The Milligan’s Pond eviction reported last week by BarrieToday took another step Tuesday when bylaw enforcement officials and city police officers showed up at the homeless encampment in central Barrie to serve a woman living at the site with a ticket.
The woman, who goes by the name Ash Wolf, told BarrieToday police and bylaw officers arrived at her site around 9:30 a.m., July 12, and served her with a $360 ticket. The offence is camping within a public park without authorization.
“I asked them how I was supposed to pay a $360 ticket and they told me I could call in about it,” Wolf said. “This is ridiculous. I have nowhere to live. Being here is my only option and now they want to not only move me, but stick me with a ticket of hundreds of dollars that I can’t pay. That will only further my issues.”
Wolf was previously served with an eviction notice on Monday, July 4 and given 72 hours to vacate the area. When eviction time came around on July 7, several protesters attended the site to support Wolf. Eviction time came and went with police and fire officials showing up periodically since then.
“We’ve had police show up around 12 a.m. with flashlights, sneaking up from the back of our site claiming to be responding to the distress of a woman," Wolf said. "There have been no distress noises when they came or before. Barrie Fire came to respond to fires that were not out of control in any way and were for cooking.
"Someone is calling these in, abusing tax dollars and wasting city resources to be petty," she added.
Dawn McAlpine, the city's general manager of community and corporate services, said in an email to BarrieToday that tickets or fines are only issued as a last resort when there has been no compliance.
"As it relates to this situation, the individual was advised of options related to different shelters in the community by Barrie Police Service members and advised that camping is not permitted on any City of Barrie-owned public parkland," McAlpine said.
When asked if people must move a certain amount of feet from where they were or what the relocation process looked like, McAlpine offered an explanation.
"With regards to your question on if individuals must move a specific number of feet from the site, the answer is no. They are required to vacate the city park and/or greenspace," McAlpine said. "The individual was advised that camping is not permitted on any City of Barrie park or greenspace; they were not told that they could not be within the City of Barrie as a community."
Wolf said she was told she would have to leave Barrie and that if she failed to do so her belongings would be moved, possibly with a bulldozer.
However, McAlpine said that's not necessarily the case.
"A contractor is being arranged to remove materials on site that are not authorized by the city. The timing is based on the availability of the contractor. To our knowledge, there was no mention by (City of Barrie) Enforcement Services staff or Barrie Police Service members of use of a bulldozer as it relates to this situation," McAlpine said. "A contractor may be required to utilize a bulldozer in circumstances where soil contamination has occurred, to remove the contaminated soil or other unauthorized materials."
As of 11:30 a.m., today, Wolf was still at her site. She also showed a reporter video of multiple police vehicles pulling into the area Tuesday evening, just off of Boys Street. The vehicles stayed for a few minutes, as people at the homeless encampment played Frisbee, and then left.
Barrie police communications co-ordinator Peter Leon has repeatedly told BarrieToday that police only show up at the request of bylaw officers to assist in a situation if needed.
Jennifer van Gennip, former chair of the Barrie chapter of Simcoe County Alliance to End Homelessness (SCATEH), said the decision to stop enforcing the municipal camping bylaw can be done. In the meantime, she disagrees with the ticket being issued.
“Other municipalities are not enforcing this bylaw right now. They haven’t changed the bylaw — they’re just not forcing people who have nowhere to go to leave where they are feeling safe,” van Gennip said. “And giving someone a $360 ticket who can’t pay it is just going to perpetuate her situation and make things worse.”
Van Gennip said SCATEH's stance is “if you don’t have housing as an answer, then leave people alone.”
McAlpine reiterated that “bylaws are established by Barrie city council.”
McAlpine also stated the city has received more than one complaint regarding this particular encampment from several different people, “including complaints related to personal safety, fires, noise at 2:30 a.m. in the morning, etc.”
“The fires and noise would also be violations of City of Barrie bylaws. All of these are high-priority matters due to the health and safety issues that are present," she said. "While all camping on city property is prohibited, complaints are prioritized with health and safety as the highest priority."
BarrieToday has attended the encampment several times a day since Wednesday, July 6, including visits at times between 10 p.m. and midnight, and has not witnessed any noise or fire violations first-hand.
Wolf admits there was one night since the eviction notice was issued when someone was yelling.
“Someone came to this area looking to cause trouble and be loud. We don't allow that here in this group of tents,” she said. “We did yell at them to leave when they weren’t listening. They left and we all went back to sitting by the memorial rock.”
