Up to 40 people in a tent city set up in a Winnipeg church yard have been told they have to move out by Wednesday afternoon so that the church can host a weekend wedding. The Anglican church is now considering whether to allow the occupants to return.
Some of the occupants have mental health issues and addictions and the church property has been a refuge for weeks.
But officials with All Saints’ Anglican Church say they have a wedding rental booked and they need time to clean up the property for the event.
Tents, air mattress, tarps, shopping carts and a needle could be seen on the property, along with personal property and a portable washroom. The church has not forced anyone off the property and the number of tent city residents has continued to grow over the last few weeks.
Rev. Brent Neumann says the church intends to honour its Saturday wedding booking.
“We promised them the full use of the property and so that means we have to move people off and we have to get the place cleaned up before that,” he told CTV Winnipeg.
“So we're saying Wednesday afternoon will be sort of like a drop dead day. Everybody needs to get off for us to get the place cleaned. We have to get it cleaned."
Dwayne Williams, 38, sought safety and shelter there for a few nights before moving out over the weekend.
“The heat was getting to people and just hostility and tension in the air and after that I just had to go my own way.”
The West Broadway Community Organization, located in a converted home across from the church, has also had people sleeping on its property. Executive Director Greg MacPherson says that highlights problems with housing and health care services, which he says are affecting many Winnipeg neighbourhoods.
“They’re good people. They’re struggling right now and so I think we are trying to get to the root cause of why they’re there and not strictly look at the current state they’re in.”
But the executive director of the Broadway Neighbourhood Centre says the church encampment is making people feel unsafe because of used needles on the ground and confrontations on the street.
“Everybody deserves to have a roof over their head, a meal, and a safe place to call home. So I think that we need to look at all three levels of government and try to figure this out,” said Lawrence Mulhall.
Winnipeg police say they have been visiting the church site and that interactions with those there have been positive.
But Neumann says there have been complaints.
“We’ve had some people say, well, you’re being irresponsible and from our perspective, we’re a Christian church. We’re called to love people. We’re called to reach out to those who are in need. Is that being irresponsible, by reaching out and allowing people who are in need to be here?”
Neumann and Families Minister Scott Fielding were scheduled to meeting Monday afternoon and the reverend has called a special meeting of the church’s leaders for Tuesday to decide how to proceed after the wedding.
“The question we’re facing is: Do they come back?” said Neumann. “And if they come back, how do we deal with it? What do we need to be doing and what’s the best way of handling it?”
He said his church community faces a difficult decision.
“It’s a question of how do we morally, how do we ethically, approach people who are in need and at the same time deal with the neighbours who are concerned, (and) deal with the safety issues.”
Fielding told reporters that housing and health workers have visited the tent community to help people staying there get connected with social services. Fielding acknowledged that more affordable housing is needed and the Manitoba government is working to provide it.
“So far, as a government we’ve opened and provided operating funding through rent-geared-to-income for close to 487 new units. A part of that, 42 per cent, are social housing units.”
With a report from CTV Winnipeg’s Josh Crabb
