Safety, image concerns drive councillor to propose ban on roadside encampments By: Joyanne Pursaga Posted: 5:46 PM CDT Tuesday, Jul. 22, 2025

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This article was published 22/07/2025 (436 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A longtime councillor is pushing to have encampments banned from Winnipeg’s major streets to stop the risk of people wandering into traffic and improve the city’s image, but the head of Main Street Project says it could have unintended consequences.

“Along our major thoroughfares, our image routes, it’s not just about the visibility of the encampments. There’s an aesthetic (issue) but, also, it’s dangerous. It’s dangerous for the people who are living at those encampments. The ones… around the Disraeli (Freeway) are so close to a major thoroughfare (and it) would be dangerous if (people) were to fall into traffic,” said Coun. Jeff Browaty.

Some people who live in encampments use drugs and/or suffer from mental health issues, which adds to the safety risk, the North Kildonan councillor said.

He will seek to expand a recent council motion that aims to prohibit encampments in community gardens, playgrounds, areas with spray pads and pools, community centres and other spaces designed for children and families, while prioritizing enforcement in those areas. He wants to include “image routes,” which he defined as prominent traffic arteries throughout the city.

Browaty said adding those routes would also ban encampments alongside entry roads to the city and main roadways heading into downtown. As examples, he listed Disraeli Freeway, Pembina Highway, Portage Avenue, McPhillips Street, Main Street, St. Mary’s Road, St. Anne’s Road, Kenaston Boulevard and Regent Avenue.

Mayor Scott Gillingham said he is also concerned about tents pitched alongside busy streets.

“When you’ve got people… camping close to roads, especially major thoroughfares, to me, it’s an issue of safety. I think that can be and should be looked at,” said Gillingham.

The mayor said the city could explore time limits on when tents are allowed, such as banning the practice during daytime hours.

However, he said Winnipeg should research any options and consider whether they would hold up to a legal challenge, based on the experience of other cities.

“We want to learn from what has been done already, so… anything we would bring in can hopefully stand,” said Gillingham.

“There’s an aesthetic (issue) but, also, it’s dangerous. It’s dangerous for the people who are living at those encampments.”–Coun. Jeff Browaty

But a leader of Main Street Project, the city’s main mobile outreach provider, said simply banning people from staying in tents at specific spots could create new problems.

“I’m not understanding the effort to ban encampments (in certain) places when we don’t have a response for where people are going to live… We’re not sure it’s even legal for the city to do some of these things,” said Jamil Mahmood, the organization’s executive director.

Mahmood said bans could displace people into new areas, such as private property.

“We want to respond to public concerns but also respond in a way that’s reasonable and makes sense to actually address the root causes of the problems,” he said.

Mahmood said he hasn’t seen data indicating pedestrian-vehicle crashes are more common around encampments, which makes it tough to determine if that threat is perception or reality.

The head of another homeless outreach group said she fears those living in roadside tents do face unique risks.

“It’s never going to be a good thing to have people trying to exist in encampments along major arteries,” said Marion Willis, executive director of St. Boniface Street Links.

For example, she said people at the sites may also be more likely to panhandle, which can put their safety at risk and distract drivers.

“When you’ve got people… camping close to roads, especially major thoroughfares, to me, it’s an issue of safety.”–Mayor Scott Gillingham

She said the city should reconsider where encampments will be allowed in the future.

“We have encampments scattered through every quadrant of the city… I think the responsible action is to find a few areas in the city where we can have sanctioned encampments and service those sites,” said Willis.

Designated encampment sites could allow outreach workers to centralize efforts to connect people in need with housing and social supports while also offering portable washrooms, she said.

A Point Douglas resident said raising concerns about encampments is challenging, since many with homes near the sites fear being deemed insensitive to vulnerable people.

“Many (Winnipeggers) have… a lot of compassion for what people are suffering from. You have to distinguish that from the criminal element of bike chopping… and the people who don’t want to live by any rules,” said the resident, who asked not to be named.

Some neighbours have invited people in need into their homes to provide them with showers, food and clothing, the resident noted, while also reporting they feel unsafe in their own yards, partly due to encampment fires.

City council will debate the calls to prohibit encampments in specific places in September.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

X: @joyanne_pursaga

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Joyanne Pursaga
Reporter

Joyanne is city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. A reporter since 2004, she began covering politics exclusively in 2012, writing on city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in early 2020. Read more about Joyanne.

Every piece of reporting Joyanne produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.