More and bigger homeless encampments have been set up across Canada recently and, with the help of advocacy groups, they’re taking on a more permanent feel.
Hunkering down for the winter, some have generators, heating stoves, winterized tents, and more. Advocacy groups have helped them obtain these supplies, along with legal help to stop attempts at moving them.
While many in these advocacy groups are well-meaning in offering charity to those in need, there’s also an element of “using these people as pawns in a political game,” says Mr. Smith, a resident of Cobourg, Ont. He preferred to use a pseudonym to avoid any impacts to his business for speaking on the matter.
Mr. Smith has dedicated much effort to looking into the growing encampment problem in his town—it’s one of the many smaller-sized cities in Canada seeing a homelessness and encampment problem for the first time. He noted the support of the local Green Wood Coalition and Legal Help Centre in “emboldening” the encampment residents to stay despite eviction notices and the desire of locals to see the encampment situation resolved.
Shelter space is available, but encampment residents choose not to use it for various reasons. This is common nationwide, and objections include that shelters may have curfews or prohibit drug use.
‘Unhoused Protestors’
At an encampment in St. John’s, Nfld., the Social Justice Co-op NL is running an initiative called Tent City For Change. The group calls encampment residents “unhoused protestors.” The encampment represents “a political movement,” said a volunteer for the organization, Laurel Huget, in a Nov. 29 interview with CBC.The Social Justice Co-op NL didn’t reply to an Epoch Times request for comment by press time. Nor did the Green Wood Coalition in Cobourg and a handful of other such advocacy groups.
Housing as a Human Right
The statement that “housing is a human right” is usually meant in the sense that the government should provide housing for everyone whether they do anything to earn it or not, Mr. Wudrick said. That doesn’t sit well with people who have to work hard and pay for their own housing, he said.“I think most people would be open to the idea of providing housing for people who are committed to, say, getting their lives back in order,” he told The Epoch Times. “But the idea that everyone is going to get a home and you don’t have to do anything at all to keep the right to stay there—I think it’s a political non-starter.”
He said it’s similar to safe supply policy, which gives opioids to addicts with the stated purpose of preventing overdoses from unregulated drugs, though critics say it fuels addiction. “It’s like you’re supposed to supply these things no questions asked. There’s no expectations, there’s no rules, you just get it,” he said.
Justice Carter in Kingston took note of these decisions and similarly said the city’s Belle Park encampment should not be removed, though he did say the tents should be removed during the day and only permitted at night.
“The existence of housing precarity and homelessness is intertwined with ... colonial reality,” it states. “The lack of affordable housing, the opioid crisis, racial injustice, police misconduct, and ongoing colonization all converge at these sites.”
It speaks of destigmatizing homelessness in the same terms safe supply advocates speak of destigmatizing drug use. Attempts to remove drug use or encampments from highly populated public places is said to drive people “into the shadows.”
Encampments an ‘Extremely Urgent’ Problem: Poll
The number of Canadians who feel encampments are an “extremely urgent” problem has greatly increased in the past few years, according to a 2022 National Survey on Homeless Encampments coordinated by Infrastructure Canada.It breaks down encampment information into “before the pandemic” and “since the pandemic.” Before COVID-19, only 11 percent of the general public felt this to be an “extremely urgent” problem, and 34 percent said the urgency of the problem was “low.” Since the pandemic, 45 percent say it is “extremely urgent” with another 28 percent saying it’s a high priority. Only three percent said the urgency is “low.”
About 75 percent of respondents said the number of residents in encampments in their cities had risen. And 80 percent reported an increase in the number of encampments.
The report also looked at solutions tried and the success of such solutions. Creating new shelters had the most success, with a reported success rate of 59 percent. Increasing availability of public and transitional housing and increasing capacity at existing shelters were also reported successful.
Mr. Smith has looked at solutions for Cobourg as well. He works in finance and has looked into costs for providing shelter and he thinks it’s manageable, it’s just that government bureaucracy and finger-pointing are getting in the way.
“Every politician and and political organization or government or agency is trying to spin it that it’s somebody else’s fault,” he said.
“I think the private sector needs to step up,” he said, adding he’s starting to organize that in Cobourg.
People are feeling unsafe, Mr. Smith said, with thefts allegedly perpetrated by encampment residents, open drug use, and unnerving encounters becoming more frequent. For example, he heard of a man getting into someone’s car in broad daylight while the driver was in it.
Another Cobourg resident, who wished to remain unnamed, said her neighbour recently found people sleeping in her backyard treehouse.
A recent town meeting in Cobourg on the situation drew hundreds, Mr. Smith said, bursting past capacity at the venue. The atmosphere was like a tinderbox, he said. “All it takes is the spark ... and this town’s going to explode. ... They want a vigilante solution because nothing’s happened.”
