St. John's tent encampment weathered snowstorm with community support, says volunteer
CBC
As parts of St. John's saw more than 70 centimetres of snow Thursday night into Saturday morning, about a dozen people at the city's encampment waited out the storm in their tents.
Chris Glavine of Tent City for Change, a group of volunteers that supports people at the encampment, says morale was "quite high" as people were well-fed and warm, and helped each other shovelling.
"We do a lot of prep as opposed to the government [which] shows up the day before and scrambles to try to get people into shelters that are often full and don't accept people even though they've been told to go there," said Glavine.
Glavine said volunteers ensure there is enough supply of food, blankets, clothes and propane ahead of time, and distribute it to the people at the encampment close to downtown.
He criticized how public washrooms in the adjacent Bannerman Park, which had been temporarily shut down in November due to a rise in vandalism, were closed off once again during the snowstorm.
"I'm guessing the security guards who were stationed here 24 hours a day went home due to the storm, and fair enough for their safety," said Glavine.
"But the government's response, instead of leaving the bathroom available, just the basic decency of a bathroom in the middle of a snowstorm, they locked it up. How does that not show that government's not only incapable but unwilling to provide for people in the way that the community is?"
Glavine said measures like that are one of several reasons why those who stayed in their tents during the storm didn't feel safe going into shelters — not even as a temporary solution.
"They know that we're not going to lock them out. We're going to help them as much as we can," he said.
"That, to me, speaks volumes, that they're saying, 'We're not going to go into these temporary shelters, these warming centres. We want safe, affordable housing. And we're willing to stay out in a storm that brings 75 centimetres of snow to show our determination that this is what we deserve.'"
Download our free CBC News app to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Click here to visit our landing page.
Moncton artist Alan Spinney doesn't usually paint on a five-by-five inch canvas, but he and his wife have started doing that for a new mini-art gallery.
Residents of Pimicikamak Cree Nation are celebrating and relieved now that power and electricity are being restored to the community.
Two people are dead after an early-morning highway collision on New Year’s Day, the Saskatoon Fire Department said Thursday morning.
A small group of Haitian Canadians celebrated the island nation's Independence Day at a B.C. church on Thursday by serving soup that symbolizes freedom.
The crowd of spectators was much larger than the number of people lined up to go into the icy waters of the Charlottetown harbour for Thursday's polar bear dip.
In a park just outside city hall, along one of the main routes through Williams Lake, B.C., sits a memorial to Cheryl Folden, a woman described as a former drug dealer who died after a lifetime of struggling with addiction, abuse and homelessness in the province's Cariboo region.
A day after officials first asked Calgarians to reduce their water use in the wake of Tuesday’s catastrophic water main break, the city says it is not seeing any real reduction in usage.
City of Calgary officials are set to give a technical briefing about a major water main break that caused flooding and prompted a boil water advisory for parts of Calgary.
Recent satellite images suggest Tasiujaq, Que., could have higher tides than the Bay of Fundy, but Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) says it has no immediate plans to make a true comparison between the two sites.
A woman is dead after a collision on Highway 401 near Dixie Road in Mississauga, according to paramedics.
It’s been 200 years since London, Ont., was first legally founded as a small village at the Forks of the Thames River, and according to city hall and a number of local historians, heritage advocates and organizations, it’s an anniversary that’s well worth celebrating in a big way.
A man is facing more than a dozen charges including sexual assault and forcible confinement after Toronto police say three people were attacked on New Year's Eve and there may be more victims.
It's hard to go a day in Calgary without seeing magpies or hearing their iconic screech.