VIDEO: Saskatoon encampment to remain for now after police, fire inspectors faced protestors

It’s a place called home by a couple of hundred people for the last two weeks and, for now, the encampment on Avenue K in Saskatoon will remain in place.

On Thursday morning, fire inspectors and police officers attended the encampment as the tents appeared to be coming down and fences were being put up.

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Protesters linked arms around a truck carrying the fencing, calling for the work to stop.

But after Saskatoon lawyer Crystal Fafard filed an injunction to stop the cleanup, the City of Saskatoon confirmed that the encampment will remain in place pending the outcome of that hearing. The injunction will be heard in court on Monday.

On Thursday, police arrived at the encampment and were told by people at the encampment to leave and “get off this land.”

“You’re taking them out of the community,” people shouted at police. “They have nowhere to go, they are just trying to survive.”

When fencing arrived after 9 a.m., people at the encampment and others quickly surrounded the truck the fencing was on and formed a human chain, with some people even climbing on top of the fencing on the truck bed so that it could not be put up.

“Being homeless is not a crime!” a person who was protesting the fencing and removal of the encampment yelled while standing around the truck. “Poverty is not a crime!”

“We could have cleaned it up, but we want to respect the legal process and allow them to have that say,” said Yvonne Raymer, Saskatoon’s deputy fire chief.

“I do have concerns that in the next four days something could occur, but I also want to give them that opportunity to be heard.”

Deputy fire chief Yvonne Raymer said fire inspectors have been confronted when trying to offer services to those at the encampment. (Libby Gray/650 CKOM)

Raymer said the fire department will abide by the court’s ruling, but noted that people at the site were being confrontational when approached by fire inspectors and other outreach workers who attended the site on Wednesday morning.

“They were confronted by many people who were acting quite aggressively, using profanity and capturing video, and that wasn’t the intent of the site visit from (the Saskatoon Fire Department’s) point of view,” she said.

“The income assistance workers and our staff noted that community advocates outnumbered the individuals who are actually staying in the encampments. And I just want to clarify, for most of the confrontation that occurred it wasn’t coming from the unhoused individuals. It’s actually from the organizations and advocates.”

Raymer said it’s been difficult trying to connect the occupants of the camp with services.

“Yesterday was a contentious day, for sure. They had two site visits and any attempts, they were swarmed,” Raymer said.

“There was a lot of profanity, and the police officer on scene made the call that in order to keep the income assistance workers safe, to keep our inspectors safe, it was time to vacate. So that’s why we’ve brought more personnel for today.”

Several tents take up space in the empty lots, with roughly 200 people living there at times.

In a statement, the city said, “We know this is frustrating for many in our community, notably the St. Mary’s school families and staff who have been asking for officials to take action for the past year.”

St. Mary’s Wellness and Education Centre is located on Avenue N South, west of the encampment.

More to come.

Regina councillor says homeless people need a place to go

While the Avenue K encampment in Saskatoon faces removal, one remains in Regina.

The tent city in Core Community Park in the Heritage neighbourhood is one police said they won’t tear down.

Regina Police Chief Lorilee Davies said police and the city hope to get people into housing or addictions treatment.

Ward 3 Councillor David Froh joined the Greg Morgan Morning Show to discuss homelessness.

“We can’t tear down those encampments unless we have a place for those people to go,” he said. “There’s nowhere for them to go.”

Froh said there isn’t enough supportive housing, which is a provincial responsibility.

“It’s quite maddening that we know what works, and for some reason we’re not willing to do it,” he said.

Froh said he understands businesses’ frustration that traffic through their establishments has decreased since the encampment was set up.

“I feel for those businesses,” he said. “I feel for the people sleeping in the tents. No one wants an encampment.”

Unless there’s more permanent supportive housing and transitional housing, Froh said the situation will only get worse.

Living in tent city

In the midst of the chaos surrounding whether fencing would be put up and the encampment at Avenue K and 20th Street cleared on Thursday, several people in the tent city continued quietly with their day.

Jason is homeless, living in a blue tent along a fence in the encampment area. He said he’s spent the past six winters without a home and finds ways to stay fairly warm, though he’d prefer some “better scenery.”

He wouldn’t call his tent a home, however.

“It’s comfortable. It’s shelter,” he said. “It’s kind of difficult in ways because you can’t properly keep yourself clean and stuff.”

Jason stands beside the blue tent that he said was “messy” on Sept. 24, 2026. He expressed a desire to address his mental health worries, then find stable housing before having to spend a seventh winter outside. (Libby Gray/650 CKOM)

He said the Salvation Army is one of the groups that has come by to offer him help getting into a shelter bed, but said he’d prefer to stay outside.

“I’ve been at them, and there’s a lot of drama,” he said of staying at shelters. “I’d rather be where it’s a little more chill.”

Jason said he’s homeless because he hasn’t been able to find a stable place to live. He said there is a lot of moving around, being kicked out of places and having his stuff taken.

“What are we hurting?” he asked.

He said he wouldn’t have cried, though, if the city had removed and taken his tent and belongings on Thursday.

“It was all free,” he acknowledged with a smile.

He doesn’t understand why the city wants people in the encampment to leave. He said people there try to keep it clean, and he hasn’t known of any fires.

Even though he’s become accustomed to and likes living outdoors, Jason would prefer not to spend another winter living that way. He said he needs to balance his mental state and secure real living accommodations, then get a job.

“Too much time on not doing something, then you think lots,” Jason said. “Sometimes your thoughts wander.”

His résumé includes working on rigs and exterior and interior work on houses.

Amena Stene is homeless from Prince Albert and has been in Saskatoon since July. She said there’s a lot more support for people without places to live in Saskatoon. However, despite living in various apartments in the city, she said outdoor living can be better because of the terrible conditions of many units in the city.

“There’s, like, a lot of dirtiness and, like, cockroaches and, like, it’s not very, it’s not sanitary, and they’re kicking people out of there, also,” she explained.

Amena Stene stands in the encampment on 20th Street at Avenue K on Sept. 24, 2026. She said she hopes everyone can understand that every person has their own struggles, whether or not they live in a tent city. (Libby Gray/650 CKOM)

Amena makes it a priority, she said, to clean wherever she goes, to try to make the places around her a bit better and to encourage others. At the encampment on Thursday, she said she feels comfortable in the tent city.

“These are my people,” she said.

“I thrive in conditions where it’s hard, but like I help people also, and I try and teach that to people just by showing them.”

If she were offered housing today, she said she would take it, but she’s not sure she could maintain it. She would be worried about the cost and has her own struggles with addiction.

“Everybody has a struggle,” she said.

“I think that there shouldn’t be no confrontation whatsoever, and that they should just let the people be, yeah … do what we need to do in order to survive, because that’s what we’re all trying to do, right? We’re trying to survive, or we’re trying to live.”

–with files from 650 CKOM’s Lara Fominoff, Mia Holowaychuk and Libby Gray and 980 CJME’s Gillian Massie