Drug paraphernalia, open bathroom use at encampment worrying for Dartmouth, N.S., residents

Dartmouth, N.S., residents concerned over tents Some Dartmouth, N.S., residents are concerned over a tent encampment in a neighbourhood.

There is growing concern over a tent encampment in a Dartmouth, N.S., neighbourhood.

“It's just not safe,” says Shannon O’Connell.

She is one of many long time residents living near Northbrook Park who are feeling uneasy about a non-designated encampment.

In the last month the encampment grew from two tents to more than 10.

“My daughter doesn’t feel safe. She was playing over here the other day and there was a box of needles, she sees people using the bathroom, the feces, the urine,” O’Connell says. “Everybody does deserve the right to shelter and the warm place over their head, but everybody does deserve to have respect in a public place.”

Andrew Myka says the drug and alcohol use, along with the unsafe disposal of drug paraphernalia, has him on edge.

“I would think that there are more appropriate places and it would be the city's place to provide those places where it’s safer for them and safer for the community,” says Myka.

Area councillor Sam Austin agrees.

“We can’t just shrug and say there’s nothing we can do about this. We have to try and make this situation a little bit better for everyone involved. To me, we need to shut down Northbrook Park. This can't continue like this,” Austin says. “You have to be able to answer the basic question, ‘If I can’t stay here, where can I go instead?’”

Right now there aren’t many options. Designated encampment sites are packed and provincial projects like the Pallet homes are months behind schedule.

There will be a discussion at city council on Tuesday about designating more encampment sites around the city. Austin says if that doesn’t happen, encampments could start growing in other areas that aren’t suitable.

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