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EDMONTON — Even after more than 30 years in policing and public safety, I could not have predicted having to say that a tent is not adequate shelter for anyone, let alone during an Edmonton winter.

Just yesterday I saw a notice announcing an upcoming gathering to collect tents to help people fortify themselves for the winter. I saw this while reading the latest reports from our high risk encampment team. We have visited more than 3,600 sites this year, in response to high levels of community complaints and to seek to get people to access services and support. The juxtaposition between the rally’s plans and actual conditions on the ground was striking.

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All camps are high risk. And the idea that we could ever provide safety and support to hundreds of people in scattered encampments is impossible. It is also completely backwards to consider this path in a city where there are sufficient shelter beds and available interim housing has expanded in recent months.

The shelters and partner agencies we work with in Edmonton are doing good work and have made significant progress in improving standards and addressing perceived gaps in services, including the need to keep couples together, store belongings and not to lose their beloved pets. There are, however, persistent gaps and growing pressures, including unforeseen circumstances such as rising numbers of homeless people from newcomer communities, a factor that is straining systems across the country.

Supporting encampments in this environment is literally an acceptance of failure, especially considering the existing risks and harms, the scale of which has been particularly profound in recent years.

As our officers continue to work with partners to manage the encampments, we are under constant pressure from communities who are also clearly victims of the encampments. Threats to community safety are significant for those who live and work around the encampments. Much like the people in the tents, communities become havens for disorder, crime, and victimization, including open drug use and the activities of traffickers who prey on people in the grip of substance abuse crises. and mental health. The disorder turns into repeated cycles of crime and violence as communities and those in the tents become easy and available targets for opportunistic criminals.

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Crime is only part of the evil. In recent years we have experienced outbreaks of shigella, resulting from the lack of adequate sanitation in these areas. And we’ve seen the winter elements impact a lot of people. This time last year, Edmonton Police Service (EPS) officers responded to multiple camp fires, something we all fear when open flames fueled by propane are used as a heating source. Fires occur too easily and cause disastrous consequences in terms of death, injury and property damage. Last year, three terrible fire deaths near available shelter shook us enough to insist that we issue an urgent call for change.

Working with the Province of Alberta, the City of Edmonton and multiple partners, we have begun to intervene at a more intensive level. Since opening our new Navigation Center in January 2024, we have seen improvements in service connections, earlier and more frequent medical interventions, and an overall improvement in community safety. Indeed, crime in our city center has fallen by 13 per cent while disturbance calls to the police have fallen by almost a third. In turn, the reduction in the number of calls allowed our agents to perform more proactive work, thereby doubling the time available for this work. Taken together, these numbers mean that encampment removals allow us to better anticipate crime, violence and victimization before they occur. Most importantly, no one has burned to death in a tent since and sudden deaths in EPS’ downtown division have decreased by 13 percent (YTD).

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There are gaps, we all see them. But a camp leading to the navigation center path changed that. The services offered – from addiction support to financial assistance or even permanent housing have all seen strong uptake and helped our government and partner agencies better understand the needs, gaps and potential for new solutions. At the beginning of October, the navigation center had more than 3,800 visitors connected to these services. This model is one that many cities are observing and seeking to emulate.

Housing and homelessness issues are complex, and the data clearly shows that a house alone will not solve the problem. There is no miracle solution, but to solve these intractable problems, we must first admit that tolerating tents is absolutely not part of the continuum of solutions. Those who inexplicably struggle to install and protect the tents discredit the progress and efforts made. In turn, driving down another tent pole does nothing for vulnerable people or the community as a whole.

National Post

Dale McFee is Chief of Police with the Edmonton Police Service.

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