Ahead of a public town hall, a group of local residents took to the streets last week to protest on the steps of city hall to make sure their voices are heard.
On Friday, a group bearing colourful signs walked from Hollinger Park to Timmins city hall to highlight their concerns about community safety, drug use and theft. This Thursday (June 15), the city is holding a community safety town hall for the public to share their concerns.
The protest and town hall are a result of the Move Living Space Facebook group that was recently started.
When the city announced the town hall, it wasn't clear if the protest would move ahead.
"I ... and a lot of other people who are here, felt that this was the way to go. Because the city town hall that we’re going to have (Thursday), they’re controlling the narrative. If you want to ask a question, you gotta submit it ahead of time,” said Brian Beauchamp.
Concerned that people may not get to speak freely at the meeting, he wanted to keep the momentum going.
"Because dealing with the city over my lifetime and other people’s as well, the only time the city listens to anybody is when you hold their feet to the fire. So I said that we should meet anyway and this is what we’ve done and we got a pretty good turnout,” he said.
The community safety town hall is on Thursday, June 15 from 7-9 p.m. at the McIntyre Community Centre ballroom. Timmins council members and Timmins Police Service (TPS) Board representatives will be attending.
Questions do not have to be submitted in advance and there will be microphones for the public. There will also be a moderator.
“Everyone … who wants to speak should have an opportunity to speak, time permitting,” said Timmins Mayor Michelle Boileau.
The meeting has been a long time coming, she said, with the culminating point being the creation of the Facebook page.
"We’ve known that people are concerned, people are displeased with the current state of affairs in the city," she said.
"And in discussion with some of the group members, it came about that it seemed like this was mostly due to a common sentiment that people didn’t feel like they’re being heard."
The goal is to put everyone in the same room to allow residents to talk and have council members and the police services board hear the comments.
“It’s not like we’re going there wanting to educate and argue … we’re really just there to listen, gather the feedback, the concerns and then start to see what we can do to address it,” she said.
Sharing concerns on social media doesn't always reach everyone as Boileau noted that not all councillors are online. She's hoping there will be a meaningful discussion in a respectful, open environment at the meeting.
"I don’t want people to feel like they’re going to be limited in terms of what they can share, there will definitely be measures taken to ensure that it stays orderly,” she said.
A Positive Meeting
While the protestors were outside city hall, Boileau and Timmins Police Chief Dan Foy met with Robert Boucher, who started the Facebook group.
“I was actually very glad that she was more than willing to listen to what we have to say. All I wanted was to push forward at least looking up to see if Living Space could be moved,” he said.
The goals, he said, are to change security, look at options to move the homeless shelter, and get people the help they need.
“Those are the weakest people in our society right now. They are the most vulnerable and it feels bad to tell them ‘Hey, you know, you can’t be here’," he said.
Another solution he mentioned is updating the city bylaw to prevent a large homeless shelter from being built in a residential area again.
After the meeting, Boileau said it went well.
"It’s a good opportunity to talk through what the pressure points are right now in his neighbourhood and for him to hear about what work’s already being done. I just reassured him that we’re well aware that we have some major issues here that we’re needing to work on and just wanted to assure him that we are, but that we appreciate him engaging.
"It was a good meeting. He apologized for some of the content that he had put out there, which I appreciated. He expressed that he doesn’t agree with all of the content that’s being put up on the page now,” said Boileau.
Community Concerns
Living Space is a hub dedicated to ending homelessness in the city. It originally opened in 2018 on Cedar Street North, across from city hall, where Safe Health Site Timmins is now located.
In the spring of 2021, the organization announced its move to a new location on Spruce Street South. After the announcement, people in the neighbourhood said they were "blindsided" by the news.
SEE: Living Space expanding to second location
RELATED: Neighbourhood 'blindsided' by news of relocating homeless shelter: resident
The property is owned by the Cochrane District Social Services Administration Board (CDSSAB) and Living Space rents the space.
Because the building was already zoned to allow for the shelter, the decision didn't have to go to Timmins council for approval.
Boucher is asking the city to look for other options because the shelter is "not working where it is."
While he's not a direct neighbour, he lives in the neighbourhood and said there are issues affecting him.
Last year, he said a topless woman ran through his yard with a large knife.
"(It's) two o’clock in the morning in the pouring rain, like it's thunderstorm raining, and she’s got this huge butcher knife and she’s trying to get around on the walking trail around some other people and I have no idea what happened. This was a few minutes after my wife took out the trash, so she was not wanting to ever go outside at night again,” he said.
For minor issues, like people going into their yard to go through bins, he said he doesn't report it to the police.
"It’s just the more violent stuff, like the fighting on the walking trail I hear all the time, and when the snowplow plows the alleyway I get all those needles, it’s horrible,” he said.
Boucher has not reached out to Living Space.
"They’re doing the best job they can, they’re trained for that, they’re trained for the abuse and the addictions and the mental health. My concern is the neighbours, the little kids that are next door, they’re not trained in violence de-escalation, they’re not trained in mental health, they’re not trained in addiction,” he said.
“I would just be giving them shit and there’s nothing they can do. They’re doing the job they’re supposed to do and it’s an honourable job in the end."
He has also not talked to CDSSAB.
“I’m not sure who there would want to speak to me. I’m pretty sure a few of them are upset,” he said.
The building at the northwest corner of Cedar Street and Algonquin, has been owned by Chris Lamarche's family for nearly 40 years. It was broken into last week.
"They ripped a window out of the wall, broke in, stole a bunch of tools, wiring and physically ripped out waterlines inside of the basement. So we had to call in a contractor to come and replace all of the piping because our hairdresser salon upstairs couldn’t work for the day so she had to go home, so she was without money for the day and now I’m out whatever it’s going to end up costing me in the end once it’s done,” he said.
Constantly cleaning up needles and garbage around his property, he was always planning to attend Friday's protest.
“It’s a constant battle just cleaning up all the time, checking up on things, broken windows, tenants' cars windows getting broken in. It’s a constant thing. I thought maybe with Living Space moving a little bit out of the way it would get better, but then the legal injection site opened up,” said Lamarche.
Lamarche's building has 13 units that are a mix of commercial and residential spaces.
Right now, he said there are three vacant commercial units, which is about $6-7,000 in lost revenue each month, he said.
Over five years ago, he said two longtime tenants left.
"It was a problem for their employees walking down to the parking lot constantly getting harassed and chased, it was just too scary for them to keep doing that. So they left after being there for that long and they’ve been empty since,” he said.
Pilot Projects
In December 2022, the Downtown BIA pitched two pilot projects to Timmins council, which the city has earmarked $250,000 for this year. One focuses on hiring a private security firm to patrol overnight and help reduce vandalism and crime without putting strain on the Timmins Police resources. The second program is for trained street outreach workers to help vulnerable people.
The BIA deputation with more details on the programs as presented by the BIA has been removed from the City of Timmins council agendas for Dec. 15, 2022. A copy of the presentation, however, can be found online here.
Watch the presentation below:
An RFP is currently out for the security services patrol. The total budget is a maximum of $125,00 for one year. The cost will be covered by the city's portion of the municipal accommodation tax.
The remaining $125,000 is for outreach. That RFP hasn't been issued yet. With the CDSSAB receiving a Homelessness Prevention Program (HPP) funding increase, Boileau said the city is talking to them about what the best approach is so that services aren't duplicated.
The CDSSAB has also not bought the Ramada Inn, said Boileau, who is the chair of the organization's board.
"There wasn’t even an offer put in. I can say there is one director on the board that asked if it’s something that we should be looking at at our last board meeting, discussion didn’t go much further than that. We pretty much all agreed that we weren’t in a position to even consider it,” she said.
