The fracas that followed a recent fire and clearing of an encampment at Beemer Park received a thorough airing out during a meeting of Hamilton councillors on Wednesday.
There continue to be different interpretations of the confrontation between police and activists, even as winter settles in, and the focus is on helping an estimated 80 to 90 people who continue living in the city’s parks.
Edward John, the city’s housing director, says it’s an ongoing challenge, and one that’s “not uncommon at this time of year.”
“We are struggling with capacity in all of our shelters,” John said.
“It is a daily response that we do to see what is available” to connect individuals with shelters, he said.
John is expected to present a plan for additional shelter services during Thursday’s community and emergency services committee meeting.
“As the pandemic began, we expanded our system almost double in terms of delivering that additional capacity,” John said. “However, we have had tremendous struggles with outflow — that’s getting individuals into housing, getting opportunities for them to leave the shelter.”
Kojo Damptey, executive director of the Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion, repeated his call, during Wednesday’s general issues committee meeting, for charges to be dropped against several young Black activists.
The arrests, which related to the alleged breaching of a police perimeter, date back to protests during and after an encampment teardown following a fire at Beemer Park on Nov 24.
Damptey has also called for a judicial inquiry into the actions of all police officers present during those confrontations.
Damptey told councillors on Wednesday that officers who were involved in the arrests of encampment supporters “have racist attitudes or espouse racist beliefs.”
Hamilton Police were not available to respond to the allegation because of an ongoing investigation by Ontario’s police watchdog (SIU), but Mayor Fred Eisenberger called Damptey’s statement “terribly unfortunate.”
Police have said that the demonstrators broke through police tape and compromised an area created “for the safety of workers cleaning the area, encampment residents, city staff and outreach workers.”
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