On Feb. 7, HRM posted eviction notices to 5 encampments across Kijpuktuk that residents must leave by February 26. These encampments are 5 of 11 sites the HRM had previously directed people to go to. Now, in the middle of winter, with very short notice, they are being forced to leave.

We condemn these evictions. We hold the Province of Nova Scotia and the HRM City Council responsible for causing further trauma and harm to people who are unhoused.

Both levels of government claim they are providing appropriate alternative housing to encampment residents, but these so-called alternatives are inadequate and/or inappropriate. Further, they are not choices or options - they are enforcements.

These evictions are not about the safety, health or well being of encampment residents. They will move people further from supports, services and community. They are a government attempt to displace people into less visible sites and places to reduce public exposure.

Evictions are a further abdication of government responsibility to genuinely address the root causes of the housing crisis.

The continued scripted public messaging by the Province of Nova Scotia and the HRM is reinforcing the dehumanizing assumptions that are giving rise to public hostility toward people who are unhoused.

We are also very concerned that on or around February 26, there will be a repeat of the eviction violence that the HRM and Halifax Regional Police enacted on encampment residents and their supporters on August 18, 2021.

There is large public sentiment against the evictions and for compassion, care and the human rights of people who are unhoused. Yet this is not echoed or represented by anyone on HRM Council or the Government of Nova Scotia.  

Forced evictions are not aligned with a human rights approach, empathy or morality. They do not reduce harm, they add harm. They do not solve anything.

Signed,
P.A.D.S. Community Network

P.A.D.S. is a community network advocating for permanent, accessible, dignified and safer housing for all.

 

With Support from,

Halifax Workers Action Centre,
Nova Scotia Justice for Workers,
Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy Dalhousie,
The Loaded Ladle,
Community Fridge HFX,
Community Garden Kjipuktuk,
Halifax Mutual Aid