With seven of the eight Edmonton homeless encampments deemed high risk by the city and police, clean-up crews and officers arrived at the last of those still standing on Tuesday morning, prepared to dismantle it.
But they were met with resistance from people who live in the camp — in the area of 95th Street and Rowland Road — and from advocates who showed up to support them.
Some of those advocates directed verbal criticism at the police officers for following through with the camp’s removal.
Police said one person was arrested and said a charge of assaulting a peace officer was pending against him.
Police said while the man was not Tasered, “during the arrest, police activated the Taser without using it, as the male was resisting arrest.”
Police did not provide details about the alleged assault that led to the arrest.
While there was initially a large police and city presence at the scene, by noon the number of officers and cleanup personnel had dwindled as they reassessed how to proceed.
By mid-afternoon, police and residents agreed that only structures that aren’t currently occupied would be dismantled.
The city said while the planned closure “was in full compliance with the city’s obligations under the interim order, including providing advance notice to social agencies, the city adjusted its approach given the number of third parties onsite.”
A warming bus was provided to occupants while the city, with guidance from an Indigenous Elder, conducted a partial cleaning of the site.
“No occupants left the site today,” the city said in a news release.
Roy Cardinal lives in the camp and suggested that even if the dismantling of the encampment is successful, it will likely only reappear elsewhere.
“If this piece of land here has something on it that’s very important … and I have no reason to be here … then I will move,” he said. “I’ll move the 25 feet or whatever it is … and pitch up (a tent) again … They’re going to tell me the same thing over and over.”
Police said displacement is something they’re working on but that they will continue to do their job.
“We struggle with this every time,” said Deputy Chief Warren Driechel. “The alternative is doing nothing, and I know that’s not the answer.
“We have to understand the dynamics of these encampments, continue to keep the pressure on it as a collective, as a group — not just from a police service, but as a city, as a partnership as a whole — so that we incentivize people to look elsewhere.”
Shelters have standards, he said.
“They clean daily, there’s security on site, there’s appropriate staffing and they have those ratios that have to meet,” Driechel said.
“There are rules and there are things that people need to abide by when they’re using the shelter system,” he added. “And in a lot of cases, they’re not willing to do that. So when we see that people have addictions issues want to use their drugs and they’re not allowed to use it in a shelter, they won’t use the shelter system.”
During a technical briefing and news conference Tuesday afternoon, police stressed how dangerous these camps are to those staying there, to police, to cleanup crews and to the general public.
Police said, in some cases, booby traps are set up to prevent police from entering.
Staff Sgt. Michael Dreilich said a man riding a bicycle rode into a head-level wire pulled across an area in the river valley but had his head down and was not seriously injured.
The encampments are high-risk for a number of reasons, he explained.
“Flames are not suitable within that structure. So when my members are responding, when first responders are responding … the chance of an explosion is very real.
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“Knives are common … that’s almost a given that there would be a knife within in any encampment. Bear spray is common. There’s also concerns with replica firearms and real firearms,” Dreilich said.
The deputy chief added that biohazards are also a concern.
“We know the discarded needles are a risk to our members, to the cleanup crews and just to the public maybe walking through those areas,” Driechel said.
“Some of the drugs that we’re seeing on the street right now, whether there’s fentanyl, xylene, those are extremely toxic just to be in the air.”
The city explained an encampment is assessed as high risk when there is a serious risk of injury or death due to fire, carbon monoxide poisoning, drug use, gang violence, physical violence including weapons, public health and/or sanitation risks, environmental degradation and/or criminal activity.
It is also assessed based on its proximity to local amenities including schools and playgrounds, the number of people and structures in the encampment, if the location has previously been an encampment site and how long it has been in place.
“There is always kind of a concern that within the narrative that the high-risk encampments are not high-risk, that these are simply OK,” said Driechel.
“The reality is it’s risky and it’s dangerous. I think that we will look back on this time we’ll wonder why we allowed this to occur to the depth that it did, this entrenched encampment where people, significant amounts of people, are at risk daily.”
He said he would like to see resources and supports easier to access.
“There are supports for people out there, whatever they’re facing, if it’s homelessness, if there’s addictions, if there’s mental health issues out there, the supports are there. But right now it’s on the individual to go try to go find it and connect all the time. And that’s the difficulty, I think, is that if someone living on the street, they’re living rough. We’re trying to push them to that service,” Driechel said.
“How do we make that easier for them? Maybe those services need to be collected in a hub. Maybe there’s more opportunity for people to engage in those services.”
Dreilich thinks offering drop-in day shelters could help.
“Other jurisdictions have … different shelters set up where there is actually drop-in centres and drop-in availability during the day. That would be a huge help in terms of what we can do differently.
“So the expectation is that if folks choose to live in the encampment in the night or during the night, then by daytime, they’ve packed up their stuff and they’re going into the drop-in centre during the day,” he said. “That would be a huge shift in how we do things here … Especially with with our climate, that would be a huge help.”
The encampment removal was slated to happen as Edmonton received only its second significant dump of snow this fall and winter and as temperatures plummeted in Alberta’s capital, prompting the city to enact its extreme weather response protocols to help keep vulnerable Edmontonians warm.
In a news release, the city said Bissell Centre staff were on site, providing support with basic needs, cultural supports, de-escalation, and connections to housing information and supports.
The REACH 24/7 Crisis Diversion Teams were also on site to provide transport and support as needed.
The city said shelter capacity increased Tuesday with the addition of the NiGiNan Housing Ventures’ trailer shelters which has 49 spaces and Monday night’s activation of 50 spaces at the Al Rashid Mosque as part of the extreme weather response.
Police Chief Dale McFee and other officials in the city have described many of Edmonton’s homeless camps as dangerous places because of concerns regarding fires, health, drugs and crime.
In 2023, the city said Edmonton Fire Rescue Services responded to 135 fires in encampments resulting in 22 injuries and three deaths.
On Tuesday, the city said that over the past five years, EFRS has reported at least seven deaths and 26 injuries from 276 fires that could be attributed to tents or encampments.
“This number is likely a significant underestimate due to the challenges inherent in investigating these types of fires,” the city said.
Between Jan. 1, 2023 and Oct. 22, 2023, the city said there were 13,683 complaints about encampments from concerned Edmontonians.
Late last year, police identified eight “high-risk encampments” for removal, but an emergency court injunction sought by the Coalition for Justice and Human Rights on Dec. 18, 2023, was granted by a judge and briefly postponed the plan.
While the injunction has been extended until the application for a lawsuit against the city’s encampment response is heard on Jan. 11, a judge ruled that the city and police are still allowed to remove high-risk encampments as long as several conditions are met, including that officials ensure there is enough shelter space available to accommodate those being forced to leave.
Some advocates for unhoused Edmontonians have argued that it is cruel to dismantle the camps, particularly as temperatures get cold because some homeless people do not feel safe in a shelter or are reluctant to go because they cannot bring their pets or possessions.
Some residents of the 95th Street camp said Tuesday they also did not wish to move because they have a sense of community with their fellow encampment residents.
Police found weapons at Dawson Park encampment
On Tuesday, police tweeted that officers seized a number of weapons while tearing down an encampment at Dawson Park last week.
Police said officers found 10 samurai swords, 11 machetes, 34 other knives including butterfly knives, two axes, brass knuckles, a collapsible baton and a pellet gun.
In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Premier Danielle Smith called the seizure a “sobering reminder that illegal encampments pose a significant risk to not only our most vulnerable, who are being preyed upon by organized crime, but also to the surrounding communities at large.”
Increasing Edmonton’s shelter capacity
In a news release issued Tuesday afternoon, the Alberta government provided an update on its work to increase shelter capacity in Edmonton.
The government said more than 150 new Indigenous-led emergency shelter spaces are opening in northeast Edmonton, increasing the number of shelter spaces in the city from the current 1,500 spaces.
The government noted it has provided $35 million to shelter providers to support 1,700 spaces for vulnerable Edmontonians and that as part of that funding, it is giving $3 million to Niginan Housing Ventures to operate up to 100 emergency shelter spaces in its Pimatisiwin location, which is the site of the former Sands Hotel in northeast Edmonton.
The province said it was also providing $2.3 million to Enoch Cree Nation to operate up to 100 emergency shelter spaces at Maskokamik, located in the former Coliseum Inn.
“While it has been a mild winter to date in Edmonton, we know that as temperatures drop, vulnerable people will be leaning more on the shelter system for a safe, warm place to stay,” Seniors, Community and Social Services Minister Jason Nixon said.
“We will continue to work closely with Niginan Housing Ventures, Enoch Cree Nation and our other partners in the community to ensure spaces are available for those in need, including Indigenous-led spaces like these.”
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