Fire, police answered about 250 calls to encampments this winter

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Emergency responders in Saint John were called to tent encampments approximately 250 times this past winter, placing a strain on both police and fire department resources.

But the chiefs of those departments say their larger concerns lie with the social issues that have resulted in people living in those encampments.

After a winter that saw a handful of fires at tent encampments – including two resulting in the deaths of three people – Saint John Police Chief Robert Bruce told Brunswick News there is no simple solution to reducing the time officers spend responding to issues at the encampments.

According to statistics provided by Saint John Police, officers were called to encampments roughly 175 times from November 23 to the beginning of April 2024. Due to the limitations of searching the force’s records management system, that number is an estimate, Brunswick News was told, with “specific numbers” unable to be provided “without a manual review of each record.”

Mental health issues are one of the reasons for those calls and Bruce said the force is aiming to combine resources with other agencies when answer them.

“We’re looking at a number of ways to collaborate on mental health and try to lessen the resources on us and help and get mental health professionals assisting us,” Bruce said following a Saint John Board of Police Commissioners meeting last week. “It does take a lot of time away from answering those other calls, but, when you think about it, people are in distress, they have nowhere else to call. We’re it.”

The chief said there have been actions taken to address the increase in mental health calls overall – in 2023 those calls were up 19 per cent when compared to 2022, representing 2,287 calls. He noted the Chief’s Community Action Group, which brings together representatives to address issues such as homelessness, mental health, drug abuse and others, works to see what collaborative efforts exist and what improvements can be made to stem those issues.

“But, if you look at the overall system, and this is a criticism of the overall system…. we have to do a better job in this country on the social safety net that we have,” Bruce said. “In Saint John we’re doing a really good job, we’re a relatively small city with big city problems, but our social agencies work very well together, we’ve got a good council that works together and wants to improve those things. Provincially, I think we can engage the provincial government a little bit more, we have to engage the federal government a little bit more and I think we can also engage our private sector a little bit more, as well.”

The homeless encampment idea is a very complicated one. I think people confuse homelessness with someone that just doesn't have a home. There's significant issues with encampments

Chief Robert Bruce

Bruce said he recognizes the social issues require “money and resources” and are placing a strain on “everyone, it’s not just police,” but stressed the key is working collaboratively with agencies, government and other first responders to address the matter and, hopefully, in time, alleviate that strain.

Fire Chief Rob Nichol is in agreement with Bruce, noting the myriad of issues when it comes to encampments.

Each call to an encampment – there were more than 80 in the first three months of 2024 – averages two firetrucks and nine firefighters responding to the scene, Nichol said.

Adding to the strain on resources are the numerous unknowns facing firefighters when they respond, he said.

“They change from day to day on whether they’re occupied, have they adjusted…? It changes constantly so it’s a very dynamic scene,” Nichol said, adding the department has been taking some proactive initiatives when it comes to the various encampments.

“Our crews have been going out on a weekly or bi-weekly basis to understand what the hazards are there and make some soft interactions with the folks that are there and give some fire prevention tips and, again, understanding access on how they’d get water there if they need it.”

But there’s more to addressing issues at encampments than simple emergency response protocols, Bruce said.

The root cause is the important part. It's such a complicated issue where it's economics, social, addictions, mental health...

Chief Rob Nichol

“The homeless encampment idea is a very complicated one. I think people confuse homelessness with someone that just doesn’t have a home. There’s significant issues with encampments,” said Bruce. “There’s significant mental health, there’s significant addiction issues that happen. If we can look at the front end of those we’ll have less encampments. It’s a bigger picture. My personal opinion is if you just look at homelessness you’re not going to solve anything because that’s a smaller group of people that do not have a home.”

Nichol agreed, saying the social issues need to be tackled and the fire department is working in collaboration with police, social agencies and others to better understand what can be done to help those who are living in encampments and how to prevent further people from living in them.

“The root cause is the important part. It’s such a complicated issue where it’s economics, social, addictions, mental health… It’s really a web and how do you fix that problem? Homelessness is something that pops up, but it’s not necessarily the issue, it’s part of a much larger issue,” he said.

Coun. David Hickey, who serves as chairperson for the city’s public safety committee, is hoping the city’s housing for all policy, which is making its way through that committee, helps to address issues when it comes to encampments. The policy, he said, speaks to the need for action in addressing homelessness as a whole and will also touch on encampments and the challenges they produce.

“It will absolutely reference encampments. The challenge is, from a legislative perspective, the city doesn’t have a massive amount of power. We are dependent on the province, we are dependent on provincial funding, but we have had to rise to the occassion and step up here,” he said.

Hickey said the city spent upwards of $100,000 in 2023 in supporting clean ups for tent encampments. But it’s not just about expenses, he said, as he specifically referenced the ongoing issue of emergency responders attending to the camps.

“There’s no question there’s a strain on responders,” he said. “There is a massive strain on our first responders and it is the consistent downloading of issues from one level of government to another. We’re downloading issues of housing, of mental health, of addiction services directly on to our first responders. They’re the wrong people to be showing up at these scenes and it does a disservice to our community and it does a disservice to those professions.”

Bruce said he knows “every community’s looking for the answer” and efforts are being made, including a recent meeting he had with city officials and provincial representatives regarding further available supports for getting people into housing.

More housing, though, isn’t the simple answer, he said.

“The bigger issues are our social issues and, if you want to go back a little bit further, the real issue is at the youth end. When you talk about the poverty level that we have in this city and the things we have here, that’s where the issues start and then they grow,” he said. “We need to go back a little further and look at the things we’re doing for our youth and the supports we can provide those families.”