City of Regina heavily redacts documents detailing decision-making around city hall homeless encampment
'To redact, that’s on par with how this city has behaved, ’ says one of camp's organizers
Details about why the City of Regina responded the way it did to a homeless encampment at city hall remain shrouded in secrecy, despite efforts from CBC to understand what happened and when.
CBC News filed access-to-information requests to the offices of Mayor Sandra Masters, Fire Chief Layne Jackson and city manager Niki Anderson to obtain dozens of pages of emails, memos and incident reports about the city's handling of the encampment.
The vast majority of those documents remain redacted, leaving many unanswered questions about the city's decision-making process around an incident that saw the Regina Police Service shut down a key artery of the city as they removed tents, lean-tos and temporary structures from near the front doors of the municipal government.
Tiro Mthembu, one of the many people who helped organize support for the encampment at city hall, said the extensive redactions highlight a lack of transparency at city hall.
"To redact, that's on par with how this city has behaved," Mthembu said.
'Tents … not an acceptable outcome or solution': memo
People started setting up the encampment at city hall late on the evening of June 15 after being kicked out of Pepsi Park, where they were attempting to mark the one-year anniversary of the "city's failed promise to end homelessness."
At its peak, the encampment consisted of 83 tents and makeshift shelters that housed 76 people, according to a count by city workers.
Barry Lacey, who was acting as city's manager, wrote a memo on June 20 to Mayor Sandra Masters and the rest of city council written saying the city's approach at the time was "to prioritize the health and safety of residents." Officials would use the same response they used with other vulnerable residents "sleeping rough" in the community, including having Regina Fire & Protective Services monitor their health and safety.
But there were already signs that the city wanted to work to return the courtyard to the status quo.
"Administration maintains that tents in public spaces are not an acceptable outcome or solution for those experiencing houselessness," Lacey wrote in the June 20 memo.
Fire Chief Jackson would eventually declare an "imminent risk" to the inhabitants of the camp after three fires over five days. He announced on July 27 that he would exercise his authority under the Fire Safety Act to decommission the encampment.
On July 28, a line of police removed the remaining tents and cleared the space — making way for a fence to be put up around the green space.
'What information is it you're looking for?': mayor
Tracking the city's decision-making process around the encampment is difficult. A broad outline is highlighted in the documents, but details are often unavailable due to the redactions.
For instance, every situation report about the encampment through its six-week existence is entirely redacted.
So is another record, dated June 30 and titled "Safety Concerns and Encampment Hazard and Risk Assessment," as well as a July 4 email conversation where Anderson and several city administration staff members apparently discussed potential safety concerns at the encampment.
Mthembu said the lack of information and transparency isn't shocking. Organizers and supporters of the encampment have tried to get their own answers by requesting documents through access-to-information legislation.
They have also been unsuccessful.
When asked whether there has been a lack of transparency around the clearing of the encampment, Masters answered with a clear 'No."
"But, like I guess I'm curious as to what information is it you're looking for?" she said.
Masters pointed to how fire officials conducted daily checks at the encampment, how residents of the encampment were allowed to use the washroom in city hall and how the city worked with the province to provide easier access to social services.
Mthembu and other supporters of the encampment still have questions about how a collaborative relationship with fire officials fell apart. Mthembu said organizers would have routine check-ins on encampment residents while the fire department would do its own inspections.
"We were communicating and then, right before the encampment came to a close, there seemed to be drastic change and we were suddenly not being talked to or communicated with by the fire department," Mthembu said.
One of the few documents released to CBC that is not redacted is an email sent to Ward 2 Coun. Bob Hawkins. In it, a resident criticizes council, saying it had let the public green space turn into a "drug haven and garbage dump."
"I share your concern -the situation is dangerous, very unsanitary and a fire hazard," Hawkins wrote back, looping in Mayor Masters, city manager Anderson and eventually fire chief Jackson.
The Ward 2 councillor asked Jackson to assure him that there was no "fire danger in the encampment."
Jackson pointed Hawkins to research his fire department had done on the fire retardant nature of tents and assured the councillor that fire inspectors were at the encampment every day throughout the week.
"They assured me that, from their observations, conditions at the site do not constitute an imminent danger or risk of fire, at this time," wrote Jackson. "To date, there has been no open flame usage observed or reported at the encampment."
Masters and Anderson were included in the response.
Interview not provided
The City of Regina declined repeated requests for an interview with fire chief Jackson, providing only written statements or emailed responses to questions from CBC.
When asked how Jackson shifted from fires not being a concern to them becoming an imminent risk, the fire chief repeated that the three fires over the final five days of the encampment solidified his decision.
"In addition to that, evidence of escalating, dangerous disregard for serious fire safety violations, collected over 40 days, made it clear that compliance with fire regulations was not going to achievable," Jackson wrote.
Jackson said investigation found that a fire on the morning of July 27 that destroyed a tent was caused by misuse of an open flame device while using drugs. He said the presence of blankets and clothing contributed to the fully involved fire and the emergency response by his department.
"If we determine, based on evidence of escalating incidents and repeated, dangerous disregard for serious violations, that an encampment is creating an imminent risk of loss of life, I will take action under the Fire Safety Act and order that camp decommissioned," said Jackson.
Mthembu said the email exchanges between Jackson and Hawkins make him more confident that there were problems with how the city decided to clear the encampment.
"It's not surprising today to look at this and realize that this, the fire risk, was used as a political reason to close down the encampment," Mthembu said.
He said things have only gotten worse for the people who lived at the encampment since it was cleared.
Mthembu pointed to a fire at another homeless encampment last month as proof that fires are a reality for those who live on the street.
He said the encampment had fire extinguishers on hand and that fires were put out by volunteers and encampment residents.
"There was a sense of community. We were taking care of ourselves and I knew closing it down without giving us an opportunity of making sure and securing housing was gonna lead to deaths, and it did," said Mthembu.
"It's such a disgrace to act like that the reason it closed was because of a fire risk when, to this day, we have less safety because of the risk of fires in our community."
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