Dozens of residents still remain in encampments in parks across HRM on Monday’s eviction deadline, while activity and protests at the sites remained quiet for the day.
The Examiner went to Grand Parade and Victoria Park on Monday morning and again Monday afternoon. By the afternoon, most protestors and people standing on Argyle Street overlooking Grand Parade had left.
But the remaining residents at both parks weren’t moving out despite the eviction order. Many remained in their tents while visitors and protestors came by.
In a statement on Friday, HRM said 25 of the 55 people living in the five sanctioned encampments had found shelter elsewhere.
Monday’s eviction appeared to be the measured response HRM said it would conduct when it announced on Feb. 7 its plans to evict people from encampments on Feb. 26. At a press conference that day, CAO Cathie O’Toole said HRM are “not going to have police involved.”
In Friday’s statement, HRM said police “may be on hand to ensure public order is maintained, as required,” but on Monday, there were no police present at the encampments. The occasional police cruiser drove past Grand Parade.
The evictions were the complete opposite of forced evictions from shelters in front of the old library on Spring Garden Road on Aug. 18, 2021. On that day, HRM staff with chainsaws destroyed shelters and Halifax Regional Police arrested and pepper sprayed protestors.
That 2021 eviction followed months of threats to demolish shelters set up in parks in the city by volunteer-run organizations.
‘We’re just looking for an affordable place’
Steve Wilsack and Matt Grant have been volunteering at Grand Parade since Nov. 16. They arrived at the encampment at 5am Monday morning. Grant was recording interviews with residents and sharing them on the group’s Facebook page, Red Shelter Project-Grand Parade Square.
In one interview, a resident named Kevin said he’s been at the Grand Parade encampment off and on for six months, saying he lost his previous housing because of a renoviction. He hadn’t found housing as of the eviction deadline.
“We’re just looking for an affordable place in a reasonable place to live,” Kevin said. “I don’t want to live in slums. I don’t want to live high class. I just want something cheap and affordable. If they can help us, great. If not, we’re going to be living on your street corner.”
Kevin said he didn’t want to go to a shelter because of the people who run them and because of the restrictions. A shelter at Halifax Forum set up by HRM, the province, and operated by 902 Man Up was one option offered to residents at encampments.
“They’re not trained to take care of people,” Kevin said. “They’re more security guards than residential people. We’re just people. We just want to live. We don’t want to be standed up and counted. It’s like being in prison.”
‘They’re not here to pull people out of their tents’
In an interview, Wilsack said there were still about 15 residents at the encampment.
“Nobody is going to leave because nobody has a place to go to,” Wilsack said. “There has been zero options available, other than one resident potentially may be going today.”
Wilsack said viable options have not been presented to the residents.
“We have people who want to go. In fact, almost everyone would love to be inside. Yet, here we are in the middle of winter. This is a sad day for the unhoused,” Wilsack said.
“I hope tomorrow there are no people in tents and they have four walls.”
Wilsack said he’s been in contact with HRM. He said Mayor Mike Savage has been supportive, including helping to get electricity provided to the shelters.
“The challenge with the city is they did this announcement, they did this enforcement because, in my eyes, they didn’t have a choice. They can’t house people. They can’t have apartments available for people. This is a provincial and federal matter. They’re basically saying to the province and the federal government, ‘we need help here.'”
Wilsack said he thought the goal for Monday was to be peaceful and to have a sense of calm in the evictions. He said while police have driven past Grand Parade, officers weren’t on the site.
“They’re not here to pull people out of their tents. They’re not here to cause disturbance. We’ve been through that already. The last thing our province wants to see, and our citizens, is an active fight about evicting our unhoused,” Wilsack said.
Quiet protests
A small group of people in masks quietly protested at Grand Parade, holding up a large banner that said “evict landlords, house the homeless.” They also had a table with food set up on site. The protestors said they didn’t want to speak with media.
At Victoria Park, residents were in their tents and signs about reducing rents for the unhoused were posted on trees. Still another sign at the park said it was closed effective Feb. 7.
A few protestors, including Vicky Levack, were on a corner on South Park Street, waiting to support the residents in Victoria Park. Levack, who is a disability advocate, said she’d arrived at the park before 10am and planned on staying until about 4pm.
“I’m not here with an organization. I wanted to make sure no one was forced out,” Levack said.
A number of organizations, including Adsum House, Coverdale Society, North End Community Health Centre, Welcome Housing and Support Services, had staff on site at the encampments.
The Examiner contacted Adsum for comment on Monday’s evictions, and received a message from outreach worker Rylee Booroff, who was at the Grand Parade and Victoria Park encampments between 8:30am and 4:30pm.
“While it was a peaceful day today at both sites, we remain fearful of what is to come for those who are living outside. People are anxious and need information,” Booroff wrote in an email. “Here’s hoping for another peaceful day tomorrow.”
Mayor Mike Savage was in Ottawa on Monday chairing the Big City Mayors Caucus event. The Examiner contacted HRM for comment. Spokesperson Jake Fulton said they had no new information about the evictions, and sent along a link to Friday’s statement about the encampments.