City program clears parks, green spaces of thousands of discarded needles, more than 150 weapons

A seasonal program to clear dangerous materials out of downtown parks and green spaces collected thousands of needles and more than 150 weapons in just a few months, prompting calls to expand it.

Between April 14 and Oct. 3, two city employees cleaned up 16 sites two or three times per week. Overall, they removed 6,358 needles, 177 weapons, 659 bags with remnants of drugs and 1,293 pipes, along with other drug-related items.

Other city staff, such as gardeners and garbage collectors, cleaned up an additional 1,064 needles from the same sites.

“When you look at 16 parks and over 6,000 needles found, certainly it was more needles than I would have expected. It also just shows what the reality is out there,” Dave Domke, the city’s manager of parks and open spaces, said in an interview.

The cleanup effort followed growing complaints from families and daycares struggling to find safe spaces for children to play in the downtown area.

The 2025 budget devoted $60,000 per year to clean up the “high risk” parks, which will resume next spring.

The city report notes “high volumes” of needles, weapons, and drug paraphernalia have been consistently found this year at six other parks. To add regular cleanups at those sites would require $28,200 more each season and another half-time staff position, it notes.

Domke said city staff were directed to work within the existing budget, so any expansion would require city council approval.

“If they do (that), our recommendations would include those additional six parks,” he said.

Mayor Scott Gillingham said the price of the expansion seems reasonable.

“I’m very open to that discussion. I believe there may be a way to accommodate that,” said Gillingham.

The mayor said the sheer volume of dangerous materials collected at local green spaces offers one reason the city banned encampments in many public spaces, such as schools and playgrounds.

“This report shows why we established an encampment policy… to get people out of tents, away from parks, away from playgrounds. These are tot lots that we’re talking about that have needles in them, and weapons,” said Gillingham.

A resident whose neighbourhood includes two of the parks receiving regular cleanups said he had asked the city to clear the sites in the past.

“We have kids playing in these parks and, God forbid, they pick one of these needles up or don’t see a particular needle,” said Darrell Warren, president of the William Whyte Neighbourhood Association.

Warren would like to see the program expand further.

“I’m glad to see the report but it just shows you how widespread this problem is. That these people that are doing the drugs, are actually in parks shooting up… and they just drop the needles wherever,” he said.

Warren noted his neighbourhood association also regularly picks up syringes at Pritchard Park, one of the city’s “high risk” sites.

Coun. Cindy Gilroy, who pushed for the park cleanups, said the data shows a “desperate” need to continue and expand the program.

“There is clearly a need for us to do more needle pickup…. It’s really important that we make these parks safe for children and families to use,” said Gilroy (Daniel McIntyre).

The councillor stressed all governments need to work together to address the root causes of the debris, as well.

“We are clearly seeing mental health (issues) and addiction… Until we really find a way to break down the barriers and get people the supports they need, we’re going to continue to see our parks struggling,” she said.

The city report notes most of the weapons collected were knives and other “sharpened implements,” though hatchets and crowbars were also found.

While riverbank parks with encampments had the highest number of needles found, staff cleaned up only the perimeter of those sites, since it was deemed too great a safety risk to enter them.

“The crew witnessed serious incidents in some of the areas they were working in, such as violent altercations or individuals in various states of distress. As the program continues, the public service will consider additional supports for staff participating in the program,” the report notes.

Domke said future supports could include possible personal safety and conflict resolution training.

The program includes the Assiniboine Riverwalk, Bonnycastle Park, Central Park, Fort Douglas Park, Freighthouse recreation centre, Furby Tot Lot, Giizhigooweeyabikwe Park, Gord Dong Park, Magnus Eliason recreation centre, Maryland Bridge, Michelle Jean Park, Millennium Library, Mostyn Park, Pritchard Playground, St. John’s Park and Stephen Juba Park.

If the six additional parks noted in the report are added, regular cleanups would be added at Vimy Ridge Park, Jacob Penner Park, Cornish Library, Alderman John O’Hare Park, Broadway Neighbourhood Centre and the Dynasty Building.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

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