Geraldine 1 - City Hall 0
MEDICINE HAT – Geraldine walked into court on Friday expecting to go to trial about two illegal camping tickets.
(By the way, camping is for fun and recreation. Simply trying to survive is NOT camping.)
She walked out with none.
A city lawyer - already there for other matters - withdrew both tickets.
No trial. No argument. Just gone.
Score one for Geraldine.
But here is who Geraldine is.
Geraldine Stuber March 9 2026 - Photo Kelly Allard
She is a First Nations woman and a leader of the Niitsitapi Kookums - a group that feeds street people every single day.
Snow, sleet, wind, blazing sun.
They don't stop.
They teamed up with the Weenie Wednesday ladies to cover every day of the week.
The Kookums come from all walks of life. They describe themselves as
A council of Grandmothers, Mothers Grandfathers and fathers from ALL NATIONS helping our community, Elders and youth and bridging the gap between Indigenous and Non Indigenous by our Street Outreach and Ministry. It started with handing out blankets. We follow the 7 Grandfather Teachings! If it’s not from Creator, Mother Earth or the water then we don’t need it… 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽✊🏼✊🏼✊🏼🦅🦅🦅
Reconciliation begins at the core of ALL people through healing and caring for eachother because what once divided us is now uniting us 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽
They have all been harassed.
They have all heard the awful things: "let them die." "take them to the train station."
They have even been shot at with a BB gun.
All My Relations
A Blackfoot man once explained it to The Owl.
They have no word for cousin, they use brother or sister instead.
All my relations is a common phrase they use, meaning we are all connected.
The Kookums live that.
The Chalk Problem That Won't Wash Away
Now, about those two trials still coming, one for each ticket.
The graffiti?
Chalk.
On the clock tower at City Hall Plaza.
Here is where the bylaw gets stupid.
The graffiti bylaw does not say anything about permanency. It does not say "spray paint only." It just bans graffiti. Under this law, chalk is legally the same as spray paint.
The bylaw also doesn't mention sidewalks. But spray paint on a sidewalk is clearly graffiti.
So if chalking a building is graffiti, then chalking a sidewalk is also graffiti.
Every hopscotch grid. Every "you are loved" message. All of it. Illegal.
A child with sidewalk chalk at the plaza?
Technically no different from someone with a can of spray paint.
A Wee Bit of Overkill
Nov 10 2025 Outside City Hall - File photo of 4 MHPS officers with guns and bullet proof vests confronting one woman about chalk.
Let's talk about waste.
The chalk ticket: The Owl took the photos. The Owl shot the video. We were there. Four uniformed police officers showed up to deal with a woman and a piece of chalk.
The math: Four officers. Dispatch time. Travel time. Officers were there for about an hour to write a ticket. Paperwork. Then a City lawyer for court. Then a withdrawal.
Easy five to ten staff hours across police and legal services.
For chalk.
Meanwhile, the Kookums feed people for free, with donations, in all weather conditions.
Council Members Saw the Absurdity
The Owl spoke with Councillor Young, Councillor Hellman and Mayor Clark when we interviewed them on March 10 2026 about meeting with the Kookums earlier this year. Councillor Young chairs the Administrative and Legislative Review and Government Relations Committee which happened to be meeting that afternoon. Young took this broken bylaw to the Administrative and Legislative Review Committee which he chairs. Councillor Yusuf Mohammed moved that the Committee recommend that Council directs administration to bring forward suggested amendments to the Graffiti Bylaw.
The minutes show that Mayor Clark moved to close the meeting to the public before they even discussed the graffiti bylaw. Behind closed doors. They cited Section 29 of the Access to Information Act - "advice from officials."
The public did not hear the debate. The questions. The advice from the City Solicitor. Nothing.
The motion to fix the bylaw? Public.
The discussion that led to it? Sealed.
The Bottom Line
Two illegal camping tickets? Withdrawn yesterday. City blinked.
Two chalk tickets? Still alive. Two trials coming, one for each ticket.
The bylaw? Treats chalk like spray paint. Could ticket your kid. Council knows it's broken. They asked for fixes in March - behind closed doors.
The waste? Four cops for chalk. A City lawyer for tickets that got withdrawn. Staff hours adding up. Taxpayer money burning.
The Kookums? Feed people every day. Get harassed, shot at, and told "let them die" for their trouble.
Geraldine 1 - City Hall 0
But the chalk trials aren't over. And the Kookums will be out there tomorrow, in whatever weather, feeding all their relations. Because that is what you do when you believe we are all connected.
The Owl has the photos. The Owl has the video. We keep watching.
For more information about the Kookums, contact them on Facebook.
