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About Us and the Park (Main)

Tents in the park, 2024

Excerpt from the Dufferin Grove Park August newsletter

New neighbours in tents at the park:

At the beginning of June two tents appeared in the park. By the beginning of July there were 8. At the end of July there were more than 20. -- Who are these new residents of the neighbourhood?

A few of us recently walked around to some of the different tents, to say hello and ask them. Most people were willing to tell us a little. Some are internal refugees, coming from another part of Canada (Alberta seems common). They were unsuccessful finding jobs in their home province, and the jobs didn’t turn out to be here either. Some are near-neighbours who formerly lived on Gladstone or Havelock and lost their housing. Some are clearly in trouble with some kind of drugs (but were courteous and careful in their responses). And a few are mean, and scare the other campers.

Every person in every tent we visited was different.

We asked these temporary park residents two questions: 1. if you had access to the washer and dryer that currently sit unused at the park building, at scheduled times when the day campers are not there, would that help? And 2. If you had access to the new kitchen in the building at scheduled times, would you want to cook there, just for yourselves or to share?

The answers were mixed but mostly yes. One woman said she is currently throwing out clothes when they get too dirty, and she hates doing that but has no way to get to a laundromat. Several campers were worried that the kitchen would be a messy chaos if just any campers could use it. But they were reassured to hear that the building is already staffed by two city staff from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day, who could be in charge of making it work.

In the June newsletter we reported that city reports currently recommend “relationship-building with people in encampments, and expediting access to housing and other supports, without the use of enforcement.” That approach was developed after a critical report by the city ombudsman (and by international media) about what happened when police were sent into some parks with horses in Toronto in 2020.

The covid lockdown times that drove people out of the crowded shelters ended a few years ago, but the low-rent housing situation has gotten worse. The official new approach to encampments is called “the Dufferin Grove Park model.” So, your newsletter editor emailed the city’s Shelter and Support Division and asked if access to the currently unused new washer/dryer and the still rarely-used state-of-the-art kitchen could be made available, at scheduled times, to the people currently living there in tents.

The question was passed to a Media Relations and Issues Management Senior Communications Advisor, whose name is Elise von Scheel. She wrote:

“City of Toronto staff have assessed the amenities you mentioned at Dufferin Grove Park and determined it's not possible to offer them for public use. The building in question is programmed throughout the year, with many recreation programs operating daily. The facility itself does not have the capacity or provisions to offer the added services you noted in addition to the current demands without affecting the ability to continue to program for the broader community.”

The communications advisor wrote that people can instead go to “Drop-in centres, respite sites and other shelter system facilities [which] offer showers, washrooms, laundry and other services.” But when we asked about available shelters, another communications colleague had to respond that “Currently, the daily average of callers left unmatched to a shelter bed after calling Central Intake is 236 people.”

So that won’t work. On top of that, the official information about the Dufferin Grove building is wrong. Apart from the registered weekday 9 to 4 kids’ day camp, there are actually very few recreation programs operating out of the building at this point. On Sundays and most weekday evenings, no programs are happening. The building staff mostly sit in their office with the shades drawn down over the big new windows, so people can’t see them. The recent city staff report on encampments seems to mean that scheduled times of access to the washer and dryer and the kitchen, with staff supervision, could be part of the "outreach and support model" -- supporting people who want to take steps to resume taking care of themselves again. Helping with that access is something the staff could do.

But wouldn’t that kind of help encourage more people to camp in the park this summer?

Since the middle of July, your editor has been asking park users what they think. The subject makes for lively conversations – everybody seems to be worried about it.

So far, about a third of the people I talked with at the park said firmly that the tents ought to be removed: parks are supposed to be green spaces, and nothing extra should be provided to campers in parks. About another third firmly said the opposite -- if the facility for laundry and cooking is right there, open it up. And the rest were unsure. Some said they have family members or friends who have lost or are about to lose their housing. Some said the issue is still the mental health fallout from the covid lockdowns. Others said the arrivals of refugees seeking safety from wars is making the problems grow so fast.

According to city staff, “The City is sheltering more than 12,000 people in the shelter system and outside the shelter system in bridging hotels.”

What can be done? Maybe....
– 1. For a one-month trial period starting in the second week of August, at designated times, let people in tents or sleeping on park benches, at this park, come and do their laundry and cook and if possible, find friends. This needs staff in the building who are older than 18, and can see the point.

- 2. Keep the park conversations going. Keep talking, not in meetings, but at the playground, around the tents, at the picnic tables, around the big stainless steel kitchen prep table, inside the rink building -- and raise the blinds that currently cover all the big new kitchen windows, so people can see each other!

Conversations with strangers, including those who don’t agree with one another, may lead to finding out things – about people’s stories, and about what people need to make the city work better. Is it worth a shot at Dufferin Grove?

more links

Toronto Star on tents at Dufferin Grove Park

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