ATHABASCA – A familiar face in Athabasca won’t lose his access to the local homeless shelter despite pleading guilty to assaulting a staff member in January.
Steven Bigstone, 61, pleaded guilty to assault, as well as breaching a weapons condition, as part of a joint submission in the Athabasca Court of Justice March 4. Bigstone left the court with a 30-day sentence, deemed served by the 32 days he had spent at the Edmonton Remand Centre since his arrest.
On Jan. 29, an intoxicated Bigstone attended the Athabasca Cares emergency overnight shelter. After initially being denied entry, he was eventually allowed in. After asking the employee if she was afraid of him, Bigstone lunged at the woman, grabbing her by the shirt and cocking his fist back as if he was going to punch her. Another client at the shelter intervened, and Bigstone eventually left.
“Although it’s serious in general, no actual contact was made thankfully,” said Kerr, who said he had spoken with staff from the shelter before the court date.
“They came and spoke to me and said they would like him to be able to come back to the shelter — it’s the only place he’s able to go, and obviously we do not want him outside in the winter.”
The breach of a weapons condition was a little less straightforward, according to Kerr. While Bigstone was found in possession of a weapon — and also intoxicated in public, which breached a prior release order — he was only brought into the RCMP detachment after he had sought shelter inside a building during a cold snap that saw temperatures plummet to as low as -37 C.
“In a sense, I don’t want Mr. Bigstone to be punished essentially for being homeless. When I read the facts of that breach, I found them to be a little unpalatable,” said Kerr.
On Feb. 3, five days after the incident at the shelter, Bigstone entered into the vestibule at the ATB in Athabasca. After tripping an alarm meant to deter homeless people from sleeping in the space between the street and the bank itself, the RCMP were called. The officers said they wouldn’t remove Bigstone until an offence was committed, citing the cold weather and a non-attend condition for the shelter, but Bigstone was later arrested after becoming aggressive.
“He’s in a really unfortunate situation. He’s homeless. Often, before it burnt down, people went to the old hotel that used to be down the street and had some level of shelter, but that’s gone now,” said Kerr.
Bigstone waived his right to a formal Gladue report — a type of pre-sentence report that takes colonial factors and legacies into account for Indigenous accused — but his lawyer Gord Collins highlighted an ongoing issue with alcohol addiction as the root cause of the offences.
“As someone who knows others and myself has had issues, 61 may seem old but it’s never too late to try and get a handle on your issues,” said Collins.
“He’s had a lifelong addiction, but it’s now springtime, the weather is better, and perhaps he can work on getting off alcohol. He’s indicated to me he will try.”
