Federal Housing Advocate Marie-Josee Houle, who released a report Tuesday on tent encampments across Canada, wants to see the implementation of a response plan by Aug. 31. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)
A new report on tent encampments across Canada calls for urgent action from all levels of government to end what the federal housing advocate describes as a “life and death crisis.”
Marie-Josée Houle said her report, released Tuesday, is the first of its kind in Canada. The report — titled Upholding Dignity and Human Rights — outlines six calls to action to address ongoing homeless encampments across Canada.
“It is a physical manifestation of exactly how broken our housing and homelessness system is from coast to coast to coast in Canada. It needs urgent measures,” Houle told CBC News.
“Government must act immediately to save lives.”
Houle launched a review into homeless encampments in February 2023 and released an interim report in October. The final report comes as communities across the country grapple with encampments and residents without safe, consistent shelter.
According to the final report, an estimated 20 to 25 per cent of homeless people across the country live in tent encampments, affecting not just many cities but also rural regions, including northern Saskatchewan, Labrador and Nunavut.
Houle’s report calls for the implementation by Aug. 31 of a national encampments response plan that would ensures that those living in encampments have access to basic necessities, like clean water, food and health care.
It also calls for speedy solutions to permanent housing issues that are driven by federal, provincial and local governments, and that are based on people’s living experience.
“It is an issue of life and death for a lot of people. And so we need immediate action and then we need some long-term action,” said Houle.
“Government is … really good at responding on the immediate but then they forget the last piece, which is about the permanent solutions.”
‘People are dying’: Co-ordinated response needed to housing crisis, advocate says
Lorraine Lam, a housing outreach worker in Toronto, says encampments will keep growing until systemic issues are addressed.
Housing supply not only cause of crisis
While the federal government has “really couched” housing supply issues as the main cause of homelessness, said Houle, more complex issues — including colonialism, trauma and poverty, as well as barriers to the shelter system — are at fault.
While some temporary housing solutions are better than others, she said, they are often unsanitary and cause people to lose sight of the need for long-term measures.
Crews remove possessions from an Edmonton encampment in January, in the wake of eviction orders. The city and local police tore down 2,417 encampments in 2023. (Natasha Riebe/CBC)
“Shelters are important. They’re there for emergencies. That’s not a place for people to live,” said Houle.
“Just because people experiencing homelessness are no longer visibly experiencing homelessness to the public, [it] doesn’t mean that they are not vulnerable anymore or that the issue is solved.”
In St. John’s, concerns about shelters aren’t new. A tent encampment sprang up across the street from Confederation Building, the seat of the provincial government, in October. The encampment later moved to Bannerman Park in the downtown area, and has been reduced from 40 at its height to about a dozen people.
Mark Wilson, a housing advocate who has been volunteering his time with the city’s encampment, said it’s no surprise some people prefer a night in a tent to an overnight stay at a shelter.
“Some of them are disgusting. So why would you want to be there? There are issues of safety in the shelters, as well. People have their stuff stolen,” he said.
“There’s a reason that people are still here and whatever that reason is, they believe it’s better than what they’re being offered.”
‘Give me a door I can lock … and hot water,’ says tent city resident who says for-profit shelters aren’t answer
Gregory McCain says he’s worried a new task force — which was formed to find local solutions to homelessness and housing — will offer rooms in for-profit shelters to people living at the Bannerman Park tent encampment. McCain warns there are safety issues, including drug use, and says he feels much safer living in a tent than accepting that option.
He agrees that for those choosing a tent over a shelter, adequate support needs to be provided instead of taken away — as happened in St. John’s at the end of November, when city hall briefly closed public washrooms in Bannerman Park, citing increased vandalism. The city reversed its decision a couple of days later, after a public outcry.
“People need water, people need food, people need heat. And these are basic human rights,” said Wilson. “We had to fight for bathrooms here. That kind of thing just shouldn’t happen.”
New solutions needed for broken system, St. John’s advocate says
While a report on tent encampments is “a step in the right direction,” he said, everything hinges on the political will to find solutions.
“Here in St. John’s, this problem is only going to get worse if the federal, the provincial and municipal governments don’t work together to eradicate this issue,” said Wilson.
Housing advocate Mark Wilson says governments must work together to ensure people have access to long-term housing. (William Ping/CBC)
“Folks here at this encampment are being offered the same solutions that they’ve been offered for months. So they’re not being listened to. What they want is a home. What they want is a locked door that they can feel safe in.”
Listening to people across the country who have experienced homelessness, Houle said, will be critical in successfully addressing the issue.
“What they’re saying is valuable because they do hold a very unique perspective of what it is that they’re living and what the solutions need to look like,” she said.
Houle says she’s hopeful the report’s recommendations will spark meaningful discussions.
“It’s not about politics. It is about saving lives. And lives matter. And no one thinks that encampments are a solution. They absolutely are not. But this is what people are choosing. And Canada has to have something in place to make sure that this is no longer what people are choosing,” she said.
“There’s a lot of people watching. There is a lot at stake. And so, I think there’s a lot to get right here.”
The report will now be submitted to federal Housing Minister Sean Fraser, who, according to the National Housing Strategy Act, has to respond in writing by June 12.
EDMONTON – Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his career as the New Jersey Devils closed out their Western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.
Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils (8-5-2) who have won three of their last four on the heels on a four-game losing skid.
The Oilers (6-6-1) had their modest two-game winning streak snapped.
Calvin Pickard made 13 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.
TAKEAWAYS
Devils: In addition to his goal, Bratt picked up his 12th assist of the young season to give him nine points in his last eight games and now 15 points overall. Nico Hischier remains in the team lead, picking up an assist of his own to give him 16 points for the campaign. He has a point in all but four games this season.
Oilers: Forward Leon Draisaitl was held pointless after recording six points in his previous two games and nine points in his previous four. Draisaitl usually has strong showings against the Devils, coming into the contest with an eight-game point streak against New Jersey and 11 goals in 17 games.
KEY MOMENT
New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the second period as Hischier made a nice feed into the slot to Bratt, who wired his third of the season past Pickard.
KEY RETURN?
Oilers star forward and captain Connor McDavid took part in the optional morning skate for the Oilers, leading to hopes that he may be back sooner rather than later. McDavid has been expected to be out for two to three weeks with an ankle injury suffered during the first shift of last Monday’s loss in Columbus.
OILERS DEAL FOR D-MAN
The Oilers have acquired defenceman Ronnie Attard from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Ben Gleason.
The 6-foot-3 Attard has spent the past three season in the Flyers organization seeing action in 29 career games. The 25-year-old right-shot defender and Western Michigan University grad was originally selected by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Attard will report to the Oilers’ AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.
UP NEXT
Devils: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
Oilers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns, and Kareem Hunt pounded into the end zone from two yards out in overtime to give the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs a 30-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.
DeAndre Hopkins had two touchdown receptions for the Chiefs (8-0), who drove through the rain for two fourth-quarter scores to take a 24-17 lead with 4:17 left. But then Kansas City watched as Baker Mayfield led the Bucs the other way in the final minute, hitting Ryan Miller in the end zone with 27 seconds to go in regulation time.
Tampa Bay (4-5) elected to kick the extra point and force overtime, rather than go for a two-point conversion and the win. And it cost the Buccaneers when Mayfield called tails and the coin flip was heads. Mahomes and the Chiefs took the ball, he was 5-for-5 passing on their drive in overtime, and Hunt finished his 106-yard rushing day with the deciding TD plunge.
Travis Kelce had 14 catches for 100 yards with girlfriend Taylor Swift watching from a suite, and Hopkins finished with eight catches for 86 yards as the Chiefs ran their winning streak to 14 dating to last season. They became the sixth Super Bowl champion to start 8-0 the following season.
Mayfield finished with 200 yards and two TDs passing for the Bucs, who have lost four of their last five.
It was a memorable first half for two players who had been waiting to play in Arrowhead Stadium.
The Bucs’ Rachaad White grew up about 10 minutes away in a tough part of Kansas City, but his family could never afford a ticket for him to see a game. He wound up on a circuitous path through Division II Nebraska-Kearney and a California junior college to Arizona State, where he eventually became of a third-round pick of Tampa Bay in the 2022 draft.
Two year later, White finally got into Arrowhead — and the end zone. He punctuated his seven-yard scoring run in the second quarter, which gave the Bucs a 7-3 lead, by nearly tossing the football into the second deck.
Then it was Hopkins’ turn in his first home game since arriving in Kansas City from a trade with the Titans.
The three-time All-Pro, who already had caught four passes, reeled in a third-down heave from Mahomes amid triple coverage for a 35-yard gain inside the Tampa Bay five-yard line. Three plays later, Mahomes found him in the back of the end zone, and Hopkins celebrated his first TD with the Chiefs with a dance from “Remember the Titans.”
Tampa Bay tried to seize control with consecutive scoring drives to start the second half. The first ended with a TD pass to Cade Otton, the latest tight end to shred the Chiefs, and Chase McLaughlin’s 47-yard field goal gave the Bucs a 17-10 lead.
The Chiefs answered in the fourth quarter. Mahomes marched them through the rain 70 yards for a tying touchdown pass, which he delivered to Samaje Perine while landing awkwardly and tweaking his left ankle, and then threw a laser to Hopkins on third-and-goal from the Buccaneers’ five-yard line to give Kansas City the lead.
Tampa Bay promptly went three-and-out, but its defence got the ball right back, and this time Mayfield calmly led his team down field. His capped the drive with a touchdown throw to Miller — his first career TD catch — with 27 seconds to go, and Tampa Bay elected to play for overtime.
UP NEXT
Buccaneers: Host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Darcy Kuemper made 16 saves for his first shutout of the season and 32nd overall, helping the Los Angeles Kings beat the Nashville Predators 3-0 on Monday night.
Adrian Kempe had a goal and an assist and Anze Kopitar and Kevin Fiala also scored. The Kings have won two of their last three.
Juuse Saros made 24 saves for the Predators. They are 1-2-1 in their last four.
Kopitar opened the scoring with 6:36 remaining in the opening period. Saros denied the Kings captain’s first shot, but Kopitar collected the rebound below the goal line and banked it off the netminder’s skate.
Fiala, a former Predator, made it 2-0 35 seconds into the third.
The Kings held Nashville to just three third-period shots on goal, the first coming with 3:55 remaining and Saros pulled for an extra attacker.
Elsewhere in the NHL on Monday:
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DEVILS 3 OILERS 0
EDMONTON, Alta. (AP) — Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his NHL career, helping the New Jersey Devils close their western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers.
Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored. The Devils improved to 8-5-2. They have won three of their last four after a four-game skid.
Calvin Pickard made 13 saves for Edmonton. The Oilers had won two straight.
