan are completely within their right to execute it.
Collectively we should be thankful there are groups like this that are willing to help foster kids, who grew up without the advantages most of us take for granted, instead of railing against them. We should recognize the group’s efforts for what they really are – humanitarian. Lorraine Lindberg said it well when she commented on the Gazette’s original story online, “Our job is to help our youth and mentor and advocate for them to be productive good citizens, not throw our youth out into someone else's back yard.”
