City closes large encampment, demolishes underground structure

While members of the Prince Albert Police and bylaw officers monitored the residents for safety, the Outreach Team worked with the residents of the encampment to move them to housing options.

Several weapons were confiscated and sanitation workers removed three truckloads and one trailer of waste.

The parks department began demolishing the underground structure, which they said posed a serious safety hazard.

Noreen McBride is a director with the Métis Women and said her organization has a contract with Saskatchewan Housing to deliver outreach services.

All three of the team members hired along with an elder went to the encampment on October 9 as part of the removal process.

“We reached out to the City of Prince Albert bylaw and asked if there was a way that we could work together,” said McBride. “We suggested if we could collaborate together, where if they’re removing them, we could be there on-site to provide services for the individuals. It actually worked out really well.”

McBride said that having her outreach team there also gives them a chance to build relationships with the people, a crucial step to helping them want to access services, such as Stepping Stones shelter or potentially detox in the future.

This was the outreach team’s first encampment removal and it was a success.

The potential closure of Stepping Stones as it is in a temporary location and the YWCA has so far not found a permanent spot that neighbourhoods will accept, is a worry for McBride.

“Our staff have been having discussions internally. What’s going to happen when Stepping Stones closes, which at some point it will. We don’t really have an answer for that,” she said.

She is proud of the work her staff did on their first closure and anticipates that more will be happening in the future. The city also said the removal was a success.

“It was good to see us collaborating together and they said it worked very smoothly because it wasn’t so confrontational. There were people there to support them,” said McBride.

The Outreach Team would like to get more information about the various camps in the city, and they know there are quite a few.

Some are well-established and the residents will post rules that must be followed, such as no fighting and no weapons.

Multiple levels of government are making efforts to resolve the homelessness situation.

In addition to the provincial funding of the Outreach team, the federal government pays for Dinsdale’s job. Her job is to help manage issues and coordinate other agencies to help reduce addictions and related issues like homelessness and she works out of city hall.

She said the encampment strategy is just one of several initiatives led by the city’s community safety and well-being team.

One initiative is ‘journey mapping’ for homelessness, which streamlines services, improves access, and ensures more effective outcomes for both service providers and individuals experiencing homelessness.

Community agencies are encouraged to participate in the journey mapping process by completing a survey.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com

by Susan McNeil

City closes large encampment, demolishes underground structure

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