After 197 days, teepees coming down at protest camp in Regina's Wascana Park
Justice for Our Stolen Children camp, which started in February, dismantled after Sept. 7 court order
The last teepee at Regina's Justice for Our Stolen Children camp is being taken down after 197 days and following a court order last week.
Campers agreed to stop stoking the sacred fire at about 5 p.m. CST on Wednesday night. The fire has been burning at Wascana Park since February, when it started shortly after the acquittals of Gerald Stanley and Raymond Cormier in the Colten Boushie and Tina Fontaine murder trials, respectively.
Camp founders said the intention was to draw attention to Indigenous lives lost or affected due to factors like violence, foster care or addiction.
People at the camp Wednesday took down the last two supporting teepees earlier in the day.
The camp dismantling comes following Justice Ysanne Wilkinson's Sept. 7 order, which told the campers to leave the park and authorized police to arrest those who weren't co-operating.
Wilkinson wrote in her decision that the protesters effectively usurped the area where they set up camp and had excluded "the public at large" from exercising their own rights to use the park.
Protesters and the provincial government each launched court action over the justice camp.
The province wanted a court order to have the camp removed, while protesters wanted a declaration that the camp was protected under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the arrest of six protesters on June 18 was unconstitutional.
'Does more harm than good'
Robyn Pitawanakwat, a spokesperson for the protesters, said officials from the Regina Police Service, the Provincial Capital Commission and Wascana Centre attended the camp on Wednesday to hand out a stack of eviction notices.
She said campers were disappointed with that move, as they had already decided to comply with the judge's ruling.
"It was an unnecessary show of power I think, but that's what they did," she said.
Some people have been staying at the park since the camp was set up, just across from the Saskatchewan Legislature.
"There were a number of people that were residents of camp that are now homeless," Pitawanakwat said. "So there is an effort right now to find people housing."
Pitawanakwat said those who have been providing support for others at the camp want to have a permanent location to continue doing that work at some point.
"People being able to access the fire 24 hours a day and access the traditional medicines and to have a place to pray and share their grief is significant, and we need to have that [space] to do the work that we do," she said.
"Dismantling the camp does more harm than good. It's going to be devastating for a lot of families that need help and need support."
The provincial government has been pushing for the removal of the camp for months. The Regina Police Service arrested six people and dismantled the camp in June but the campers and their teepees returned.
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Campers took legal action against those arrests, which were since deemed lawful in court.
Minister of Central Services Ken Cheveldayoff said the court decisions confirmed that camping, fires and teepees are not allowed at the park without the proper permits and approval.