Homeless community displaced after city razes their camp following teepee blaze
City's homeless community cannot crumble like its 2 teepees, critic says
The City of Winnipeg has cleared a temporary homeless campnear the Disraeli Bridge after a second teepee donated to the people living there burned down on Tuesday.
People staying in the remaining tents movedtheirbelongingsto the side on Thursday morning, beforeloaders cleared everything in the field.
"It sucks," said Kyle Bighetty, 29, who says he's lived at the site onHenry Avenue for a year.
He had other options for shelter, but said he preferred livingatcamp.
"Freedom," he said."No rules, no regulations. No limits."
Hours later, dozens of protesters gathered around a bonfire on the grounds of city hall to slamthe abrupt displacement of the homeless community.
'This isn't a defeat'
"We don't let the embers of that community die with that fire," Ryan Beardysaid to cheers, as the crowd huddledaround the fire's warmth.
Bentley Dubios, who works with Beardy in the Healing Togethersupport group for men, vowedthe teepees would rise again.
"This isn't a defeat, this is an opportunity," he said."All they did was clear the land for us to do this again."
The city says it didn't have a choice to razethe encampment.
"The structures were not built for Winnipeg's winter conditions without a heat source," aspokesperson said in an email. "Everyone deserves a safe place to sleep at night, and these encampments, as they were established, were not safe."
The city said manypeople living in the camps were using propane heaters, orburning candles or small campfires inside the tents. They saidthe structures were combustible and atrisk for carbon monoxide poisoning.
Some people were even burning mattresses to stay warm, the citysaid.
Although Main Street Project staff said only four people lived at the site 24/7, the camp became a gathering placeduring the day.
In December, the city cleared two structures from the area, prompting the donation of a teepee so people living there could staywarm. Another teepee was giftedin honourof Matthew Sutherland, who was part of the homeless community before he was killed on Oct. 31.
"We understand that the teepees were established in a spiritual, healing context, and were donated with the best intentions," the city spokesperson said.
"However, to supply teepees and not provide support for their ongoing safe use is to house the homeless in unsafe circumstances. It is only through extraordinarily good fortune that there have not been any serious injuries or deaths in the fires."
Victim suffered third-degree burns
The first teepee burned downon Jan. 3 after a burning candle was leftinside, the city said. Main StreetProject director Rick Lees said the woman sustained third-degree burns to herface and hands.
The second teepee was found unoccupied and engulfed in flames on Tuesday.
As demolition of the area began Thursday, Main Street Project staff were connecting people with shelter options, benefits or food.
Adrienne Dudek, Main Street'sdirector of housing, said several different agencies have spent weeks helping people living at the camp access the services they need.
She said one man whose tent was demolished was looking for a fresh start and wanted to move into his apartment.He previously told CBC hepreferred the social aspect of living outside amongfriends. He wasbanned from some of Main Street Project's overnight shelter programmingdue tofighting.
"Until we change systemic barriers and until we create more alternative housing and until we can break down some of those access to services in general at all three levels of government, it's going to continue, homelessness will continue," Dudek said. "It's about trying our best to meet people's needs where they're at."
She said one way to help the homeless community is by supporting the work of organizations such as Main Street Project. They need financial help to runtheir overnight van which checks onpeople sleeping outside, she said.
Many of the people living at the homeless camp, though, were choosing to live there, rather than a shelter.
Bighettyliked living outside intents and sharing them with friends, rather than thestairwells he lived inside last winter. He doesn't know where he'll set up next.
"Wherever my two feet and a heartbeat take me," he said.
With files from Ian Froese
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