SASKATOON—The City of Saskatoon asks residents not to believe everything they read or see on social media platforms, as they are rumours that can be shared, thus spreading lies and misinformation.
City Fire Marshal Ryan Bradley, in a media event on Wednesday, Nov. 20, at the Saskatoon Fire Department Fire Station 1, addressed the issue of encampments circulated in communities and provided information to set the record straight.
Misinformation that has spread is that the SFD has issued a permit to allow an encampment in Saskatoon, where people put up temporary dwelling structures. Bradley said this was false, and the permit was issued to allow a cultural ceremony done by First Nations.
“We have issued a burn permit for a community leader to hold smudges. This community leader has held smudges for the past four and a half years. We want to support him, what he's doing for our community, and the service that he is providing. The burn permit is issued specifically for an open-air fire for smudging and has no way allowed or permitted an encampment,” Bradley told local journalists.
“We were made aware of a social media post. I believe it was two days ago, and with that social media post, we want to clarify what the permit has been issued for. I have contacted the individual several times over the past couple of days to clarify that we support the smudging and ceremonial fire he intends to have. Still, we also want to make clear that the line stops with the support of the ceremonial fire and the smudge, and in no way are we endorsing an encampment in the area.”
He added the person who applied for the burn permit is not the same person or source of the social media post.
Bradley said they do not allow an individual to stay for a long time in a tent or makeshift shelter in the city, and indeed, they do not issue a permit for a large-scale encampment.
“We don't allow an individual to stay long in a tent or a makeshift shelter. That's just it's not a safe and adequate living condition, so we don't want one or multiple people staying in these conditions,” said Bradley.
Response on encampments
Bradley said the SFD have an in-house team from their Fire Community Risk Reduction Division whose primary objective is to reach out to individuals living in encampments and offer support to get the needed resources to help in their living situation. The team also checks the safety of their living condition and if it is inadequate.
“We do want to make sure that everyone has a safe and adequate place to stay, but we also want to make sure that those places are abiding by the property and maintenance property and nuisance abatement bylaw of the City of Saskatoon,” said Bradley.
“This is where we've got to paint the picture right. We want to ensure that a structure has adequate facilities, is built within proper code, and has running water, electricity, heat, and everything a property needs to maintain minimum standards.
He clarified that encampments are groups of tents that do not meet building standards or proper building codes, do not have facilities, have a risk of infectious disease outbreaks, and have no personal security if someone exhibits predatory behaviours, whether assault, robbery or theft.
“If we look at the definition of an encampment, basically it's a military term of a group of individuals staying in tent-like structures for an extended period, so when we look at an actual definition of an encampment, it would be a group of several different tents and individuals staying in one area and for a length of time instead of just one tent overnight looking for a place to stay,” said Bradley.
“The first objective or the first point of contact is to connect with the individuals and try to assist them with connecting to resources, and whether that's shelter security or housing or food security or connect to hygiene or connect to social services, there are several different organizations that we connect them to, but our priority is to connect with those individuals and offer them as many supports as we can. Then the second is to ensure we maintain our City of Saskatoon bylaw.”
