The city has removed parts of the homeless encampments at Hollinger Park and behind Living Space.
Community services director Steph Palmateer says there were fires at both locations last week. The fire department and Mushkegowuk Fire Keepers outreach workers removed hazards from tents that were occupied.
“They removed things like propane barbecue tanks and a number of different potential fire hazards,” Palmateer reports.
During that work, it was noticed that some tents were abandoned.
“A number of those tents had been burned in the fire; many were covered in snow and were kind of frozen in the ice. So we cleaned up the one behind Living Space on Tuesday, and then on Wednesday, we did the same at the Hollinger Park.”
Palmateer says workers didn’t touch ones that were obviously still in use. The city is waiting for a legal opinion on whether it can also remove them.
“It appears that the province will be enacting legislation that will change how we’re able to deal with those encampments on park lands and city property in the future,” he says. “But until that change happens, it’s kind of a grey area right now.”
Palmateer agrees with the suggestion that even then, there are questions about where the campers would go, and would they want to.
