Tent camp volunteers undeterred, still looking to help former residents after arrests

“We plan on doing that whenever we have the supplies and whenever we have more than one person available.”

Published Aug 01, 2023 • Last updated 4 hours ago • 3 minute read

Regina police officers arrest Florence Stratton at city hall during the raid on the pop-up tent encampment on Friday, July 28, 2023. Photo by KAYLE NEIS /Regina Leader-Post

With a fence still standing around Regina’s city hall, volunteers arrested during the decommissioning of a tent encampment are still trying to help their community.

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Mandla Mthembu, a camp volunteer, has been helping to organize “little patrols” to check on people displaced by Friday’s enforcement. Over the weekend, volunteers went to Balgonie to check on former camp residents put up at a motel by social services and Mthembu and others connected with people on Regina streets.

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Mthembu was one of the 11 people arrested Friday during the camp’s removal.

“It wasn’t like we looked across from us and saw bad people,” he said of his time getting processed and arrested.

“We saw some of the best that Regina has to offer sitting alongside us. So that was definitely, like, reaffirming.”

Mthembu was released from holding cells later that day. By Sunday, he and other volunteers from camp were back out in the community looking for residents and others in need.

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“We saw a lot of people from camp out there,” he said. “We plan on doing that whenever we have the supplies and whenever we have more than one person available.”

Until some kind of organized program can be established, Mthembu said members of this community network are planning to visit “hot spots” throughout the city.

Regina Police Serive arrest a protester at Regina City Hall on Friday. Photo by KAYLE NEIS /Regina Leader-Post

Of the 11 people taken into custody Friday, 10 were arrested for obstructing a peace officer only to be released without charges. One person, according to the Regina Police Service (RPS), “was arrested, detained and charged with obstructing a peace officer and assaulting a police officer.”

“The other 10 were arrested and detained as they were obstructing the ability for Fire and Protective Services and the City to decommission the camp under provisions of the Fire Safety Act,” read a statement from the RPS.

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Florence Stratton was among those arrested. She said she made the decision to stand her ground after watching an Indigenous man in a motorized wheelchair get arrested.

“I had a house and a bed to come home to,” said Stratton.

She said she was standing right by a statue of Gandhi when it happened.

“I was screaming at the police ‘Gandhi said poverty is the worst form of violence!’ ” recalled Stratton, who called watching the man’s child crying nearby “horrific.”

Police clarified that while the man was initially placed under arrest, he was then turned over to EMS and taken to hospital. Charges were dropped against the man though initially, he was arrested.

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“It was sickening. Heartbreaking,” she said.

In a statement Friday, the City of Regina said temporary fencing surrounding city hall will remain in place until property repairs can be completed. LARISSA KURZ/REGINA LEADER-POST jpg

The tent encampment stood for over 40 days with as many as 90 tents standing on and around the grounds in front of city hall. Volunteers ran the camp, offering food, water and wellness checks on people in the camp.

On Friday, after giving 24-hour notice by Regina Fire and Protective Services the camp was cleared by police and fire members.

“Everyone is deeply worried about the people who were living in the tents and it’s so sad,” said Stratton.

“It was so powerful, citizens taking care of citizens.”

But the camp was not without issues, as concerns around the safety, particularly the fire safety of the tents raised the concern of the RFPS. Though volunteers did wellness checks and administered Narcan and naloxone to people overdosing, one person, Elisa Tuckanow, did die on-site at the camp.

Over the duration of the camp and excluding the 11 arrested on Friday, RPS laid six charges ranging from mischief to breach of conditions at the camp.

Police also confirmed that Regina Fire has filed one report of a “suspected arson” that took place in the camp, now under further investigation.

Volunteers, supporters and even sympathetic councillors said the camp was not a long-term solution to issues of homelessness and addiction in Regina but, it did serve as a stopgap measure for vulnerable people.

— with files from Larissa Kurz

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