Across from the Main Street TTC station, there are a handful of tents in Stanley G. Grizzle Park, and while the encampment has been cleared before, and no camping signs were put up, the tents have returned. 

Patrick has been here for months. He says the city has offered him and the others a place in a shelter, but adds he’s had bad experiences in those shelters.

Toronto City Council returns next week, and Beaches East York councillor and mayoral candidate Brad Bradford plans to put forth a motion for debate, which he says will speed up the process of clearing encampments near city parks.

“We are not going to have encampments in our parks within 200 metres of playgrounds, daycares or schools,” says Bradford, whose motion calls for prioritizing removing encampments within 48 hours of being reported.

Bradford says while the encampment at the parkette was cleared on July 17th, it returned on September 2 and has remained since then.

“We can’t let a handful of tents, predatory drug dealers, some of the behaviour that we see in these encampment sites, cut off our parks.”

Area residents say drug use in the area is a problem.

“They find needles in the playground,” said Doug Smith.

“No one is allowed to remove them. They openly do drugs there, they openly sell drugs there,” added Frank Haas.

Patrick admits there are lots of people who come by to do drugs, but adds, “It’s not us.”

Homeless advocates have rejected Bradford’s plan.

“This is a very bad idea, we have protocols that offer support first,” says Diana Chan McNally with the Housing Rights Advisory Committee. “Now, we’re building in a loophole and profiling people, not because of behaviours, not because of so-called criminality, but just their proximity to children and suggesting that they are a danger to children simply by existing as a homeless person.”

Bradford claims that under Mayor Olivia Chow, encampments have been allowed to take root and multiply across the city and that the current approach focuses resources only on the largest encampments in the city, while leaving hundreds of others in place.

Mayor Olivia Chow says progress is being made on the encampment front.

“We are clearing encampments, we are bringing people indoors. We’ve brought in 1,000 people, homeless people, inside into shelters. Since I’ve been mayor, it’s been like 4,000 people moved inside.”  

As for Patrick, he says the right options would help him pack up his tent.

“We prefer hotels or housing.”

The mayor’s office says putting a time limit of 48 hours to begin clearing an encampment is problematic because often police or fire departments are involved, and the City does not direct those resources. That, plus ongoing outreach, means things can take a while. That is unlikely to be comforting to those who live near encampments.