The “decommissioning” of an encampment in Regina’s Core Community Park was set to be completed by the end of day Tuesday. Speaking to reporters Tuesday afternoon, Regina Fire and Protective Services (RFPS) Chief Layne Jackson said the decision to dismantle the encampment came after crews responded to three fires in the park over the weekend, in addition with rapidly falling temperatures. “We’ve determined that the conditions, the danger, the risk is imminent, and we need to make the closure immediately,” he said. According to Jackson, the incidents over the weekend involved explosions and one person being taken to hospital to be treated for burns. “What we can confirm is a pattern of folks bringing open flame devices and open fires into their tents, along with compressed gasses such as just paint, which would create a very, very dangerous and imminent situation,” Jackson explained, adding that investigations are still underway. Those staying at the encampment were notified of the city’s decision Tuesday morning. A fence has since been erected around the park, although Jackson did not have a timeline for how long it will stay up. “The fence will be part of securing the property, and other departments will be involved in restoring and bringing it back. That timeline, I don’t want to speculate on that,” he said. “Our focus for today is on prevention and mitigating those hazards and making sure that we don’t have any further loss or injury.” As snow started to fall during the afternoon, many were brought to the site, including community organizer Mandla Mthembu, who lives two blocks down from the park. “The problem is that people don’t have housing and people are living in abject poverty, while having intergenerational trauma and health risks,” he said. “Whether that’s addiction, mental health related, disability - a lot of things that happen when you live outside for a long time.” Mthembu was on-site lobbying for the RFPS to consider waiting on the dismantlement. “We’ve been in a bit of a triage state trying to think, how can we as community members voice with the folks who are staying here, [find] solutions rather than saying and blaming risk on some folks. Now the entire ecosystem that exists here is going to suffer and be displaced because of that.” A neighbouring resident of the encampment says they’re ‘tired of cleaning up the messes of people going through their garbage cans. “They say they don’t do anything, but they cause a lot of destruction,” she said. “They start fires, the people in the neighborhood couldn’t even bring their kids here anymore, they can’t walk their dogs through there anymore. But I do hope that they find a place to live, and that they’re away from this cold tonight. I want both parties to be happy.” Perry Barber, 71, has lived at the encampment. “These people are burning things down, for what reason?” he said. “The overdoses should never happen. A lot of it is all controlled here because everybody’s got Narcan kits and we don’t know tranquilizers and everything.” Barber is a former truck driver of 40 years, and has lived at the encampment for around six months. “The homeless will survive; they always do. I wish that people would look after this place like we did. We always cleaned up after ourselves.” Shylo Stevenson, who’s acted as a helper at various encampments for many years, was on site to provide smudging and prayers for the people that wanted it. He says the day reminded him of the dismantling of Camp Hope around five years ago. “It’s a lot of emotions, it’s a double edged sword,” he said. “It’s good that it’s coming down because our cars don’t start in -40 weather, but we were expecting people to live in tents? But also, where did they go? There’s not enough support in place, and it’s ironic that it’s on the day of the throne speech. There’s lots of moving mechanisms going on here, and it’s just one of those damned if you do, damned if you don’t.” Stevenson says that he’s seen over a few hundred people live in the area in the past five years, with around 20 per cent dying. Ward 8 city Coun. Shanon Zachidniak says she found out about the city’s plans Tuesday morning. “Whoever knew this was happening, it does not feel that there is a lot of conversation in terms of having a coordinated plan walking into this,” she said. “So I think folks are doing their best and trying to figure out where folks should safely go.” An overdose at the encampment site was identified while CTV News was at the scene Tuesday afternoon. “I’m concerned there will be more of these overdoses, whether in a back alley or in a hotel room or wherever. That’s what I’m mostly worried about at this exact moment,” Zachidniak added. When asked about how she felt about the city’s response to the dismantlement, the councillor described herself as “sad and frustrated.” “I question what we’ve been doing with all of the partners working together for the past several months if this was the outcome.”
