Residents of tent city in front of Regina City Hall told to pack up

Regina Fire and Protective Services has told residents of a tent city in front of City Hall to pack up and move.

Fire Chief Layne Jackson made the announcement during a media conference Thursday that was called after a special city council meeting about the encampment was cancelled. The meeting was scrapped due to a lack of quorum.

In a subsequent media release, the city said the decision to decommission the camp effective immediately was due to “an imminent risk to the safety of individuals” in the courtyard.

“Today, to best protect the lives of those living on the encampment and in response to an imminent risk to their safety, I’m exercising my authority under The Fire Safety Act,” Jackson said during the media conference. “We are now advising camp residents and organizers that they must vacate City Hall Courtyard and the areas alongside City Hall immediately.

“To be clear, this action is absolutely required as the appropriate response to imminent risk to the safety of those in the encampment.”

City Hall is to remain closed on Friday and will reopen to the public after the camp is dismantled.

Shortly after Jackson’s announcement, Regina Police Service officers started speaking to people living on the lawn and telling them to vacate the premises.

WARNING: Video contains strong language.

Police are telling people to leave the camp in front of city hall. People shout back ‘we are not leaving.’ pic.twitter.com/zNd0JLCvhD

— Gillian Massie (@massie_gillian) July 27, 2023

Jackson said the fire department had responded to three fires at the encampment over the past five days. That included a fire Thursday morning that Jackson said consumed a tent and its contents.

Regina Fire and Protective Services put out a fire in a tent at the homeless encampment at Regina City Hall on July 27, 2023. (Nicholas Iatropoulos/980 CJME)

“We had flames 10 to 15 feet in the air that were impeding on City Hall,” Jackson said. “There were reports of explosions within it.”

People using portable fire extinguishers wouldn’t have been able to put out the fire, Jackson said, so fire crews responded. The fire chief said the tent’s occupant was lucky to have escaped.

“Had it occurred in a more densely populated area of the encampment, I believe it would have caused loss of life,” Jackson said.

The fire chief noted that fire inspectors who have been on site since the tent city was set up haven’t been able to get fire safety regulations respected. In the end, decommissioning the camp was the fire department’s choice.

“Our fire inspectors have worked tirelessly with all the stakeholders to try to make sure the encampment was as safe as it could be,” Jackson said. “We’re finding that as the encampment has grown, so has the risks and hazards.”

Mayor Sandra Masters said the city had received requests to take down the camp “for weeks,” but the decision was taken out of its hands by the fire department.

“It’s really not up to my opinion whatsoever,” she said. “It’s unfortunate. It’s also not surprising. As far as my perspective is concerned, Chief Jackson and the entire Fire and Protective Services — who have been on site every day since the camp started and responding to issues — they have my full support.”

The camp sprang up in the courtyard in front of City Hall in mid-June to raise awareness about homelessness in the city. A report prepared for city council said that as of Tuesday, there were 83 tents on the grounds with a point-in-time head count of 28 people at the site.

The report also said there had been 36 calls for service to police for complaints ranging from possible weapons at the camp to threats of violence. The report added that on Wednesday, park maintenance employees refused to work on the basis of “unusually dangerous” working conditions.

As well, a survey of City Hall employees had been done to see what impact the camp had had on them. Of the 399 respondents, 82 per cent said the tent city had negatively impacted their well-being.

On July 19, a woman died of a suspected drug overdose in the encampment. The report said 20 overdoses had been reported at the camp to date.

Masters said Thursday the increased risk to the safety of the people in the tents and to city employees prompted her to call the council meeting. But when she reached out to the rest of council Thursday, it became apparent the meeting wouldn’t have the required attendance.

“Going through individual council members, the moment I reached six of them that said they had no interest in attending a meeting to interrupt what is clearly under the purview of Chief Jackson, you lose quorum and the meeting is cancelled,” Masters said.

The mayor noted she doesn’t plan to meet with those living on the grounds of City Hall before they leave.

“Given the nature of the short notice, it would be best if all employees, elected and otherwise, stay out of the way while the professionals do the work they need to do,” she said.

Masters added she had never received a formal request to meet with the residents of the encampment.

“If anybody wants to reach out to the mayor’s office or to City Hall, we can end up potentially arranging something,” she said. “But at the end of the day, we count on organizations who have relationships with these folks to mediate and mitigate and bring multitudes of concerns forward.”

— With files from 980 CJME’s Nicole Garn and Daniel Reech