Halifax council’s decision to keep the nine possible designated tent sites in HRM is not sitting well with the new mayor.
Andy Fillmore put the motion forward last month, but Tuesday it was narrowly voted down 8-7.
One councillor said getting rid of the list, that includes Point Pleasant Park and The Commons, was ‘meaningless’ and made ‘no difference’ to city staff or the people living in tents.
Fillmore tells our newsroom, he disagrees.
“I can’t imagine the temerity of saying that to the people who are deprived access to the parks in their neighborhood…the families who can’t walk their kids…who have no place to push their strollers. This is extremely meaningful to the people in whose neighborhoods the parks are located. It’s extremely meaningful to the people… who, because of the failure of the motion, are being continued to be offered solutions that are not good for them and deprive the solutions that are under a roof with wraparound supports.”
Fillmore says he’s surprised by the decision that undermines the province and its effort to provide better support.
“The other thing we’re doing, in keeping this list, is providing people who are living rough with the alternative of staying living rough. And we know from our public health and mental health professionals, that the longer one is in a tent, the more their mental and physical health spirals downward and the longer they’re in the tent, the harder it is to help people out of the difficult place they find themselves in after those long periods of time.”
Missed opportunity
During the municipal election Fillmore and his colleagues knocked on many doors and he says they all heard the same thing, “encampments are not a solution.”
So, he is ‘puzzled’ the motion failed.
However, he says, the election was a reset between the city and province to continue to work together to move people to places with roofs and supports, and that is the next step.
“I think what we will see very plainly in the coming months, is that this list of nine encampments is not needed. That it was a missed opportunity by council to give hope to people living in tents and a missed opportunity by this council to give hope to the residents of the communities in which the parks are located.”
Moving forward
Despite being disappointed with the move, Fillmore says, he has great regard for his colleagues.
“I’m going to continue to build the relationships that I’ve begun to build, and I look forward to where all that might lead for productive actions on behalf of all residents.”
