Over a month since police cleared the homeless tent encampment in front of Regina City Hall, a steel fence with ‘No Trespassing’ signs continues to stand.
On July 28, 2023, officers from the Regina Police Service (RPS) cleared the tent encampment which forced the inhabitants to seek shelter elsewhere. What remains are memories of what occupied the lawn of city hall and “a lot of human biological elements,” as the mayor describes.
“The language I’ve been using is the grounds are quite polluted,” said Mayor Sandra Masters. “We’re not prioritizing the work of replacing the green space this year. We have (to) work on schedule, and we have a short construction season, so we’ll continue that.”
Chrysta Garner, development coordinator with Carmichael Outreach, said seeing the fence in front of city hall is ‘quite awkward’.
“I don’t think that anybody is going to go back there at this point,” said Garner. “It’s been about a month now since the encampment has been put down, so there’s really no reason why that shouldn’t have been cleaned up.”
Garner said Carmichael Outreach will continue to support those in need with the necessities such as various facilities.
“We are a safe space. We are a place that they can come, and no questions asked,” said Garner. “We want everybody and anybody that needs the help to come here.”
Mayor Masters added that the pricing for the replacement of the lawn will be reviewed as there was some discussion 20 years ago about completely renovating the courtyard.
“I think that city planning and the folks that take care of parks will be reviewing this over the winter and it will be prioritized early next spring,” she said.