Homeless in Fairhaven: Saskatoon group wants city to prune trees to get campers out of their parks

Residents of a Saskatoon neighbourhood are calling on the city to address the problem of encampments in their parks.

They say the city is refusing to prune the trees people are sheltering under, but officials say that’s not an easy fix.

Residents of William A. Reid Park and HS Sears Park report growing concerns about safety.

“We have beautiful pine trees, but unfortunately the lower branches reach all the way to the ground, creating areas for encampments and people to hide and do drugs, which poses a major safety risk to the community,” Bob Meyer told CTV News.

The Fairhaven Ward 2 and 3 community Facebook page has been filled with comments and concerns about encampments in the parks. On that page, residents are encouraging each other to contact the city to request that trees be cut down to deter people from camping.

“Send the message to the parks that they need to clean them up because there have been so many camps in these trees and it’s just scary for the people who are still going through the parks,” he said.

According to Meyer, another problem arose last weekend when a group at a camp lit a campfire under a tree.

Police Chief Cam McBride spoke to CTV News Tuesday morning about what he called a complex issue.

Later on Tuesday, McBride visited Reid Park. Meyer happened to be there too.

“It’s not specific to any one neighborhood. We see people all over the city choosing to live on the streets, so it’s not just something we address on the west side or downtown. We need to address it as a citywide issue,” McBride said.

Meyer says he appreciates that McBride took the time to come to the park and chat with him.

“When I ran into him on the same day I came to meet CTV, I was surprised, but another resident of the community had already sent him photos and concerns a while ago,” Meyer said.

City of Saskatoon Parks Manager Thai Hoang reassures residents that they take the safety of park residents seriously, but he emphasizes that his department is concerned with pruning trees when it comes to the health of the plant.

“But from conversations with our safety experts, police and firefighters, we know that pruning trees can actually make the problem worse and make the bottom of the trees more accessible to people,” Hoang said.

McBride says a plan is currently being devised that should help address Fairhaven’s concerns. It will streamline the process of involving different levels of government, so that in a case like this, the city’s parks department can act outside of its normal purview to address safety issues if deemed necessary by police or fire officials.