Judge orders slowdown in removals of Edmonton homeless camps
About 3,000 people experiencing homelessness in city as of early November
A court battle over a plan to dismantle a number of Edmonton homeless encampments this week ended with lawyers reaching an agreement that will allow tent removals to go ahead — but at a slower pace.
Court of King's Bench Justice Kent Davidson granted an interim injunction late Monday that puts in place a number of conditions for removing encampments at eight sites in central Edmonton.
The conditions were agreed upon by lawyers for the Edmonton Police Service, the City of Edmonton and the Coalition for Justice and Human Rights — a group that advocates on behalf of people living in tents in the city.
Sam Mason, the coalition's president, said that while the encampments will still be dismantled, they're pleased that there are new parameters in place to slow the process down.
"I'm just encouraged to continue moving forward. I think that we got what we were going to get, and I think that the community knows that we're fighting for them," Mason said.
The coalition filed an emergency application on Friday, after learning about a plan to remove between 118 and 135 makeshift shelters that EPS had deemed high risk.
The clearing by Edmonton police officers was set to begin Monday morning and run all week, according to emails sent out to a network of social agencies that work with people experiencing homelessness.
City staff were scheduled to be on standby to clean up the sites after the removals.
As news of the operation spread, there was a wave of backlash from a number of city social agencies, activists and even provincial politicians.
On Monday, about 100 people gathered outside the Edmonton Law Courts to protest the encampment closures.
On Friday, Mayor Amarjeet Sohi and Coun. Anne Stevenson said they weren't made aware of the plan until Thursday night when it started circulating on social media.
After Monday's court hearing, EPS Deputy Chief Warren Driechel said he wanted to clarify that the city operations were involved in the planning to clear the eight sites.
"The statement was made that we were working unilaterally, which we were not. So I think that over the next couple of days, we're going to be assessing — what is the process the high-risk encampment team works under?"
"I know that the city has asked for that as well. So we'll come to the table and have those discussions."
He believes the perception that police acted alone is what caused outcry about the operation, and maintains that EPS followed its normal procedures for removing encampments.
He couldn't say if EPS has ever removed 118 to 135 structures in a single week, but said they've removed hundreds if not thousands so far this year.
The coalition had argued in court that the planned operation was unprecedented because of the scale of removals planned. They also challenged the urgency for removing those particular sites before Christmas.
After arguments on Friday and Monday, the lawyers agreed that the encampment removals could proceed if the following conditions are met, and as long as there aren't other imminent health and safety issues:
- Before clearing a site, police and city staff must find out if there is enough shelter or other indoor spaces available to accept people who get displaced.
- EPS must consider the weather and harms of exposing people to the weather before making a closure decision.
- As soon as a site is identified for closure, the city will notify several social agencies that offer services to people who are homeless.
- Encampment residents will get 48 hours' notice that their site is slated for takedown, including the reason why and the date the removal will happen.
- The other conditions must not affect Edmonton Fire Rescue Services and EMS's ability to intervene and serve this population.
The interim injunction will be in place until Jan. 11, the day that the Coalition for Justice and Human Rights goes to court on its earlier application for an injunction to stop encampment removals city-wide, pending a lawsuit it's launched that challenges the constitutionality of the city's encampment removal policy.
Several of the eight sites slated for closure this week are on the doorsteps of shelters and social agencies near the downtown core, including the Hope Mission's Herb Jamieson Centre and the Bissell Centre.
Other locations are 95th Street and 101a Avenue, 94th Street and 106th Avenue, 95th Street and 105a Avenue and the Dawson and Kinnaird ravines.
Lawyers for the City of Edmonton and Edmonton police argued the camps marked for removal are dangerous.
They said that among the camps set for closure, two are known to have organized crime activity, two were the sites of fatal tent fires in November, and that sexual assaults have been reported at some of the camps.
On Monday, EPS lawyer Jeffrey Westman said there had been another, non-fatal fire over the weekend at one of the camps identified for closure, and that police are investigating a new alleged sexual assault near an encampment on Rowland Road.
The coalition and its lawyers agreed that while there are safety issues in camps, a mass sweep is an overreach.
"We just see it as sort of an act of collective punishment. Some bad apples are in these encampments. And so then they're coming in and they're sweeping all of them," Mason said.
The coalition's lawyers also argued that many people who are displaced from camps will not go to shelters because of previous bad experiences, concerns about religious culture and safety issues.
In a Friday news release, the Bissell Centre warned that the planned encampment teardown will leave people out in freezing temperatures, at risk of frostbite and amputations.
But Driechel said Monday that calling the EPS plan a "sweep" is inaccurate. He said it's standard practice for EPS to look at shelter capacity before closing camps, said that they do change their plans as needed.
"We're not inhumane. We weren't just going to just tear down encampments and just push people up to the street," he said.
Driechel said EPS still plans to address some of the higher-risk encampments, but that it will now take longer than expected.