Main Street Project says occupants in a lurch after city cleared out Mostyn Park camp

Main Street Project has said its staff raced to find temporary shelter for people living in a camp in West Broadway, near the Assiniboine River, after the city cleared out the site under its new ban.

The longtime camp in Mostyn Park had been the site of multiple fires in recent months and was a priority under the ban that took effect Nov. 17.

Jamil Mahmood, executive director of MSP, said after the city removed the camp’s occupants on Wednesday, staff from MSP and the West Central Women’s Resource Centre scrambled to find shelter for them.

They turned to the Salvation Army for help; it secured rooms in its shelter for the campers.

He said the city hasn’t clarified how its ban is being enforced, which he said has put people at risk during frigid conditions.

“We remain very concerned about the harms this will have on people living unsheltered and our ability to keep people safe, particularly with the freezing winter temperatures,” Mahmood said.

The ban prohibits encampments within 50 metres of schools, daycares, playgrounds and skating rinks. At Mostyn Park, a daycare operates at Balmoral Street and Granite Way, a short distance away. Encampments are also banned within 30 metres of transit shelters, docks, bridges and certain public facilities.

A large sign explaining the ban was recently installed in the park. Nearby, a naloxone kit hung from a wire. Along the riverbank, remnants of the encampment remained on Thursday.

The city had estimated 15 people were living at the site. MSP said it housed seven of them on Wednesday.

“MSP’s outreach team visited the site at different times around the clock to meet the people there and support them through this process,” Mahmood said. “This is on top of our work supporting all the other people living in encampments across Winnipeg.”

“There was some initial confusion around a fire cleanup, which resulted in a few people leaving the encampment and then returning or moving to other encampments.”

Mahmood said his organization wants to emphasize that shelters are only an emergency measure.

“This new policy and protocol on encampments highlights the major lack of available housing in Winnipeg,” he said. “For there to be meaningful work that prioritizes the safety, dignity, and human rights of those living unsheltered, there needs to be available housing to meet these needs before people are forced out of the places they are living.”

The city said Thursday 10 encampment sites have been cleared since the ban took effect. The city declined to say how many people were moved, where they ended up, or whether any were sent to an emergency shelter.

Earlier this week, city council’s executive policy committee voted to direct the public service to report back within 120 days on the feasibility of a managed encampment pilot project. The motion passed 4-2, with Couns. Evan Duncan and Janice Lukes opposed. Council will vote on it later this month.

Duncan, chair of the property and development committee, said Thursday he opposes the idea because it just moves people from one location to another and doesn’t resolve the issue.

“I don’t think it’s beneficial to say come to this city-owned piece of land, set up however you like, do any type of drugs that you like, have whatever weapon you like. Essentially, a lawless community that is probably going to victimize more people, probably increase drug trafficking, and probably introduce criminal and gang elements. I think this needs to be more thought out.”

Lukes did not respond to a request for comment Thursday, but has been looking into a small encampment in Bridgwater after residents raised concerns in a neighbourhood Facebook group last weekend.

The tent, positioned next to a concrete wall bordering Kenaston Boulevard near a Tim Hortons on North Town Road, remained there Thursday.

Lukes has said the city would ask Main Street Project to assess the situation, though she had no update as of Thursday. She has said the encampment is located in a park, which makes it a priority for the city to address. The city’s property and assessment department and citizen information service confirm the site is classified as a vacant park.

St. Boniface Street Links said its staff planned to go to the location on Friday.

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca