People living in Thunder Bay's tent encampments face another challenge — neighbours who want them gone

Complaints about encampments for homeless people in Thunder Bay have sparked debate at city council about how best to deal with them. 

At least six people have been sleeping on the city's streets this winter, according to Elevate NWO, a harm-reduction agency in the city. Encampments aren't new in Thunder Bay, but they're far more common in the summertime and have  been subject to violent attacks.

In one of the most publicized incidents, a pickup truck drove over a tent where someone was believed to be sleeping, in October 2021. 

At Monday night's council meeting, Susan Lester told councillor she was concerned with the encampments that had cropped up along the McVicar Creek trail – which is essentially in her front yard — last summer. 

From June to October 2022, she said her neighbours counted 22 tents.

The site was one of several identified by harm reduction groups like Elevate NWO as a place where homeless people were living. 

Lester, accompanied by Jeanne Adams who also lives nearby, said they witnessed people urinating and defecating, using the creek as a washing basin, screaming profanities, fighting, partying and starting fires.

On one occasion, Adams said she was terrified after someone rang her doorbell after midnight.

The main concerns from residents, according to Lester, are public safety and the environment. She showed council pictures of debris and dead grass left behind, and suds in the water potentially affecting the trout that spawn there.

Her ask to council was to approve a bylaw prohibiting overnight camping on city-owned trails and parks

"The problem is getting worse – and how many encampments are there going to be next summer?" she asked.

But Holly Gauvin, the executive director of Elevate NWO, says framing the issue in this way ignores the more pressing problem: people are living in tents because there isn't enough affordable housing for them.

A recent decision from the Ontario Superior Court decision could also affect the city's response. Last month, a judge ruled the Region of Waterloo cannot evict people from one of its homeless encampments if there aren't enough emergency shelter beds available.

Now, Thunder Bay councillors are seeking legal advice on what its response to encampments can be. City staff are to report back in April, providing an overview and analysis of the Waterloo ruling and what Thunder Bay's options might be.