Winnipeg mayor asks outreach groups to stand aside for emergency crews at homeless camps

July 25, 2024 Canuck

Winnipeg’s mayor has raised the hackles of some organizations that help the homeless population after sending them a letter asking them to not get in the way of emergency responders at encampments.

“We have received no communication previously about the issues in the letter, and no notice the letter was being supplied to media,” Jamil Mahmood, executive director of Main Street Project, said in an emailed statement to CBC News.

“We had hoped to seek clarification regarding the concerns mentioned, since they are regarding outreach work and have not been verified, and about which we are unaware.”

Mayor Scott Gillingham’s letter, sent in late June to several outreach service providers, praises their work but underscores the need for them to step aside for police, fire and paramedic personnel.

The letter was copied to Premier Wab Kinew and three of his cabinet members, as well as the chiefs of the police and fire services, chair of the police board, the city’s CAO, and the president of End Homelessness Winnipeg.

A man in short dark hair and eyeglasses, wearing a button-up collared shirt, speaks into a microphone. — Jamil Mahmood, executive director of Main Street Project, wants to meet with Mayor Scott Gillingham in person to clear up any confusion. (Justin Fraser/CBC)

Gillingham said he was prompted to write the letter after hearing from various “sources” about ambiguity around the role of police and other responders in encampments. He declined to identify them.

“I wanted, in no uncertain terms, everybody to understand that firefighters, paramedics, police — our emergency services personnel — need to go where they’re needed and without any interruption,” he told reporters on Wednesday.

In conversation with CBC Manitoba Information Radio host Marcy Markusa on Thursday morning, Gillingham clarified he isn’t aware of any incidents of police being blocked, “but there was enough told to me that was concerning.”

The city’s most vulnerable, those living encampments, are most often the victims of crime and police have to be able to go and do their work, Gillingham said, adding firefighters need to go in where there are safety concerns.

The city has a clear policy, posted on its website, around how it deals with encampments, Gillingham added.

“I just wanted to remind everybody, let’s make sure we’re on the same page on this and that there’s no hindrance to the work that police and fire need to do.”

In his emailed statement, Mahmood said MSP is in regular communication with emergency responders and whenever issues arise at encampments “we meet to resolve them.”

MSP was one of 16 outreach service groups or individuals to have received the letter, Mahmood noted, also expressing dismay the letter was delivered to some individual staffers .

“We are alarmed that in some organizations, front-line staff received the letter directly, causing concern and confusion among staff tasked to serve Winnipeg’s most marginalized.”

Bits of material and tree branches are strewn about a patch of dirt. — A homeless encampment is seen in the aftermath of a fire that followed the explosion of propane tanks in 2022. (Cameron MacLean/CBC)

He said he hopes to meet with Gillingham to “address any confusion in a manner that is more productive and cooperative than responding via the media to a letter provided to them by the mayor’s office.”

Gillingham said he is open to that, reiterating his hope that the city and all groups can eventually come together on a single plan to address homelessness and encampments.

He said some organizations contacted him shortly after the letter was sent out to say they completely agree with it.

“If we’re going to be successful … we need to be coordinating and agreeing to one plan that includes a housing-first approach with wraparound supports,” he said, adding “we’re getting closer, I believe.”

Marion Willis, executive director of St. Boniface Street Links, said the letter isn’t surprising, calling it “the cumulative outcome of just a great deal of frustration.”

Earlier this month, her organization and Main Street Project — and their opposing philosophies on how to help encampment residents — clashed at a site in Glengarry Park in the city’s south.

Street Links workers showed up to help pack campers and relocate them to a shelter, while MSP staff also arrived and allegedly told the campers to stay, offering them coffee and cookies, according to Coun. Janice Lukes (Waverley West), who spoke about the incident earlier this month.

A woman with glasses. — Marion Willis doesn’t agree with trying to make encampments more comfortable and enabling them. She wants to get income support and housing for people on the streets. (Tyson Koschik/CBC)

“It takes a little bit of tough love sometimes to move people out of their circumstances and into a better place. If all we’re ever going to do is hand out granola bars, coffee, blankets and harm reduction, we’re not really moving people forward,” Willis said on Thursday.

“[That’s] working to make encampment living more comfortable and enabling it.”

Her group’s goal is get people off the street and under a roof, she said.

“I’m not going to protect anybody’s right or perceived right to live in an encampment. I’m going to protect their rights to income support and housing.”

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Winnipeg mayor asks outreach groups to stand aside for emergency crews at homeless camps

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