St. John's tent encampment weathered snowstorm with community support, says volunteer
CBC
As parts of St. John's saw more than 70 centimetres of snow Thursday night into Saturday morning, about a dozen people at the city's encampment waited out the storm in their tents.
Chris Glavine of Tent City for Change, a group of volunteers that supports people at the encampment, says morale was "quite high" as people were well-fed and warm, and helped each other shovelling.
"We do a lot of prep as opposed to the government [which] shows up the day before and scrambles to try to get people into shelters that are often full and don't accept people even though they've been told to go there," said Glavine.
Glavine said volunteers ensure there is enough supply of food, blankets, clothes and propane ahead of time, and distribute it to the people at the encampment close to downtown.
He criticized how public washrooms in the adjacent Bannerman Park, which had been temporarily shut down in November due to a rise in vandalism, were closed off once again during the snowstorm.
"I'm guessing the security guards who were stationed here 24 hours a day went home due to the storm, and fair enough for their safety," said Glavine.
"But the government's response, instead of leaving the bathroom available, just the basic decency of a bathroom in the middle of a snowstorm, they locked it up. How does that not show that government's not only incapable but unwilling to provide for people in the way that the community is?"
Glavine said measures like that are one of several reasons why those who stayed in their tents during the storm didn't feel safe going into shelters — not even as a temporary solution.
"They know that we're not going to lock them out. We're going to help them as much as we can," he said.
"That, to me, speaks volumes, that they're saying, 'We're not going to go into these temporary shelters, these warming centres. We want safe, affordable housing. And we're willing to stay out in a storm that brings 75 centimetres of snow to show our determination that this is what we deserve.'"
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