Innisfail's economically challenged citizens have a glimmer of hope that some day they might be able to afford the fees for the town's recreational services.
Town officials say if it is determined that there is a need, and a willingness by town council to move forward, they are prepared to look at options to help financially challenged citizens have access to Innisfail's fee-based recreational facilities, including the aquatic centre.
“This is something that we would certainly be interested in. The reality is that there is no doubt there are needs in the community and we would certainly want to address them to the best of our ability,” said Terry Welsh, the town's director of community services.
Unlike the City of Red Deer and the Town of Olds, Innisfail does not have a specific policy in place that helps financially challenged citizens to be able to afford user fees now in place for some of the town's recreational facilities. The City of Red Deer offers a subsidy of up to $200 a year to each eligible financially challenged citizen to access any recreation facility while the Town of Olds provides a 30 per cent discount from regular fees.
The issue of providing assistance to low-income citizens arose following a concern raised by Barry Lucas, a 61-year-old physically disabled resident who lives on $1,588 monthly support funding from the province's Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) program.
“People on AISH don't get enough money to go to the gym or the pool. A lot of people can't afford to go,” said Lucas, a former Drumheller prep cook who moved to Innisfail in 2006.
Lucas said he recently purchased a $255 annual membership at the aquatic centre, monies he saved since January. He said he's encountered other financially challenged citizens who are also wondering why the town has not created a support policy.
“They can't figure out why Olds and Red Deer has got it and how come we don't have it. Everybody has got passes but not us,” said Lucas. “They are saying, ‘What is going on. What is the town doing?'”
Tammy Oliver-McCurdie, the town's Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) manager, said statistics from February show that there are157 AISH clients in Innisfail who can be classified “economically vulnerable”.
She said the number of “economically vulnerable” citizens in Innisfail may be much higher as recent statistics from the provincial Alberta Works program, which includes citizens on temporary employment insurance or who have barriers for full-time employment, show an additional 1,681 financially challenged residents in Central Alberta. Specific figures for Innisfail were not available.
“Some people can live on low income very well if they plan really well and maybe their quality of life doesn't require a certain standard,” said Oliver-McCurdie in making the distinction between low-income and economically vulnerable. “I use the terminology economically vulnerable because obviously their income is not meeting their required needs, rather than low income.”
Welsh said any effort to develop a plan for council to consider would involve a thorough examination of a number of factors.
“It's not just looking at other jurisdictions. It is more complex than that,” he said. “We would be looking at trying to assess that need through our own FCSS department, to assess the need that is actually out there.
“It is not necessarily just about AISH clients. It's about how do you support all of the elements of our community that require a level of support,” said Welsh, adding any option forwarded to council to consider must have the least amount of administrative impact as possible and designed with assurances that information from Innisfail's vulnerable would be provided on a confidential basis. “How do you design and provide those mechanisms? You want to do that in a way that is accessible and fair, and also provides dignity.”
In the meantime, Lucas said if the town does undertake a serious look at the issue and council ultimately decides to accept a policy that would help the town's economically vulnerable access fee-based recreational services, it would ultimately lead to a better quality of life for many citizens and reduce health and medical costs to taxpayers.
“People are going to get healthier and won't be in the hospital half the time,” said Lucas.
