Encampment at Ferguson Street, across from Wesley Centre
By Cyndi Ingle
Due to a lack of affordable housing and numerous issues homeless people living rough in “tent cities” has been a reality in Hamilton, Ontario for years. In the past, people set up camps near railway lands, in ravines and in relatively hidden parts of the city. However in a COVID-19 world encampments have become more prevalent and visible to the general population.
Today, encampments are to be found in many areas of Hamilton, including:
- King and Wellington parkette
- Ferguson Street Station
- Gore Park
- Rebecca Street Park
- Jackson Square rooftop
- Near City Hall
- Corktown Park
- Beasley Park
- Woodlands Park
- Near Barton Library
- Large encampments are in front of the Wesley Day Centre on Ferguson Avenue North, and in front of First Ontario Centre
History of the encampments
Encampments at Jackie Washington Park, and at the former Sir John A. Macdonald Secondary School were dismantled by the City of Hamilton in early summer 2020. The City had additional plans to clear the encampments at First Ontario Centre and in front of the Wesley Day Centre, which was to take place on July 31/20.
This forcible decampment was prevented by an emergency injunction filed by:
- Hamilton Social Medicine Response Team (HAMSMarT)
- Keeping Six Supporters (a harm reduction organization)
- Encampment residents
- With the aid of the Hamilton Community Legal Clinic and Wade Poziomka, Ross & McBride LLP
An injunction was granted on July 30/20 and originally extended for 10 days. The Ontario Superior Court has extended the injunction until early September, preventing the removal of the encampments by the City of Hamilton.
Helping on the front lines
Dr. Jill Wiwcharuk
Dr. Jill Wiwcharuk, a physician with the Shelter Health Network and HAMSMaRT is in the field aiding encampment residents two to three times a week and is well aware of the struggles of the people who call the encampments home.
Setting up a healthcare area, she provides prescriptions for clients, does wound care, starts people on medication for opiate addictions, and arranges follow-up with other health care practitioners. Having people in one place makes it easier for Wiwcharuk to serve a usually more transient population.
Also on the frontlines is Sharon Hayes Williamson, who started the not-for-profit organization Helping Hamilton Homeless (HHH) five years ago. She provides food for the homeless every Sunday in Gore Park, at Ferguson Avenue, and at First Ontario Centre.
Who are the encampment residents and why are they here?
If your only experience of the encampments is driving rapidly by them in your car you may wonder who the residents are. According to Wiwcharuk people of all ages, from 19-75 years of age are living in the encampments.
“There is certainly a higher proportion of Indigenous people who sleep outside. They are overrepresented in general within the homeless population, and over represented in the population at the encampments,” explains Wiwcharuk.
Some of the reasons that people call the encampments home include:
- Lack of shelters, particularly for women
- Mental health issues
- People not allowed into shelters because of addictions and possessing drug use paraphernalia
- Those who don’t want to be around addicts who are in the shelters
- Those with severe anxiety when around many people
Sharon Hayes Williamson
Williamson is familiar with many of the homeless and street involved people in Hamilton as she and her 200 volunteers provide food and services for Hamilton’s homeless. Due to COVID-19 HHH has had to curtail many of its activities but Williamson is still helping out when she can.
At the encampments she is meeting many younger couples in their 20s, whom she has not seen on the streets before.
“They [the young couples] may have lost their housing and don’t want to break up to go to shelters. Some people have animals, and others say they get robbed and beaten up at the shelters. They report that there are lots of people with mental health issues at the shelters, with people screaming and hitting all night.”
Both women agree that illegal evictions due to COVID-19 are likely another reason people are living in the encampments, and the number of homeless people in general will increase now that the moratorium on evictions has been lifted in Ontario.
An urban myth: people are bused in from Toronto to use Hamilton’s services and many are living in the encampments
An urban myth has been circulating for years that Toronto off loads some of its homeless and disabled population by “sending” them to Hamilton. There is no actual evidence that this happens, just as there is no evidence that those living in Hamilton’s encampments are from other cities.
As Wiwcharuk explains, if a homeless person indicates that their supports are in another town they can be sent to that town, but this isn’t the norm, or a policy.
“There are times when people will indicate they have more supports in another community and are sent back. It’s not a normal occurrence, far from it. There are some people coming from other places as they are by nature a very transient population. However people leave our community and go elsewhere, and no one is tracking people who are leaving,” clarifies Wiwcharuk.
“Anyone could be in this situation”
Both Williamson and Wiwcharuk are adamant that understanding is needed for others, now more than ever.
“I’m asking for compassion and patience for people as the City works with them. We all need to understand that living like this is no one’s first choice, and that everyone wants to feel safe and secure, and to be able to have a door which they can shut and lock behind them,” states Wiwcharuk.
Williamson echoes the same sentiments and adds that more help for addiction and mental health is needed. “Homeless people don’t have the family, they are loners, and in many cases their families have given up on them. The main thing to understand is that no one wants to be homeless, no one wants to be sleeping in a tent, saying ‘screw the rules I’m going to be free’. Anyone could be in this situation.”
For further information please read:
Dr. Wiwcharuk’s opinion piece in the Hamilton Spectator
Six reasons why displacing the homeless must stop
HAMSMaRT on twitter
Keeping Six Supporters on twitter
