Future uncertain for residents of bulldozed Regina homeless camp
The dwellings of around a dozen Regina residents experiencing homelessness were bulldozed after calls from the property owner.
“Feeling sad I guess, they’re tearing down half my home. But it happens,” Randy Netmaker, who lived at the encampment, told CTV News.
“They always push us Indians off to the side.”
Police, firefighters and a skid steer arrived at the encampment on the 1800 block of Halifax Street at around 8 a.m. Wednesday morning.
Netmaker has lived at the encampment for around six months. In that time he’s tried to get regular housing, but he says the process has been difficult.
“Every time I apply for a place, they seem to refuse us, I don’t know why,” he said.
“Maybe if I was by myself, but I’ve got my kids here. So I can’t just get my own place and forget about my kids, they need a place to live too.”
Groups that work with the unhoused stood by to lend assistance to those displaced from their homes.
Shylo Stevenson, a spokesperson for Warriors of Hope, told CTV News that many of the residents were trying to access housing but were facing barriers.
“We do have three that have no place to go right now, so we have them temporarily housed by mobile crisis for the day,” he said.
“Social services, we’ve been advised, is in an emergency meeting to discuss this and help navigate people through the system again where we will probably encounter those same barriers. No I.D, no bank account, no physical address.”
Netmaker is one of the residents who has housing for the moment, but he doubts anything will change in the long term.
“They said they are going to put me up in a hotel, probably just temporarily until they sweep it under the rug again like last year,” he said.
“They said they were going to get a place for homeless people but they never did.”
Several dozen people are living outdoors in the downtown area. The Heritage Neighbourhood Association calls it a crisis.
"This morning was really disheartening," Wendy Miller, executive director of the association, said. "We consider these tents a part of our community and neighbourhood as well and we worry about these humans so it’s somebody’s father, somebody’s son, somebody’s daughter, somebody’s grandma, grandpa, kokum, moshum and they’re people."
By the end of the day, the site had been completely cleared. The former residents will spend a day or two at a hotel with an expectation that they find housing quickly.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Former homicide detective explains how police will investigate shooting outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
Alcohol believed to be a factor in boating incident after 2 men die: N.S. RCMP
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.
Northern Ont. woman makes 'eggstraordinary' find
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, who played spirited cheerleader Patty Simcox in 'Grease,' dead at 72
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Jeremy Skibicki has 'uphill battle' to prove he's not criminally responsible in Winnipeg killings: legal analysts
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
Bye-bye bag fee: Calgary repeals single-use bylaw
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
CFL suspends Argos QB Chad Kelly at least nine games following investigation
The CFL suspended Toronto Argonauts quarterback Chad Kelly for at least nine regular-season games Tuesday following its investigation into a lawsuit filed by a former strength-and-conditioning coach against both the player and club.