The planned cleanup of two encampments in Saskatoon has been paused due to aggressive protests, the city said.
Crews were set to clean two vacant lots at Avenue K between 19th Street and 20th Street Thursday morning when protesters tried to stop them from working, the City of Saskatoon said. It alleged that the demonstrators circled crews’ vehicles and climbed on top of the fencing, which was stacked on one of them.
“Saskatoon Fire Department, police officers and other partner agency staff were confronted by aggressive protestors, directing profane, derogatory and vulgar comments at them,” the city claimed in a news release.
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Workers present at the site Thursday reported the majority of those involved did not appear to be encampment occupants, according to the City of Saskatoon.
The city acknowledged that its decision may frustrate people in the area, including the students, families of students and staff at the St. Mary’s Wellness and Education Centre, who have been requesting Saskatoon to step in for a year.
David Fineday lives in Saskatoon and is a member of the Sweetgrass First Nation. He spoke at a news conference at the encampment site Thursday, before the city announced it is pausing work.
“They want to displace all of these people; they want (them) to get out of here. And my question is, ‘where are they going to put them?'” Fineday told reporters, adding that “they want to take them down, so they have to re-place them somewhere.”
He said the city should have to provide people who would be displaced with alternative places to live after the site is cleaned up.
“There’s lots of people here that want help, that need help, that are on survival mode,” Fineday added.
“This tent city is just like any other neighbourhood in this city. The only thing is we don’t have affordable housing.”
The City of Saskatoon is planning its next steps for the encampments, it said.
The headline should read, Police stand down from enforcing law due to ‘vulgar comments’.
Omg! No racism or ignorance here. Let’s see the “city” spends 300,000 on plastic rocks lol now couldn’t the city that lost her lustre and city council not doing a damn thing humanely to fix the issue come out talk to these human beings yes some have mental issues STOP JUDGING n profiling, city of saskatoon has lost her and if you dont know the real true issues with these ppl in those not all are lost souls we all have our stories of why,who,no way,what ifs,oh NO RENTERS RIGHTS IN SASKATOON
TY HAGD
All my life, if I wanted a place to live…I went to work….Choices people make come back on them…. Stay off drugs and alcohol, get a job…..Most of the people living here couldn’t maintain any type of housing. Just destroy it?
I see that our best and brightest are here in the comments section, spewing thinly veiled racism.
‘Aggressive protestors’ YEAH ! LETS SEE HOW AGRESSIVE THEY ARE BEHIND BARS, FOR 1 MONTH !!!
Do like ICE, rub their face on the concrete!
Let’s make mental institutions great again
Anyone who protests removing illegal vagrants should open their doors for the homeless, or shut up.
Time to return to justice and remove the people who panhandle, those who destroy our parks with tent cities.
Findlay: the tent city is not like any other neighbourhod. It is illegal and they do not pay property tax for the services they get. – who picks up the trash. Who pays for the sanitation and drinking water. Who pays for the policing.