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CBC — 49 homeless encampments dismantled since lawsuit scrapped

Original source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/49-homeless-encampments-dismantled-in-edmonton-since-lawsuit-scrapped-1.7100396 Retrieved: 2026-07-04 By: Wallis Snowdon, CBC News. Posted Feb 01, 2024.

Pace of sweeps after standing denied

  • "Two weeks since a lawsuit challenging Edmonton's practice of dismantling homeless encampments was scrapped by a judge, nearly 50 encampments around the city have been torn down."
  • A new Emergency Operations Centre, set up by city administration one day after the suit was dismissed (established Jan. 17, 2024), is co-ordinating sweeps "as evictions continue at an accelerated pace."
  • EOC "has overseen the removal of 49 encampments... About 211 structures were removed during the sweeps — and 175 people were living in the camps before tents were torn down."
  • EOCs are "typically set up in response to disasters, serious emergencies or major public events" (wildfire evacuees, NHL playoffs, NYE).
  • Coalition lawyer Avnish Nanda: "The bottom line is they're doing this because that lawsuit [no] longer exists. They feel emboldened... they're continuing to breach the fundamental rights of the most vulnerable and marginalized within our city." And: "There is a disconnect between what city council says its policy is and what city admin is doing. And that is very troubling."
  • Of ~100 people forced from camps and taken to the navigation centre: about 45 connected to formal housing programs, 55 transferred to emergency shelters.
  • "As of Jan. 17, according to the province, 1,801 shelter spaces were available in Edmonton, including 295 transitional spaces."

Michael Janz (Ward papastew) — direct quotes

  • "remains skeptical about the pace and focus of the city's encampment strategy. He said government resources, and city money, could be better spent on addressing the systemic causes of homelessness. As the number of Edmontonians facing extreme poverty continues to rise, merely dismantling camps just displaces the problem, he said."
  • Janz: "If people don't want to go to the shelter, you can't force them to go. They'll leave and set up camp somewhere else."
  • Janz: "I'm not optimistic that a majority enforcement approach is going to address the root causes of this problem that is worsening every single day."

Other councillors

  • Aaron Paquette (Ward Dene): operations centre set up to support the navigation centre; "The province and police are leading the eviction process... The most we can do is support these efforts by having our crews go in and clean up and offer things like a warm bus ride." (NOTE: the "err on the side of intervention" quote belongs to PAQUETTE, not Janz.)
  • Anne Stevenson (Ward O-day'min): "There are now more resources to support people to transition out of encampments... that shifts how we can respond."