Rossdale green space occupied by group calling for housing rights, end to police violence

A camp set up in Rossdale is providing resources to people experiencing homelessness, and organizers say they plan to stay in place until both the city and Edmonton Police Service meet several demands to protect and better serve vulnerable populations.

A camp set up in Rossdale is providing resources to people experiencing homelessness, and organizers say they plan to stay in place until both the city and Edmonton Police Service meet several demands to protect and better serve vulnerable populations.

Co-organizer Shima Robinson said the group – a mix of frontline outreach and housing workers, Black, Indigenous and racialized community organizers, people who have experienced homelessness and other supporters – set up Camp Pekiwewin at 96 Avenue and 104 Street early Friday. Several stations have been set up, providing a range of services including a kitchen, a teepee that's being used for ceremonies, an LGBTQ support organization, and a services tent that is handing things like PPE, hand sanitizer, menstrual products and condoms. 

She said some people are also camping at the site, including people who had been living rough and whose tents and campsites were destroyed and taken down.  

“People are being harassed out of their quarantined spaces,” Robinson said. “It's deeply unsafe for these people.” 

Robinson said in addition to providing services, the group is using the camp to call for several demands to be met, including divesting Edmonton-area law enforcement of $39-million and ending police violence.

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The group also wants an end to the destruction or removal of camps set up by people sleeping rough, and want to eliminate a number of bylaws that they say target racialized communities, for things like trespassing, loitering, fare evasion and public intoxication and urination. They are also calling for a reinstatement of free transit, and for recognition of the legal rights of people who are living rough.  

“We demand encampments be legitimately recognized as property and protected as homes. Additionally, we demand an honouring of inherent ‘Aboriginal title' and treaty rights for many unhoused Indigenous peoples to occupy their territories within the urban centre,” reads a statement from the group issued by Black Lives Matter YEG on Sunday.

Other demands specifically call on the city to increase funding to existing frontline service organizations to allow them to help people experiencing homelesseness. 

“The city is just dawdling if they're trying to do a consultation that is trying to find other people to get this job done,” she said. “All of that work has been done. What we need to do is act on what we know.”

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In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for the city said that after pausing camp clean-ups for a period earlier in the pandemic, the city has resumed taking them down.

“The closure and clean-up of encampments is prioritized based on the level of risk posed to individuals in the encampment and the surrounding community,” spokesperson Kimberly Brunelle said in an email. “Abandoned encampments continue to be mapped, investigated and scheduled for cleanup.” 

However, Brunelle said the city is conducting welfare checks on people who are sleeping rough, offering support and identifying people who may be experiencing COVID-19 symptoms so they can receive treatment.

Brunelle's email also outlined steps taken by the city that relate to some of the demands raised by the group, including:

• A motion passed by city council earlier this month to cut the police budget by $11 million;

• A meeting will be held this week to discuss next steps as shelter space in the Expo Centre, set up as part of the COVID-19 response, is set to close by the end of the month;

• In response to increased need for hygiene facilities, the city worked with social agencies to operate public bathrooms with attendants at Dawson Park and Louise McKinney Park, and extended the operating hours of the Churchill Station bathrooms;

• Described the city's strategy for creating more permanent supportive housing, and providing bridge housing in the meantime. 

  

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Edmonton Police Service spokesperson Carolin Maran said police are aware of the camp, and said officers have reached out to the organizers, the city, and the property owners. 

“As with all public demonstrations, the EPS has reached out to the organizers to support them in upholding their rights and holding a safe demonstration within the context of the law and public health orders,” Maran said in an email.

“Upholding charter rights, laws and public health orders can be a delicate task in the context of demonstrations, but the EPS will continue to work with our partners at the City of Edmonton to connect with the group's organizers and ensure that the proper balance is struck.”

Robinson said organizers plan to continue to occupy the green space until all demands are met. She said anyone is encouraged to come down and volunteer to help keep the camp running, to drop off donations of clothing, PPE, or other provisions, or even just to engage and learn about the issues the group is raising.

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