Edmonton mayor calls for province to address release protocols after detainees dropped off in Chinatown

New video that shows more detainees from correctional facilities being dropped off in Edmonton's Chinatown has prompted the city's mayor to call on upper levels of government to address release protocols.

On Wednesday, CBC News reported on surveillance footage showing a provincial corrections van dropping off a former detainee in a private parking lot in Chinatown. On Sunday, CBC News received new footage, recorded Friday evening, that shows at least seven more former detainees being dropped off in a Chinatown parking lot.

At a news conference on Monday, Mayor Andrew Knack said he believes the provincial government needs to show exactly how it plans to address the issue, including what supports people receive after they leave custody.

"It's one thing to say the words that, ‘We see this problem, we've identified the problem,’" he said.

"It's something else entirely to say, ‘And here's the sequence of actions we're going to take.’"

Last week, after CBC News first reported about the drop-offs in Chinatown, a statement from Alberta’s Ministry of Public Safety and Emergency Services said the department is “reinforcing expectations with staff that releases occur at appropriate public locations and not on private property.”

Release of detainee into Chinatown parking lot prompts anger, calls for reform in Edmonton

Knack said a plan for someone leaving a correctional facility needs to include reintegration and followup.

"How are we ensuring that person is getting all of the necessary supports and care so they're not falling back into maybe a place of homelessness, that they're not falling back into issues like mental health and addictions?" he asked.

Knack said he wants the Alberta government to provide information about timelines for addressing shortages in housing, recovery and other supports.

Knack said Edmonton has an unusually high concentration of correctional facilities, with eight such facilities. He said the city is also a northern Alberta hub for social services.

"The disproportionate pressure that our city faces due to the concentration of these services means that we need a uniquely Edmonton approach," he said.

Coun. Anne Stevenson said the city has seen at least a dozen people released into Edmonton in what she described as a state of "incredible vulnerability."

She said the city is asking the province for a "reintegration co-ordination framework," pointing to non-profit organizations already doing this work.