Saskatoon lawyer seeks injunction to protect west-end encampment

Crystal Fafard, a Saskatoon lawyer, hopes a court will grant a permanent injunction Monday to stop any action against a west-end encampment until people there are properly housed.

Speaking at the encampment on Friday, Fafard said she hopes the city will provide services if it can’t provide homes, along with garbage bins and sanitary supplies.

The attorney said it was a “good gesture” that the City of Saskatoon opted to hold off clearing the encampment and installing fencing on Thursday, as planned, until learning the outcome of the injunction hearing set for Sept. 28.

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The hearing is set to start at 2 p.m. at Saskatoon’s Court of King’s Bench.

“However, the firemen did actually show up here,” she said. “It really did upset a lot of people. They were quite shocked by it, to be honest.”

Fafard said she’s hoping any further intervention at the encampment can wait “until we can, at least, get in front of a judge.”

“They need, like, the basic rights that every human is entitled to as a human right under Section Seven of the Charter,” Fafard explained.

Fafard said they’re entitled to life, liberty and security of the person, and that they don’t have that security right now.

Monday’s hearing will involve the judiciary, the City of Saskatoon and Fafard, both as a lawyer and a representative of the Indigenous community – all entities she expressed confidence in.

“With those three entities, I suppose, coming together to make a reasonable decision, I have hope that we’re going to move in the right direction,” Fafard said. “This is not the Saskatoon I know and appreciate, and I know so many Saskatoon residents are extremely concerned about these encampments.

“We all are. We don’t want them. We want security. But until they can get that actual housing security, they need to have proper facilities here.”

Fafard is unsure whether Monday’s hearing will be open to the public or in chambers. She said the initial filing stated it was urgent.

“I think because it is such a new, a novel situation, that the justice at this time wanted to take some time to really plan and prepare for it, which I think is reasonable,” Fafard said. “I do respect her process, and I look forward to being there on Monday.”

On Thursday, deputy fire chief Yvonne Raymer told reporters that in five years, an injunction has not been filed to prevent an encampment in Saskatoon from being taken down. Fafard said she understands that to be true.

The lawyer said her responsibility is to bring the safety concerns voiced by people in the encampment to the court on Monday.

Fafard said the city can speak for the rest of Saskatoon. She added that, as a homeowner who has lived here since 1982, she is very concerned about how people are being treated and said the city needs to do better.

Fafard said she thinks “anyone with empathy” would want to stand behind the encampment.

“We just have to do the best we can as Saskatchewan people and Saskatoon residents,” she said.

She also reminded people that the encampment is a community with its own governance structure, with David Fineday seen as “mayor,” dealing with issues that arise there.

Many people are seeking safety in the tent city. Fafard said some women she has spoken with at the encampment have voiced safety concerns after alleged assaults in some shelters in the city. While the lawyer has not verified those incidents, she said they worry some women.

People are also concerned with how they would get themselves and their belongings to a shelter, when many are a distance away from the encampment.

“There’s a lot of impractical, you know, just, hurdles for them to get around,” Fafard shared. “We really need the city to cooperate and find, you know, reasonable ways for them to … be housed.”

–with files from 650 CKOM’s Lara Fominoff

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to correct a misspelling of Fineday’s name.