With extreme cold ahead, Sudbury groups provide support for the vulnerable
The bitter winter wind is expected to feel much colder, leading to an extreme cold alert being issued for Sudbury.
When temperatures dip down to -15 or -20 with the wind chill, the Greater Sudbury works with the Homelessness Network and their six agencies to offer additional support for those who don’t have a place to get warm.
“It’s obviously going to be the coldest night of the year so far this winter,” said Raymond Landry, Homelessness Network coordinator.
“Our outreach van will be out there for sure. The warming station at the Samaritan Centre will be open for sure. We will encourage our team to fill every available bed of the shelter, for women and for men.”
The Homelessness Network said outreach workers will be driving in their van to communicate and help the city’s most vulnerable to give them what they need to stay warm or give them a ride to a warming centre.
Since the pandemic began, the need for services has increased and continues with the high cost of living.
“People with the economy have grown poorer, so they have less access to resources, there’s more food bank use, more food being used at the Samaritan centre, more need for the services and more use,” Landry said.
A city spokesperson said since last year, it’s been able to take steps to address the growing need and there are beds available for those who need them.
“We implemented an additional shelter program last year as a response to our encampment strategy so we could make sure we had available shelter beds when people wanted them,” Gail Spencer of the City of Greater Sudbury said.
“So far we’ve been doing really well, where we’ve had available shelter beds when people wanted them.”
The Homelessness Network said there are a number of online resources and a few hotline numbers people can call if they don’t have a place to stay.
With extreme cold like this, the message is to ask for help, if you need it.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING | 3 people stabbed at Halifax-area high school; 1 person in custody
Police in Halifax say three people have been stabbed and a student is in custody following a weapons complaint at a high school in Bedford, N.S.

W5 Investigates | How did a healthy teen die at a minor hockey camp?
The parents of young Ontario hockey player Ben Teague have been searching for answers since he died while at a team retreat in 2019. The mystery about what happened and the code of silence in hockey culture is explored in CTV W5's 'What Happened to Ben,' on CTVNews.ca and W5's official YouTube channel.
Conservatives forcing MPs to vote on striking new foreign interference study
In an effort to keep the foreign interference story at the forefront, and to do an apparent endrun around the Liberal filibuster blocking one study from going ahead, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is forcing MPs to debate and then vote on a motion instructing an opposition-dominated House committee to strike its own review.
Amazon to lay off 9,000 employees on top of 18,000 in January
Amazon plans to eliminate 9,000 more jobs in the next few weeks, CEO Andy Jassy said in a memo to staff on Monday.
Donald Trump's call for protests gets muted reaction by supporters
Former U.S. President Donald Trump's calls for protests ahead of his anticipated indictment in New York have generated mostly muted reactions from supporters, with even some of his most ardent loyalists dismissing the idea as a waste of time or a law enforcement trap.
LIVE @ 11:30 A.M. | 6 still missing after Old Montreal fire; Mayor to address media
Officials are still looking for victims after a fire ripped through a building in Old Montreal last week, killing at least one person. At a press conference Monday morning, spokespersons for the Montreal police and Montreal fire department said six people are still missing. They come from various locations in Quebec, Ontario and the U.S.
opinion | Biden's Canada visit is long overdue, expert says
Questions abound as to why U.S. President Biden is only now making the visit to Canada, more than two years into his presidency.
Ontario court permits Nordstrom Canada to liquidate closing stores
Bargain hunters are one step closer to seeing sales at Nordstrom's closing Canadian locations. At a hearing at Osgoode Hall in Toronto on Monday, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice gave the U.S. retailer's Canadian branch permission to start liquidating its merchandise.
Canada's among central banks try to calm markets after UBS deal to buy Credit Suisse
Some of the world's largest central banks came together on Sunday to stop a banking crisis from spreading as Swiss authorities persuaded UBS Group AG to buy rival Credit Suisse Group AG in a historic deal.