City crews clear Toronto encampment as shelters continue to face high demand
CBC
City crews cleared an encampment in a small downtown park in Toronto on Monday, but one advocate says the timing of the displacement at the start of winter is especially distressing for unhoused people.
About 15 people had tents set up in the encampment in George Hislop Park, on Isabella Street near Gloucester Lane, close to Yonge and Bloor Streets, according to Greg Cook, outreach team lead for Sanctuary Ministries of Toronto. The church and community centre provides services to marginalized people and is located next to the park.
"It's emotionally really tough. People are under duress," Cook said on Monday night.
Cook said people had no option but to pack up their few belongings and head either to a shelter or a new location. About 10 people accepted referrals to homeless shelters, while five people declined.
"Tonight, it's going to be freezing, literally. And so people had the shelters they had built for themselves taken down. Some people were able to hold onto their tents and they're going to have to set them up elsewhere," Cook said.
"It's really tough to survive in the winter and even tougher if you don't have a tent."
City staff offered shelter space to all unhoused people in the park before city crews fenced off the area. Toronto police were there. Later the city brought in heavy equipment to clear the park.
In an email on Monday, the city said it had given the encampment residents notice that the park would be cleared.
"Individuals were informed in late October that this resolution work would be going forward, given ongoing behaviours that were impacting individuals both in the encampments and in the surrounding community," Elise von Scheel, spokesperson for the city, said in the email.
The city added that it gave formal notice on Nov. 10 that the encampment would be cleared and it offered every person camped in the park not only shelter spaces, but also information on homelessness services and storage for extra belongings.
The park has now been fenced off to allow crew to winterize the park's irrigation system, the city said.
"Outreach teams have been supporting the individuals at this encampment on a regular basis since early September. The city will continue to do its best to get as many people into shelter and housing as possible, while ensuring communities can safely access their neighbourhood parks," von Scheel added.
Cook, however, said the displacement means people who did not accept shelter space are forced to find places less visible and less safe.
"Ideally, people would be offered housing. Nobody was offered housing. People are just being shoved around the city," Cook said.
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