Edmonton police planning large-scale operation to close homeless encampments

Advocates for Edmonton’s homeless population say they were caught off-guard by an Edmonton Police Service plan to begin a large-scale encampment removal program on Monday that could displace up to 400 people.

In an email Thursday, acting Insp. Michael Dreilich told social agencies that EPS is planning to take down 134 structures at eight “high-risk” encampment sites, many of them on the doorsteps of shelters and social agencies near the downtown core including the Herb Jamieson Centre, Hope Mission and the Bissell Centre.

Other locations are at 95th Street and 101a Avenue; 94th Street and 106th Avenue; 95th Street and 105a Avenue, and in the Dawson and Kinnaird ravines. The five-day operation will run until Friday, Dreilich said in the email.

An Edmonton-based group called the Coalition for Justice and Human Rights is in court Friday afternoon, filing an urgent application to have the EPS plan stopped or limited.

Lawyers for the coalition said the group decided to intervene Friday because the scale of the removal plan is unprecedented, and because it could happen before an injunction hearing scheduled for January.

The group argues that the city’s policy and practices of removing homeless encampments is unconstitutional, and argue that there are not enough shelter spaces to accommodate the people who are displaced during removals.

In a statement, Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley and housing critic Janis Irwin called on the provincial government to stop the EPS plans.

They said the province must be able to guarantee a safe place for every person impacted before police take action.

“Wholesale razing of encampments puts lives in danger,” Notley and Irwin said.

“We know that encampment sweeps lead to greater risk of overdoses and more people needing medical care as they experience frostbite, hypothermia, and other effects caused by exposure to the elements.”

A spokesperson for the Minister of Seniors, Community and Social Services, said the province won’t get involved.

“This action is an initiative of the Edmonton Police Service and Alberta’s government does not direct or interfere with law enforcement agencies,” Heather Barlow said in a statement.

Outreach workers told to stay away

In his email, Dreilich told the agencies that people living in the tents might be reaching out for help because they had already been served closure notices.

He said police are asking service providers to stay out of the area where the tents are being removed.

“During site closures, we ask that outreach agencies remain out of the work site area and on the periphery of public property for safety purposes,” he wrote.

“If there are any concerns about a citizen in encampment (i.e. in the queue for housing, medical needs etc.) please let us know and we will evaluate and discuss options before closure.”

That particular directive, and the whole operation, are concerning for Jordan Reiniger, executive director of Boyle Street Community Services.

“I think that’s an odd request,” Reiniger said Friday. “I would be curious as to why they feel like people shouldn’t be witnessing the encampment clear-outs.

“I think that if we’re going to do something like this, at the very least it should be a transparent process and it should be as compassionate as possible.”

Reiniger said Boyle Street believes between 300 and 400 people will be displaced by the tent removals next week.

It’s cruel at this time of year and heading into winter in the holidays.– Jordan Reiniger

He said it will be a major setback as outreach workers will lose track of people who had been working on housing applications and were otherwise being connected to services.

He said it’s counterproductive to do the removals because there isn’t enough shelter capacity for everyone who is homeless.

Many people living in encampments will not go to shelters, he said. They may be unwilling to abandon their belongings or split up with family members and pets.

“It’s cruel at this time of year and heading into winter in the holidays.”

CBC News requested an interview with police Chief Dale McFee on Friday, but EPS communications staff would only say that they are planning some kind of response to media requests.

In an interview with Edmonton AM earlier this month, McFee said he believes encampments are unsafe, pointing to the deaths of two people in fires in November and that there are also criminal and public health issues created by the camps.

He said he thought a new strategy was needed, acknowledging that the current policy of  taking apart camps just leads to them popping up elsewhere.

“You’ve got to take them down and keep them down,” he said.

Reiniger said that in the past, social agencies have been part of the conversation in figuring out the best way to respond to issues in encampments.

He’s not sure why they’ve suddenly been shut out of the decision-making, and wonders if the EPS plan is really about risk or if it’s about trying to get homeless people out of particular areas of the city.

“For us this is very unclear. The whole process is very unclear. We’ve been trying to figure out what is the policy that’s being followed here, who’s making this decision?”

Mayor Amarjeet Sohi said Friday he had also just learned about the operation, and directed questions back to Edmonton police. Sohi said he understands EPS has requested the city’s help with clean-up support after the camps have been cleared.

The province and city had set a goal of having 1,700 shelter spaces available in the city by Nov. 1 but haven’t reached it.

According to Homeward Trust data dated to Dec. 7, there were more than 1,120 beds, with 934 spaces in use. However, the Friday statement from the Ministry of Seniors, Community and Social Services said there are currently 1,388 shelter spaces.

“Shelters in Edmonton are currently under-capacity and not turning people away,” the statement said. “Shelter utilization numbers are monitored daily and if capacity becomes an issue, our government will take immediate action to make sure people are not turned away.”

The Mustard Seed, which is operating a new shelter space in central Edmonton, said it has fewer operating spaces than are listed in Homeward Trust’s data.

Both the province and a Homeward Trust spokesperson said Friday they are trying to work out why there’s a discrepancy.

Hope Mission operates most of the shelter spaces in the city. Director of programs Tim Pasma said that while occupancy rates are already very high, they will be able to take in more people.

“We’re here, we’re ready to meet the need. We will have the space available for people. There are other sites as well opening up around the city. So here in the, you know, in January, February, we feel like we’ll be really in a better position as far as shelter space,” he said.

The provincial government said 

The Coalition for Justice and Human Rights will be in court Jan. 11 for a previously scheduled injunction hearing. It hopes to stop the City of Edmonton from dismantling homeless encampments.

One of the coalition’s lawyers, Chris Wiebe, told CBC on Friday that they are concerned EPS planned what they believe to be the largest known encampment removal operation weeks before the case can be heard in court.

Advocacy group Public Interest Alberta issued a statement Friday calling for the police service to abandon its plans.

“The planned decampment is an infringement of the Charter rights of houseless people by EPS, will make the situation worse on the ground, and will bring Edmonton’s already massively strained emergency health system further to the breaking point,” the group said.