Kagan Kneen knows the value of a supportive community. He recently returned to the area he grew up in to surround himself with family and friends as he and his husband await the birth of twins this spring.

In his role as the executive director of Lloydminster’s Men’s Shelter, he’s doing his best to ensure that unhoused individuals are surrounded by similar supports.

Kneen was born and raised in Marwayne, Alta., which made attending Lakeland College an easy choice. He completed his business administration diploma before earning his bachelor of commerce through Lakeland’s partnership with Athabasca University, graduating in 2008.

“It was the first year Lakeland offered the ability to complete the degree through Athabasca while staying at Lakeland,” Kneen recalls. “I was excited to be able to do that rather than figure out the living situations somewhere else. It made the most sense.”

At Lakeland, he enjoyed the faculty, the facilities, and the opportunity to study while surrounded by the friends and families he’d grown up with, played sports against, and went to school with. After graduation, Kneen worked in local and regional management positions in telecommunications in Saskatoon and Calgary before he and his husband made the decision to move back to Kneen’s home region.

Raising awareness

Kneen gives back through his role with the men’s shelter. He’s been tasked by the board of directors to find a larger facility so they can offer more housing solutions and emergency shelter to unhoused individuals. He also provides support and direction to the shelter, and works to improve community relations by having more conversations about the challenges unhoused individuals face.

“It’s been good but very challenging,” Kneen says. “It’s a hot button topic, not just in our community, but across Canada. It’s not that there weren’t unhoused individuals when I was growing up or going to Lakeland, but with the cost of living, the economy and the kinds of drugs and alcohol available right now, it’s blown up, especially post-COVID. There has been a surge of unhoused people globally.”

Kneen says he understands that the topic can be controversial and understands when people express their concerns about the shelter, especially as he looks for a larger location.

“Nobody wants to have a shelter close to their businesses or their residences and I completely understand,” he says. “But at some point, we have to be able to take care of the people who need us.”

To raise awareness and funds for the shelter, Kneen launched a fundraising initiative that saw him run from the British Columbia/Alberta border to the Saskatchewan/Manitoba border in August. It was a way to start conversations while raising funds, and it gave him the opportunity to visit other shelters and learn from them.

“I ran 40 to 60 km/day for 26 days,” he explains. “It was very physically demanding and mentally exhausting but it was great because it started conversations that weren’t necessarily had before. Visiting the other shelters was eye-opening. Some of them have been around for a long time and some for only a few years. I was able to talk with leadership about what worked well and things they wished they’d done differently.”

Those conversations have helped inform his current decisions when looking for a new facility.

“Being close to a downtown core is essential because our clients need access to services like health care, banks, registration for ID recovery and more.”

There is another side to the conversation that Kneen thinks might get lost in the dialogue, and one he hopes to help share.

“These people are more than just the faces of the unhoused,” he says. “They are individuals who truly want to get back on their feet. But everyone is painted with the same bad brush. We are trying to change that dialogue and give hope back to these individuals who have been struggling, who really want to find employment and permanent housing. Providing shelter is step one.”

The other steps involve providing more extensive services that Kneen hopes they can offer in a larger facility. Now, the shelter has hired a case worker who works with other agencies to find supports like treatment facilities, detox housing and employment opportunities.

Staying connected

Kneen has stayed connected to Lakeland since he graduated. He donates to a scholarship annually and visited a foundational learning class to share more about the work he does. He’s currently working on convincing various nieces and nephews to follow in his footsteps and apply to Lakeland as they reach the end of their high school journeys.

As for his hopes for the shelter, Kneen is looking to keep the conversations going and invites anyone interested in learning more about the work the men's shelter does and the clients served to connect with him.

“I encourage people to come and tour the shelter,” he says. “We had two youths come in with an adult to volunteer and they helped serve meals and sort donations. They kept coming back and saying the guys were so nice and super friendly. That’s what I really want the community to understand. There are individuals who are using our facility and our services who are trying to better themselves. Come see what we can actually do in such a small space."