Oraye St. Franklyn

Winnipeg, MB – End Homelessness Winnipeg (EHW) acknowledges the concerns raised by the Point Douglas Residents Committee in their letter dated May 21, 2025, regarding an outreach activity by Main Street Project (MSP) that was perceived as supporting the setup of a new encampment along the Red River.

We recognize the frustration and confusion expressed by community members, particularly in light of their recent volunteer-led cleanup of the same area. We affirm the community’s right to expect accountability and transparency in all homelessness responses, especially where taxpayer-funded services are involved and where public safety and environmental stewardship intersect. We also acknowledge that the Point Douglas Residents Committee is not opposed to meaningful solutions to the ravaging crisis of homelessness in Winnipeg. Their advocacy reflects a deep concern for both their neighbourhood and the wellbeing of those experiencing homelessness, and we share in their desire to see effective, coordinated, and dignified responses.

“We hear the Point Douglas residents clearly,” said Jason Whitford, CEO of End Homelessness Winnipeg. “No one wants encampments. But we must admit that when a person in distress has no safe shelter option immediately available, the choices left to outreach workers become limited and ethically complex. What we are seeing is not a failure of compassion, but a failure of systems and a housing crisis. These are what must urgently change.”

EHW does not directly operate outreach services or encampments, including the Van Patrol service named in the incident. Our role is to coordinate the broader system of homelessness response and ensure that partner agencies are aligned with principles of dignity, safety, and transparency.

We have reviewed the response issued by Main Street Project and acknowledge their reaffirmation that:

• They do not support the establishment of encampments.
• Their outreach services are governed by a human rights-based framework, including guidance from The Federal Housing Advocate’s Review of Homeless Encampments, Kíkinanaw Óma, and A National Protocol for Homeless Encampments in Canada.
• They are actively working with government and community partners to move individuals from encampments into permanent housing, including through a new 41-unit tenancy initiative under Manitoba’s Your Way Home strategy.

Nevertheless, the incident in question raises legitimate questions of optics, practice, and public trust. Communities must not feel abandoned or bypassed in these responses. At the same time, people experiencing homelessness must not be reduced to environmental liabilities or mere statistics.
To address these concerns, End Homelessness Winnipeg is taking the following steps:

1. Convene a sector meeting involving Main Street Project, the Province of Manitoba, Indigenous housing partners, and representatives from the Point Douglas community to review the incident, share protocols, and strengthen alignment on encampment response practices.
2. Support improved communication protocols, so that residents are informed and engaged early when encampment risks are identified or when outreach activity may affect their neighbourhood.

“It is unacceptable that in a city as resourceful as Winnipeg, the only option some people have is a tent by the river,” added Whitford. “Let this moment serve as a call to action for more supportive housing, for clearer protocols, and for a shared commitment that protects both people and places.”

End Homelessness Winnipeg supports a coordinated, compassionate, and evidence-informed response to homelessness that respects both the rights of unhoused individuals and the concerns of residents. This means facing hard truths, being transparent, and working together for better outcomes.

April 24, 2025

Encampments: End Homelessness Winnipeg Urges National Action Rooted in Rights, Not Criminalization

Winnipeg, MB – In response to recent comments by Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre proposing criminal sanctions and forced removals of people living in encampments, End Homelessness Winnipeg (EHW) is calling for national leadership that upholds housing as a human right, not a criminal justice issue.

As an Indigenous-led organization working at the forefront of housing and homelessness solutions, EHW expresses deep concern over language that frames encampments as “illegal occupations” and those residing in them as public safety threats. Such rhetoric, while politically expedient, obscures the real crisis: the failure of systems and governments to provide adequate housing and supports.

“Encampments are not the problem, they are the result of the problem,” said Jason Whitford, CEO of End Homelessness Winnipeg. “They are visible reminders of our collective failure to ensure housing for all. Criminalizing the people most affected will not fix what’s broken. It will only cause more harm.”

Data shows that exposure to homelessness in Winnipeg reduces life expectancy by up to 20 years, a staggering and urgent reality that underscores the need for compassionate, evidence-based action.

EHW rejects any strategy that would leave people in encampments indefinitely or forcibly remove them without immediate access to transitional or permanent housing. Both approaches are equally harmful and ignore the trauma and vulnerability of those living without shelter.

EHW instead points to Your Way Home, Manitoba’s homelessness strategy, as a working alternative. Within the first two months of its launch, the strategy has helped move approximately 30 people from encampments into housing, a proof of what can be achieved through coordinated, housing-first approaches that are community and culturally grounded.

“This isn’t just about bricks and mortar,” added Whitford. “It’s about reconciliation, rights, and recognizing Indigenous leadership in shaping housing solutions that reflect cultural safety and connection to land.”

The overrepresentation of Indigenous peoples among those experiencing homelessness in Winnipeg is not a coincidence. It is the direct result of generations of colonization, displacement, systemic racism, and ongoing breaches of treaty and human rights. This crisis is not solely about housing; it is about the historic and continued denial of Indigenous peoples’ rights to land, safety, and self-determination.

Addressing homelessness, therefore, must go hand in hand with meaningful implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), and the Calls for Justice from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG).

UNDRIP, which Canada has committed to implementing through legislation at both the federal and provincial levels, affirms the rights of Indigenous peoples to their traditional lands, territories, and resources. It also recognizes the right to adequate housing and the right to determine and develop priorities for their own economic, social, and cultural development. Yet when Indigenous people are disproportionately forced into encampments on their own unceded territories, and then threatened with criminalization or removal, the commitments to UNDRIP ring hollow.

The TRC Calls to Action and MMIWG Calls for Justice similarly demand systemic change that centres Indigenous rights, restores land relationships, and dismantles colonial policies that have marginalized Indigenous families for generations. Any genuine effort to address homelessness in Canada must recognize these frameworks not as optional recommendations, but as the minimum standards for justice, equity, and reconciliation. It is a moral and legal obligation beyond being that of policy.

Canada enshrined housing as a human right through the National Housing Strategy Act, affirming that everyone deserves a safe, affordable place to live. This has been backed by proven approaches like Housing First and Rapid Re-Housing, which prioritize immediate access to stable housing. The Housing Accelerator Fund complements these by funding faster, smarter development of affordable homes. But these efforts must be scaled, especially in urban, rural, and northern Indigenous communities where the need is greatest.

“We do not need crackdowns or criminalization. We need commitment,” said Whitford. “We need a country where everyone, especially those most marginalized, has a safe place to call home. That’s how we measure progress, not by the number of tents cleared from parks.”

EHW urges all political leaders to avoid language and policies that further marginalize and incriminate the houseless and to commit instead to solutions rooted in dignity, justice, and evidence.