Final encampment dwellers packing up and leaving Sudbury's Memorial Park today

Santana Nahwegezhic has been living in an encampment in downtown Greater Sudbury since last summer.

"I've been living here for before the snow started falling, and I stayed out here all winter and I wasn't even cold," she said.

She built the large tented structure using tarps, beams and tents. As many as 15 individuals have slept in it, but now only about four remain.

It's the encampment that the City of Greater Sudbury said must be vacated by today (April 1). Earlier this month, the city said everyone living in the tents must pack up and leave by that deadline.

Memorial Park is a municipal park and the city wants to return the space for public use.

Partner agencies have been working to support those leaving the encampment.

Raymond Landry, co-ordinator of the Homelessness Network in Sudbury, said outreach workers (Red Coats) have been providing support to the remaining individuals.

They will be on hand for the closure as well.

"They will not be part of any enforcement, they will not be part of removing people or taking their things. That is not the role of outreach," Landry said.

"But where people want help in moving or finding another space, various outreach teams could be out there to help transport some stuff, bring them to where they want to go if they want that."

Ali Farooq from the Go-Give Project said he will be at the encampment on Friday to help the people with whom he's built trusted relationships.

He said if it is physical support, like someone to carry or move items, he can do that job. 

"But mostly it will be that emotional support; that they have somebody they know and they trust that is present and just to watch out for their benefit and make sure things are going smoothly and respectfully."

Farooq doesn't believe the park dwellers will be able to pack up everything that belongs to them by the time they are required to leave. He has been told they were given storage facilities to store some items.

"As far as the [large encampment] structure goes, it's a very complex structure in there with wood and beams and everything so there will be a lot of garbage to dispose of, as well," Farooq said.

There are also a few smaller tents set up in the park, which Farooq believes are for storage. 

Marie Pollock, who has done outreach work with a number of different agencies, said she's disappointed the closure is happening at all.

"All you're doing is taking them out of the park and pushing them farther into the dark, making it hard for them to access the things that they need."

Nahwegezhic was provided a temporary hotel room, and has a case worker to help find permanent housing.

But she is concerned for one of her roommates in the encampment.

"He doesn't know what he's going to do. He's kind of happy for me, but bummed out at the same time cause he tried to ask for help and they said that he has to wait a little bit," Nahwegezhic said.

"But he's going to be kicked out tomorrow like me; why can't they help him too?"

City's response

In a statement to CBC News, the City of Greater Sudbury said forced closure will only occur after all support efforts have been attempted without success.

The statement added that a fence will go up around the encampment at Memorial Park to allow for maintenance work and ground restoration in the coming weeks and months. 

A cleaning contractor will also be procured to clean up the debris left behind, and a garbage bin will remain until the cleanup is finished.

Resignations

The City of Greater Sudbury confirmed two researchers appointed to the city's encampment response table have resigned.

Last fall, council invited Laurentian University researchers Carol Kauppi and Kevin Fitzmaurice to speak at a meeting. They were appointed to the encampment committee at that time.

During the meeting, both told council they were opposed to the forcible closure of encampments.

Kauppi is director of Laurentian's Centre for Research in Social Justice and Policy, and has studied homelessness in northern Ontario.

Fitzmaurice is a professor emeritus with the University of Sudbury's Department of Indigenous Studies and has conducted research on a number of issues, including Indigenous homelessness and housing initiatives.