'I'm not into poli-tricks': Moncton charity blasts city council
Moncton city council got an earful Monday night from the founder of the non-profit Humanity Project.
"I'm not into poli-tricks," Charles Burrell said. "People going hungry and sleeping out on our streets is not a game, and it's not funny to me."
Burrell was frustrated by delays in an expected loan from the city, especially after the anti-poverty group met all of the city's conditions for it.
In November, council agreed to lend the Humanity Project and What Kids Need Moncton $200,000 if the groups could meet 11 conditions.
"We bent over backwards," he told council Monday. "We completed this stuff, and then you came back with more stuff ... and then you changed the conditions again on us.
"It's not rocket science that there's something going on here that's clearly just not right."
Burrell said he felt like he was having "déjà vu" and wasn't sure why he had to come back months later to make the same request for a $200,000 loan and a $25,000 grant from the city for 10 years to pay back the loan.
The Humanity Project, which offers a soup kitchen and helps the homeless to find housing, and What Kids Need Moncton are already using the former curling club building on Lutz Street.
Burrell said in November the groups have secured $290,000 for the building but the owners are asking for $450,000.
Decision expected within a week
Mayor Dawn Arnold said the goal is for the Humanity Project to continue to help people "in a responsible and sustainable way."
The conditions for the $200,000 loan include ensuring that building and fire code rules are met, that the loan is secure and that the city review the financial situation of the Humanity Project and What Kids Need Moncton.
"The bottom line in working with the Humanity Project is really to ensure that the $200,000 that's being proposed as a loan to the organization is being done with all the due diligence that would be expected of us as a municipality," said Catherine Dallaire, general manager of parks and leisure.
Dallaire said a staff report will be provided to council within a week, and Arnold said a decision on the loan will be made then.
"While we admire what he's doing and admire what the group is doing we also have to ensure that it is ... in the best interest of Monctonians," Arnold said.
"We have to be able to, if something goes wrong, be able to get that money back. And at this time, that's all a bit murky and so we have to get that clarified."
Burrell thanked everyone on city council who was supporting his group, saying their open mind to create change would benefit all citizens. But he had another message for those who "stand against us."
"You don't have to worry about us making you look bad because you're just going to do that to yourself," Burrell said.
"If you still don't understand the issues surrounding poverty in our community, and the progress that has been made, then I'm done wasting my time. Because we can't explain it in simpler terms than we already have."
