A disgruntled citizen has received a ticket for spreading manure around an illegal supervised injection site in Ottawa.
The city of Ottawa has confirmed it issued a bylaw infraction ticket for $260 dollars to a citizen on Wednesday in Raphael Brunet Park.
Guy Annable says he was the one to spread the manure as an act of civil disobedience to get the unsanctioned injection site to move away from the park. He said it was part of a “fall fertilization program” to get the park ready for winter.
Annable wants the site, which is run by volunteer-based Overdose Prevention Ottawa, to move to a city-sanctioned site two blocks away.
Global News has reached out for comment to Overdose Prevention Ottawa, but hasn’t heard back at time of publication.
The site organizer told CFRA News the tents for the injection site would likely have to move closer to the curb because of the manure, “ironically … towards one of the neighbours who is not very happy with us being in the park.”
“To me, it’s just another example of the crap – literally and figuratively – that a lot of the volunteers and guests have to deal with on the day-to-day basis at this site,” she told CFRA’s Kristy Cameron.
Officials from Overdose Prevention Ottawa have previously said there was still a large demand for help at the site, which is why they weren’t planning on moving.
“Action by federal, provincial and municipal governments continues to fall far short of what is needed in the face of a worsening public health crisis,” a statement on their website reads.
Officials posted a video of the incident to Facebook.
Annabele said he had to take matters into his own hands.
“We’ve been actively pursuing our elected officials for the past 42 days … to no avail,” Annabele said.
Ottawa’s mayor and police chief both agree the site should move, but city officials say they can’t direct police to take action, and they’ve left it in the hands of by-law officers.
Ottawa police have also been reluctant to take action until an order from the city, Police Chief Charles Bordeleau told CBC.
“Since the bureaucrats have failed to do it … we said okay, we’ve got to fix this park up for the fall,” Annable explained.
“They’ve been there for 42 days with no ticket, I got mine within four hours.”
He said he didn’t do the area covered by the site’s tents, but he plans to continue applying manure over the weekend.
Officials from Overdose Prevention Ottawa have previously said there was still a large demand for help at the site, which is why they weren’t planning on moving.