Timmins chosen remote homeless encampment site, draws fierce criticism

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Timmins council has endorsed a location approximately 13 kilometres west of city hall as the preferred site for a permanent encampment for people experiencing homelessness.

Those who work to support unhoused people told CTV News that they are frustrated and angry with the decision.

“It goes against everything that our community has learned when we’ve brought in expert consultants around homelessness or addictions or mental health,” said the coordinator of DIY Community Health Timmins, Jason Sereda.

“It goes against everything that people who are living in poverty and people who access homelessness services are saying they need.”

“The core services are downtown, we’re (DIY mutual aid site) downtown – this is a safe space for folks,” added Michelle Couture, an outreach worker with the community health centre.

Sereda said his organization was left out of the site selection process.

“I was left in the dark, I think most service providers were left in the dark and you know, the few opportunities we did have to voice their opinions – they were ignored,” he said.

People who are unhoused and who have lived experience are feeling hurt and scared about the thought of an encampment so far away from the city’s core.

“Coming from a person that’s been human trafficked, and I’ve been in that kind of situation, you’re asking, what if it was your daughter and you were sending your daughter out there alone at night?” said Joanne Swiryd, a woman who is currently experiencing homelessness in the area.

“They’re making us look like we are shunned – we’re shunned because we’re homeless and when people are homeless, that we are crying out for help, but there’s no service for anybody for this kind of stuff,” said Jay Brown, a volunteer at DIY mutual aid centre.

On Sunday, two groups of four walked from the mutual aid centre to the proposed location – one during the day and one at night. They wanted to show what a vulnerable person would have to experience along the way.

“It was scary because. Why? Because one slip of a vehicle in the wintertime, black ice doesn’t matter… Someone will get hit and someone will die,” said Brown.

Sereda also said that none of them would have been able to complete the walk had they been carrying belongings.

“If we were carrying all of our belongings, pushing a cart, pushing, you know, a walker, you know, like some of the elderly people living in the shelter are using right now – none of us would have been able to do that,” he said.

In a recent interview with the Mayor of Timmins, Michelle Boileau said once the plan unfolds for the permanent encampment, the location is also a step towards the relocation of the Living Space emergency shelter.

“One of the benefits to this site was the readiness of the site,” she said.

“The fact that, it was ready to have modular facilities moved on to the location, you know, zoning and planning requirements, where it would be easier to get through and so, with it being, you know, a project ready site, we’re hopeful that, we’ll will be able to have, more appropriate shelter options, in a matter of months,” said Boileau.

City decision-makers are awaiting approval on the location from the province.

In the meantime, DIY Community Health Timmins asks people to advocate on its behalf by contacting their local, provincial and federal government representatives.

“People will die trying to access the site; people will die, at the site and people will die if they try and leave the site, so it’s imperative that we take action and we need to contact our leaders to do that,” said Sereda.

Cochrane District Services Board told CTV News that it has yet to receive an update on its proposal for the proposed encampment location.