Toronto to deploy 24/7 security guards at six city parks to monitor encampment activity

Despite opposition, city staff will move ahead with a plan to hire around-the-clock security guards to patrol six parks this summer.

“What you are describing is a human security camera,” said Diana Chan McNally, a longtime housing advocate, who calls the city’s plan ludicrous.

The teams would work 24/7 at Alexandra Park, Lamport Stadium, Trinity Bellwoods Park, and Dufferin Grove, while two other parks, Moss Park and Barbara Hall Park, will be monitored.

The private security guards would alert city staff to any encampment activity at which point a corporate security team and outreach teams would step in.

“You can’t camp in parks,” says Brad Ross, city spokesperson. “That is something we will enforce and something we will continue to enforce.”

Councillors Gord Perks and Mike Layton tried to bring more scrutiny to the plan. They brought an urgent motion to city council, asking for the hiring process to be deferred until council has been fully briefed on how else that money could be spent when it comes to connecting people to supports and housing. Their motion was defeated, with 15 votes against, and six votes in favour.

“We have a duty to make sure that our parks are safe. We have a duty to make sure that vulnerable individuals are getting the help and support that they need,” said Perks. “If you take that duty seriously, you should get a report from city staff about why they’re taking this approach.”

Large encampments were set up in each of these parks last summer and eventually were taken down by the city. Those who were living in the tents were evicted.

At Lamport Stadium and Trinity Bellwoods, the evictions were met with protestors and led to clashes with police. The city spent over $1.5 million to clear the encampments and several people were charged in connection with the incidents.

RELATED STORIES:

• 26 arrested, violent clashes erupt as police evict homeless at Lamport Stadium encampment

• City of Toronto spent almost $2M clearing homeless encampments

• Toronto planned encampment clearing operation for months, built resident profiles

The city says the goal of these security teams is to deter the establishment of a large encampment footprint while also making sure residents around the area feel safe using the park.

Ross said these teams will not be taking part in any enforcement and they will merely be a presence in the parks.

“If they should see an encampment/tent structure being established or if there’s already one in place when they attend that park, they will notify our corporate security team who will engage with our streets to homes outreach teams who will immediately then attend that park to have those conversations with people encouraging them to come inside where we have a range of services,” said Ross.

“This isn’t about criminalizing homelessness”

Deputy Mayor Ana Bailao noted that the city has already been using security to patrol public parks, including at Dufferin Grove.

“That helped because there was sometimes some conflict with people who were staying at the park and we found it actually quite helpful to deal with some of those situations,” she said, adding that city staff and local organizations were also involved.

“That approach of offering people safe indoor space and offering people the services that we need, is and always will be our approach,” said Tracey Cook, deputy city manager for the City of Toronto.

“In this particular case with the security, they are additional ears and eyes for us on the ground. It allows for quicker response and earlier intervention.”

Councillor Shelly Carroll noted that the way the encampments were cleared last year alarmed many city residents, who are now speaking out.

“What is being done to train these security forces, or if they summon the police? What is being done to ensure a sensitive approach so that people don’t feel like they’re going to see violent outbursts and points of conflict every time we go in to try and do the nice thing, which is to get someone to better shelter?” she asked city staff.

Homeless advocates at Trinity Bellwoods Park as the City of Toronto dismantles the homeless encampment on June 22, 2021. CITYNEWS/Tony Fera

Cook said that last year’s action was not the city’s first choice. “The first effort and the effort goal always is to provide people with the services that they need,” Cook told the council. “Our effort now, and the reason we want to have those additional feet on the ground, is to avoid the entrenchment of any large-scale encampments.”

While some are concerned that the impact on those experiencing homelessness will be negative, Ross said that is not the city’s goal. “This isn’t about criminalizing homelessness. This isn’t about enforcing laws. This is about making sure that those individuals who are homeless know of the many services I just described that are available to them.”

Chan McNally, a long-time housing advocate, calls the city’s plan “ludicrous.”

“If you are not providing direct service support or housing for them, what is the point in putting public dollars into an initiative like this – it could be going spent on anything else service, shelters, outreach or directly into the housing itself,” said McNally.

McNally said surveillance is not the answer.

“A lot of those people have ended up in smaller parks or deeper into ravines, making it harder for us as outreach workers to find them and make sure they are well so the end result of surveilling people like this is not reducing encampments, it just drives them further underground.”

“Our approach has always been to be clear and nonconfrontational, it’s about having conversations with people, establishing relationships,” Ross said.

A request for proposal has been issued and will close on May 30. Ross says they hope to have the security teams in place for the summer. City staff haven’t released a cost estimate for the measures.