All Saints' Anglican Church will allow tents to return in future but only overnight

People living in tents on the grounds of a Winnipeg church have until Wednesday afternoon to leave the property or else police may be called to remove them.

"We are going to move them off because we have no choice," saidBrent Neumann, the rector of All Saints' Anglican Church in West Broadway."As a community we don't have the resources to deal with this."

Over several weeks, a handful of tents and tarps have popped up on the lawn outside the church at the corner of Broadway and Osborne Street.

On Tuesday, about a dozen people wereat the small campsite. Piles of discarded clothes, cardboard boxes and other garbageoverwhelmedthe church's recyclingbins. Despite a porta-potty, the general area smelled of urine.

Neumann will speak with the campers Wednesday morning to give them notice it's time to go. Representatives from social services will be on hand to help direct people to local supports.

If by 2 p.m. there are any campers refusing to leave, Neumann said he will considercalling police.

"I don't really want to go there," he said.

People began camping on the church property weeks ago. OnSunday, Neumanntold CBCNewsan upcoming wedding necessitated the dismantling of the encampment.

Earlier this week, Terry Johnsen, one of the squatters on the church's lawn, told CBC Newshe plans to leave the church grounds peacefully.

"We understand and we thank them very much for the time that we had here," he said. "I wish we could stay longer."

A board of about 10 church members decided Tuesday eveningto ask the campers to leave but also decided,should any campers return, they will be allowed back but only if their tents are gone by morning.

"We're not here in the evening. If somebody sets up a tent and sleeps for the night, so be it," saidNeumann.