Rainbow Park encampment in Sarnia to stay, for now: council

Sarnia city council hit break Monday on dismantling an encampment in Rainbow Park.

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Council 6-3 rescinded its decision from a month ago — to clear out the growing encampment, pending more legal and social services advice — and narrowly voted instead to develop a protocol on encampments in the city.

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The result of developing a protocol could still mean banning camping in public parks in the city, Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley said.

“But we need to determine whether we can do that or not.”

Similar to roadmaps in places like Hamilton and Toronto, a protocol for Sarnia would dictate things like where encampments absolutely can’t go in the city, and maybe where trespassing violations wouldn’t be enforced, said Coun. Brian White.

“So if we say Rainbow Park is off limits, the first time a tent pops up it gets moved,” he said.

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Possibilities include limits on the number of tents, requiring they be a certain distance from playgrounds like the one in Rainbow Park, and identifying needs like sanitation and social services response, he said, adding it’s a move municipalities in general are turning to in the absence of Queen’s Park dealing with the issue.

Council agreed action is urgently needed amid neighbor concerns about safety, given drug use and reported violence at the south city park.

But telling people to leave without a protocol would just move the problem to other parks, or maybe people’s backyards, White said.

“If we don’t have a set of parameters to work within, we’re going to be having these meetings like today on a regular basis,” he said.

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Couns. Bill Dennis, Terry Burrell and George Vandenberg were opposed to rescinding the April 8 decision.

Council voted 5-4 to develop the protocol, with Dennis, Burrell, Vandenberg and Coun. Chrissy McRoberts opposed.

Hopes are to have the protocol, developed by the community safety and well-being leadership group White co-chairs and that includes representation from various municipal governments, local police, social services, school boards and other agencies, back for council’s consideration in two weeks , White said.

A special city council meeting may be needed, he said, given council next meets in a month, and council agreed that’s too long to wait.

Without a protocol “we’re all spinning our wheels trying to figure out what to do,” White said.

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Hours after Monday’s decision, police responded to a “serious incident” at Rainbow Park where someone was injured, Sarnia police acting Staff Sgt. Miro Soucek said.

A suspect was in custody and there was no threat to public safety, he said around 8:30 pm

Neighbor Kim Gawdunyk, who with others Monday called for the encampment’s removal, said he’s upset with council’s decision not to act.

“I don’t know why this council does not have community safety on the mind,” he said, after he and others recalled seeing at least one person in the encampment recently wielding a machete, and another throwing a knife at a tree.

People are scared for their safety, and wary about children using the playground, he said.

“But this council doesn’t care.”

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Gawdunyk recommended — drawing inspiration from the City of Peterborough — creating a series of mini cabins for people in the encampment to use somewhere else in the city, and suggested locals could pitch in to build those and keep costs down.

“But (council will) only get community support from people who actually have money if they move (the encampment),” he said, also noting illicit drug use in public spaces should not be normalized.

“Children deserve clean, safe parks,” he said, urging council to act before school’s out for summer.

Before Monday’s meeting, council received legal advice on whether it could remove the encampment, and the answer was no.

Council also voted to waive solicitor-client privilege and publicly post the advice from Aird Berlis LLP.

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HAS summary says the city lacks “truly accessible” indoor shelter space that would accommodate various individual needs like pets, and couples staying together, and Sarnia would likely face litigation for violating people’s right to shelter under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms if a ban on encampments in city parks were enacted.

That’s after recent legal challenges in Waterloo and Kingston, it notes.

“It’s very, very clear,” Bradley said about the opinion.

“It’s not just having shelter beds, it’s having the different needs being met. That’s a huge issue. That’s why cities have lost in court.”

Council agreed to include outside legal advice when drafting the encampment protocol, to ensure its constitutionality.

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Coun. Bill Dennis meanwhile called council’s decision “a knucklehead move” and warned there will be tents popping up everywhere.

“We can’t let a fear of lawsuits stop us from doing what’s right,” he said before the vote.

Social services general manager Valerie Colasanti, with the County of Lambton, agreed a protocol led by the community where encampments exist is needed, estimating 30 to 40 people currently living in the Rainbow Park encampment.

Another 15 to 20, including people for whom the county has helped find housing, visit the park daily, she said.

County aid workers also visit twice daily to offer support, check in and try to get people to move into the shelter system; but the population that’s largely drug-dependent and dealing with mental illness continue to choose otherwise, she said, recognizing two people are banned from the county-funded shelter system for safety reasons.

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The shelter system was at about 44 per cent capacity last month and therefore has adequate beds to meet demand, she said.

There are 145 shelter beds in the community, 76 counties funded — including a 28-bed overflow shelter that’s staying open until at least the end of May, she said — and about 350 people experiencing homelessness, including in shelter, coach surfing or in precarious housing.

Sixty to 80 of those are living rough, she said.

Many are chronically homeless, meaning they have lived rough for more than a year, but in other locations, she said. Now many of them are in Rainbow Park.

There are also about 10 hotel rooms the county uses to help house people, she said.

The county system has helped move more than 650 people into permanent housing in the past four years; but with rising shelter costs, and no increase in social assistance rates in seven years, demand is outstripping the rate at which housing for people can be found, she said.

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Long-term the plan is to build supportive housing and the county has made progress on some projects, but getting enough spaces operational will take years, she said.

In the meantime, the problem is real, White said.

“Given that housing is an ongoing and growing crisis, we’re going to have to deal with this in a way that acknowledges that it exists, rather than pretending it can just go away,” he said.

The county can’t put showers or washrooms on city property “but I think we could look to our housing and homeless prevention dollars to provide (assistance)” if the city pursues that, Colasanti said.

Council also voted 7-2 — Dennis and Burrell were opposed — to request the county extend its out of the cold shelter program, ensure it and hotel rooms are “truly accessible,” and ask Sarnia police to prioritize patrolling Rainbow Park and the downtown core at night.

The aim is to satisfy the legal requirements to remove the Rainbow Park encampment, said Coun. Anne Marie Gillis.

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