City looks at less waste collection at encampments after someone hit a worker there

The city is revisiting how often it collects waste at encampments after someone punched a worker last week.

The city says a waste collection worker received minor injuries on Ferguson Avenue North around 8 a.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 25. More than 35 tents there house people who are sleeping rough.

There was "an incident," the city says, and "a waste collector suffered minor injuries as a result." It didn't provide details.

The city says its crews regularly collect waste from encampment areas around the FirstOntario Centre and Ferguson Avenue North. Now, "the city is looking at the frequency of waste collection schedules in those areas," the city said, "and will be updating the advice it gives outreach workers to provide services to those areas."

It's also "encouraging them to use caution."

Marcie McIlveen, outreach coordinator for Keeping Six, says the man was having a mental health crisis, and he was confused and hit the worker.

He doesn't remember the incident, McIlveen says, and is deeply apologetic now. She worries this will give the public a bad impression of the people living there.

CBC News is awaiting comment from Hamilton Police Service about whether an investigation is ongoing.

People there are picking up garbage themselves every morning, trying to keep the area clean, McIlveen says. A lot of the waste floating around Ferguson Avenue North, she says, isn't from the encampment dwellers.

"Everybody's working together," she said. "We're trying to have community and everybody meeting at the table."

As for violence, "I don't see any more violence than there usually is."

The encampments have been a divisive issue in Hamilton since they appeared with greater visibility during the COVID-19 pandemic. There are more than 50 tents downtown, mostly outside the temporary shelter on York Boulevard and the Wesley Day Centre on Ferguson Avenue North. 

Not new, but more visible

Early in the pandemic, the city tore down two encampments. Hamsmart, Keeping Six, the Hamilton Community Legal Clinic and Ross & McBride LLP obtained a court injunction to prevent the city from dismantling encampments. The city is fighting that.

City council has received dozens of letters for and against encampments. Those in favour say tent living is healthier and more dignified than some other options. Those opposed say the encampments are intimidating and lead to greater neighbourhood crime.

It's not new for people to be sleeping in tents around Hamilton, says Dr. Jill Wiwcharuk of the Hamilton Social Medicine Response Team (Hamsmart). People have convened around FirstOntario Centre and the Wesley Day Centre because there are resources like food and restrooms there.

Wiwcharuk points to guidelines from the Centre for Disease Control that recommend "[allowing] people who are living unsheltered or in encampments to remain where they are" to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Treating life-threatening infections

Wiwcharuk says it's been easier to treat people staying in one place, and not just for COVID-19 symptoms.

"I have been able to give prenatal care to people prior to them delivering their babies," she said. 

"I have seen life-threatening infections that are able to be treated, and I can follow them and do wound care. I have seen life-threatening addictions that I can finally treat because people are in one place. They're coming to me and saying 'I want to start methadone,' and we're able to have that appointment right in front of their tent."

Robert Manley is a resident of Wesley Community Homes, a social housing provider in the same building as the Wesley Day Centre. He told councillors last month that the encampments were an issue.

"Some deliveries [have been] refused," he said. "Some friends and family won't visit. Trespassers make it difficult to sit outside your own building."