City staff have cleared a homeless encampment in Toronto’s west end for a second time in a few days, after a small group of people rebuilt a camp that was removed on Friday.
City vehicles once again removed tents and people’s belongings from Dufferin Grove Park on Wednesday morning, with security seen next to the area that was previously cleared and surrounded by a fence.
Michael DeForge, who was at the park Wednesday to support encampment residents, said a group of Toronto police officers and security guards removed residents and took about six or seven tents.
“They came really early in the morning, which is sort of the way they work … snatching tents early in the morning,” he said.
DeForge said the removal of the encampment sabotages the conversations residents were having with Toronto’s homelessness support staff.
“The city knows, as well the residents do, that if they are not sleeping here, they are going to be sleeping either in another park or what the city prefers is sleeping out of sight, under an overpass where they don’t have to worry about them,” he said.
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He said the encampment’s visibility gives leverage to its residents.
“People are out here because they don’t have another place to go,” he said. “They have been to the shelter system before and they know it’s not an option for them.”
Gord Tanner, the city’s general manager of shelter and support services, said in a statement that new tents “had appeared” at the park after the encampment was cleared on Friday and “these tents are not permitted to remain.”
Tanner said trespass notices were issued for the new tents on Saturday and city staff continue to be on site to offer homelessness supports and shelter spaces.
“The city provided dedicated, enhanced homelessness services at Dufferin Grove Park 24/7 for 237 days, referring more than 70 people into shelter and helping nine more secure housing,” Tanner said in the statement.
“Every effort has been made to care for the people encamped in the park, help ensure the park is available to the broader community and to avoid enforcement.”
Tensions had been high between encampment residents and municipal staff in recent weeks as the city stepped up pressure to clear the park.
Mark Anthony Lindsay, one of about seven people who were living at the encampment when it was initially cleared out on Friday, said members of the group had been negotiating with the city since Sept. 12.
Lindsay said the city offered him a hotel room, but the only available one was in north Etobicoke, far from downtown Toronto.
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