Downtown Moncton homeless camp dismantled - Action News
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New Brunswick

Downtown Moncton homeless camp dismantled

Moncton ordered a homeless camp set up behind the former out-of-the-cold shelter on Assumption Boulevard to relocate as part of a spring trail clean-up. Several of those living at the camp say they're not sure where they'll go.

Several people had set up tents along downtown trail behind former homeless shelter

Ryan George was among the people at a tent camp set up behind the former Assumption Boulevard fire station that served as temporary homeless shelter over the winter. (Shane Magee/CBC)

Ryan George says he's been homeless on and off for 16 years.

On Thursday, he was one of several packing uptents pitched between thePetitcodiacRiver and former Assumption Boulevard fire hall. He had stayed in the building when it served as a temporary shelterover the winter.

It closedApril 1 and then tents popped upalong the Riverfront Trail. This week, the city posted a notice telling the people staying there to moveby noon or have their belongingsthrown out or taken to a nearby shelter.

"I think it's bull, to be honest with you, we're not doing nothing, we're not doing any harm," George said in an interview just before the deadline.

"I'm sure that if there was somebody here doing something, we'd get rid of them," he said."That's one thing we don't want - is to get kicked out of a spot."

The city says a spring trail cleanup brought about the move.

Various items from a tent camp piled up as the people staying there packed and cleaned up the site Thursday. (Shane Magee/CBC)

Vincent Merola, Moncton's community development officer for social inclusion, said the city has a procedure to deal with homeless tent camps. It calls for the camps to be removed if they pose a health and safety hazard or are in a public place.

He said there weren't health and safety concerns at the Assumption site but it was in a public area.

"We do need to get our spring cleanup going on here," he said. "Thisis a very public area, there are businesses here."

Cal Maskery, founder and executive director of Harvest House Atlantic, has asked for a meeting with all shelters, the Dept. of Social Development and the City of Moncton to discuss funding. (Shane Magee/CBC)

Merola said the city was there to help people relocate to shelters like Harvest House or House of Nazareth. He said both have capacityto accommodate those staying in the tents. But heacknowledged some people don't want to go to those shelters because of their rules.

George is among them.

He's stayed at Harvest House on High Street before but didn't like that it closes its doors at 9 p.m., meaning he must be inside before then.

"We're adults, we're not teenagers anymore," George said.

CalMaskery said the shelter does closethe doors, but it's a measure to ensure people aren't potentially causing problems in the neighbourhood.

Three RCMP members arrived at the site shortly after the noon deadline. The Mounties looked around and then walked away from the area. (Shane Magee/CBC)

"We're trying to protect our community and make it safe for our guests," he said.

He said the shelter has eased some rules and does allow people under the influence of drugs or alcohol. The shelter has capacity for about 80 people, thoughMaskery says it hashad closer to 50 recently.

George had previously camped at a site along the west end of Main Street that the city cleared last fall, leading to a community outcry to do more to address homelessness.

The city and provincial government funded a temporary out-of-the-cold shelter at the Assumption Boulevard building. Merola said the shelter and another at the Humanity Project on St. George showed there's a need for a third permanent homeless shelter in the city.

The site of a homeless tent camp along the Riverfront Trail in downtown Moncton. (Pierre Fournier/CBC)

After the temporary shelters closed, tents were set up at the Assumption site.George, 30, said up to a dozen people stayed thereon warm nights.

He said they had tried to keep the site tidy, though it became messy as they prepared to move Thursday. Dog feces, signs of a campfire and litter were evident.

Ian Johnson was among those who stayed at the site.

Dr. Heather Logan is calling on the government to add more case-managers and outreach workers across the province. She says navigating the bureaucracy is 'almost impossible' for people trying to find housing and recover from addiction. (Shane Magee/CBC)

The 39-year-old said he hit a power pole several years ago driving on the highway to Bouctouche. He was hospitalized and said he lost his home. He recovered and worked as a rooming house manager in Moncton until it closed last spring.

Then he started staying in a tent near the old Moncton High School before going to the Humanity Project's temporary out-of-the-cold shelter. After the temporary shelters closed, he found two tent flys in a dumpster he used for shelter.

Johnson didn't want to say where he planned to go next.

"It would be nice if we had somewhere to go that we could call home, but we're going to just move on to the next spot and hope to God they don't find us at least until the end of the summer," he said.