Edmonton Police Escalating Teardown Of Homeless Encampments

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“To be clear, this means no more excusing, enabling or tolerating encampments, period. We will be moving with our partners to close encampments on an accelerated pace,” Edmonton Police Service (EPS) Chief Dale McFee told reporters

Published Jan 17, 2024 • Last updated 1 hour ago • 4 minute read

Edmonton homeless encampments Edmonton Police Service Chief Dale McFee takes part in a press conference where the Province announced targeted supports to help people staying in homeless encampments, in Edmonton Wednesday January Jan. 17, 2024. Photo by David Bloom /Postmedia

City police are escalating the teardown of hundreds of homeless encampments in Edmonton as the province announced Wednesday the opening of a new reception centre and creation of a new triage system to take in displaced residents.

Edmonton Police Service (EPS) Chief Dale McFee, flanked by Alberta government and Indigenous leaders at a Wednesday news conference, said police will accelerate closing all homeless encampments city-wide, characterizing the camps as dangerous.

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The province opened a new “navigation centre” where people evicted from camps can voluntarily take free shuttle rides to access the health services, showers, and food onsite, and connect with workers from social services to get new Alberta identification, emergency shelter, housing and cultural supports, and get access to detox centres.

“To be clear, this means no more excusing, enabling or tolerating encampments, period. We will be moving with our partners to close encampments on an accelerated pace. This is the first of many steps to re-routing the vulnerable toward long-term care and wraparound solutions,” McFee told reporters.

McFee has been vocal about his belief that encampments shouldn’t be tolerated because of the safety risks they present.

The chief confirmed with Postmedia the reception centre enables police to speed up the pace at which encampments are torn down while giving people living in them somewhere to go for help.

“If you use empathy and accountability to all the people who need the services … that’s what we want to connect them (with),” he told Postmedia.

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Postmedia has also seen a slide deck prepared for Edmonton city council that lays out a new triage process where displaced people have four options: take transportation to the new navigation centre, go to the EPS’ Integrated Care Centre, be arrested for outstanding warrants, or leave the site voluntarily.

The new navigation centre is operating out of the Karis Centre in the Hope Mission shelter on 107 Street in Edmonton’s core.

Heather Barlow, press secretary to Seniors, Community and Social Services Minister Jason Nixon, confirmed the new reception centre will be available for clearings of all camps, not just those deemed “high risk” by city park rangers and police.

During the eight encampment clearings that began Dec. 29, at least 100 people were displaced.

Photos of homeless encampments are visible behind Edmonton Police Service Chief Dale McFee as he takes part in a press conference where the Province announced targeted supports to help people staying in the encampments, in Edmonton Wednesday January Jan. 17, 2024. Photo by David Bloom /Postmedia

McFee said Wednesday there were “hundreds of camps dispersed across the city.”

“Nobody actually knows how many tents are in this city – they’re everywhere,” he said when asked how many people could be affected by the impending sweeps.

“We’ve lost the plot entirely if we continue to fixate on maintaining the status quo, letting encampments become the norm.”

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The way Edmonton handles homeless camps has faced intense scrutiny and prompted public outcry since plans to rapidly dismantle eight sites in the weeks leading up to Christmas were revealed. The city also faced legal action on encampment removals, but the lawsuit and request for injunction were dismissed Tuesday.

Edmonton city council declared an emergency on housing and houselessness on Tuesday.

‘People are dying’

Confederacy of Treaty 6 First Nations Grand Chief Cody Thomas said at the announcement it’s important he finally has a seat at the decision-making table and thanked the provincial government.

“We’ve got to act now, because people are dying, encampments aren’t a safe spot for anybody to live,” he said.

“We’re at the table to assist them in finding those resolutions, and not standing outside protesting,” he said, adding that federal housing funding amounts to “a drop in the bucket.”

Chief Wilton Littlechild noted that the legacy of residential schools affects people today, with his community facing a drug and opioid death emergency.

“Who can be against safety at a time like this?” he asked, calling for collaboration.

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(left to right) Chief Wilton Littlechild and Grand Chief Cody Thomas, Confederacy of Treaty 6 First Nations, take part in a press conference where the Province announced supports to help people staying in homeless encampments, in Edmonton Wednesday January Jan. 17, 2024. Photo by David Bloom /Postmedia

Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis emphasized that the province is trying to provide safe places for the vulnerable population.

“We are trying to protect them from being preyed upon by organized crime,” said Ellis.

Nixon said at the announcement shelters in Edmonton overnight were 79 per cent full, while in Calgary they were at 92 per cent.

Nixon said $13 million is being added to an annual provincial budget of about $75 million towards emergency shelters in Edmonton in order to run the new centre, and to cover the cost of transportation and cleanup. He said it will be reassessed in a month, but he expects it to require multi-year spending.

Based on the slide deck, the city expects to receive $4.5 million of this money.

At a news conference later Wednesday, NDP housing critic Janis Irwin questioned whether there are enough safe places for people to go when their encampments are cleared, and expressed concern for those who will be affected.

She called for more permanent supportive housing with wraparound services to get people off the streets.

“No more mats on the floors, no more temporary Band-Aid shelter spaces and certainly not forced treatment or incarceration simply because someone does not have a home,” she said, adding that the NDP caucus is “very concerned” about the approach the UCP government is taking.

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After Nixon promised data on how much space is available in emergency shelters, numbers published by the province Wednesday count 1,771 city-wide beds and an average utilization of 83 per cent over a seven-day period.

Previous data published as recently as this month by Homeward Trust was far more detailed and included facility-specific numbers, allowing for a better understanding of the types of beds being counted, but Nixon has said those numbers were “wrong.”

More to come…

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