Heather Wright/The Independent

“Drugs are being sold right on the front lawn.”

That from Sarnia City/County Councillor Chrissy McRoberts as she pleaded for more security at Lambton County’s temporary shelter on Indian Road.

The community surrounding the former Laurel Lea Church has been complaining about the people leaving the shelter and wandering the neighbourhood. Some enter yards, defecate on lawn and, McRoberts says, there is open drug use. 

“Right on the property, we have this happening,” she said at the Oct. 15, county council committee meeting.

“The police are there every night, multiple times a night. How are we going to handle this? Because it is our responsibility that people are there and they’re on the property.

“We have an entire community that is being torn apart, because these folks are everywhere, and there is drug use and there is violence.”

McRoberts, who is on the police services board, says the police chief tells her the situation is not improving.

Sarnia City/County Councillor Bill Dennis has also heard from the neighbours of the shelter who send him photos of “four or five, six, even six, Sarnia police cruisers at that facility. So it’s really taking up a lot of Sarnia police resources.”

Melisa Fitzpatrick, general manager of the social services division, says there is a lot of traffic coming from the shelter, but she believes with the added security on site, “the amount of unfavourable activity…has decreased over the last few months.”

Fitzpatrick said the residents in the area might say it is still too much.

“I can commit to looking at our security, our model of how things are done and see if there are ways that we can improve it.”