Daytime sheltering on streets, boulevards and parks in Victoria could be coming to an end.
Council passed a motion Thursday asking city staff to identify a timeline, as well as funding and staff resources required to make it happen.
The motion, which passed 8-1, follows an incident in the 900-block of Pandora Avenue last week where a paramedic was assaulted while attending to a patient, which led to police and other first responders being swarmed by about 60 people. In response, paramedics and firefighters will no longer go to medical calls in the area without police.
“We can no longer allow the status quo to continue,” said Coun. Stephen Hammond, who brought forward a motion that directs city staff to put an end to illegal daytime sheltering around the city.
“If, during this term, Pandora, Rock Bay, Princess Street are the same as they are today or are worse, we will be remembered for not taking action when it was so desperately needed.”
Hammond said the city has bylaw-enforcement tools to tackle the daytime activity on Pandora and other areas but has chosen not to use them.
“It’s never been legal for anyone in the city of Victoria to set up a tent or structure on our streets, boulevards or sidewalks during the day or at night. And it has never been legal for anyone to keep a tent or structure up during the day, even in the parks we designate for overnight sheltering, yet we have allowed it,” he said.
The motion also directs staff to work with first responders, senior governments, Indigenous representatives and the homeless community to find ways to reduce the harm caused by homeless encampments.
Mayor Marianne Alto called the motion “a direction to act more quickly.”
But a number of councillors expressed skepticism it would address the root cause of the problem.
Coun. Jeremy Caradonna said he could get behind the motion because it’s just asking for the city to do more to enforce its own bylaws.
“None of us should be under any illusions that this will somehow magically solve homelessness in this city. In fact, I think it’s absurd to assume that the City of Victoria alone can somehow solve these deep social issues,” he said.
“We don’t have the resources, we don’t have the capacity, we don’t have the staff, we don’t have the mandate, and we don’t have the jurisdiction.”
Caradonna said the onus to deal with the crisis on Canadian city streets is on the provincial and federal governments.
He even appealed to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to consider working with the Department of National Defense to direct Canadian peacekeepers to organize a domestic humanitarian mission to Canadian downtown cores affected by homelessness, mental-health problems and addictions.
“This is a humanitarian crisis and Canadian peacekeepers are well-trained in dealing with humanitarian crises,” he said.
Coun. Chris Coleman backed the motion, as it signals that the city is reacting to what is happening on the ground, but warned it means pulling resources from other priorities.
“This is about re-allocating things we already do or have committed to doing and saying we’re not going to do them right now,” he said.
“We are going to refocus our energies and our finances on these heartbreaking issues that we see not just in our street, but the emotional response from last Thursday where one person’s life was unalterably changed.”
Coun. Susan Kim, the lone vote against the motion, said she’s not optimistic it could make a big difference.
“Yes, I could stand and say, logically, this is supportable because it’s stuff that’s already being done and we need to accelerate it and we need to go faster and harder,” she said.
“It’s just not enough because I don’t believe that the deus ex machina we’re waiting for is going to come.”
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