TORONTO \u2014 Dozens of people gathered outside a church in Toronto\u2019s Kensington Market neighbourhood on Thursday as city staff began clearing another homeless encampment, deemed to be a fire hazard. <\/p>\n
City vehicles were seen removing tents and other belongings from the encampment outside St. Stephen-in-the-Fields Anglican Church after about 12 residents left the site.<\/p>\n
Toronto Fire Services said it ordered a removal of \u201ccombustible materials\u201d and ignition sources that had accumulated at the site on Bellevue Avenue, \u201cresulting in elevated fire and life safety risk that required immediate action.\u201d<\/p>\n
The city and the church say that order on Tuesday initiated the site eviction process. A final notice to remove items from the street was issued by the city on Wednesday and posted in the area. <\/p>\n
The church\u2019s priest, Rev. Maggie Helwig, said the notice to vacate came as a shock to many in the area and residents had just hours to gather their belongings into garbage bags and find somewhere new to go. <\/p>\n
Helwig said many of the encampment residents have become her friends and the clearing of the site marks a \u201cvery sad moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy friends have been dispersed and I don\u2019t even know where most of them are. It\u2019s very sad that I have to be here to witness this, because this is my church,\u201d she told The Canadian Press at the encampment site. <\/p>\n
The city, which recently cleared another encampment in Dufferin Grove Park, said all residents of the Bellevue Avenue site have been offered shelter space, and seven of them accepted. <\/p>\n
Helwig said those people reluctantly accepted the offer. <\/p>\n
\u201cShelter space is not a long-term solution,\u201d Helwig said. \u201cPeople frequently fight and self-discharge within days or weeks. Very few people can stay in shelters. It\u2019s not a particularly manageable way of living. It\u2019s not a particularly tolerable living environment \u2013 for all the stresses and rigours of living outdoors, a lot of people find it is a better environment than a city shelter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Residents of the encampment are \u201cvery upset\u201d about having to leave, Helwig said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is extremely distressing. It\u2019s just trauma layered on trauma. I\u2019m very worried about what effect this is going to have on people\u2019s mental health,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/FN22BYWHBJG57C4H4LU62ADBMU.jpg\")
toronto encampment Rev. Canon Maggie Helwig, centre, helps move a resident’s belongings as Toronto city workers prepare to clear the encampment at St. Stephen-in-the-Fields Church, in Toronto, on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025. (THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Chris Young
\nChris Young) <\/p>\n
The church, which has been an encampment site for close to four years, hasn\u2019t seen an eviction notice since November 2023, she added. <\/p>\n
Cece Bellacohen, a former resident of the Dufferin Grove encampment, was among the supporters who gathered outside the church Thursday morning to show solidarity with those being evicted, whom he described as \u201csome of the city\u2019s most vulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bellacohen echoed Helwig in saying that many homeless people don\u2019t want to go into the shelter system. He said the reason is simple: shelters can be too violent. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was brutally attacked four times \u2026 by residents living there,\u201d he said, adding that one of his friends currently living in a shelter reported seeing people with weapons inside.<\/p>\n
He said he hopes to see the city change its policies regarding encampments.<\/p>\n
\u201cInstead of sending the encampment office to bring shelter offers, we need help. We need homes in new places where people can go home and actually be safe. Half the time, (an encampment) is the safest option that\u2019s available to people,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
The St. Stephen-in-the-Fields church encampment was the subject of Helwig\u2019s book, \u201cEncampment: Resistance, Grace and an Unhoused Community.\u201d Published earlier this year, the book details Helwig\u2019s fight to keep the churchyard open for those who need a place to live. It was awarded the Toronto Book Award on Wednesday, less than 24 hours before the encampment was cleared. <\/p>\n
Don Oravec, one of the award judges, was among the crowd of encampment supporters on Thursday morning. He said Helwig\u2019s book changed his outlook on the issue and it\u2019s important that all levels of government pitch in to provide better supports for those experiencing homelessness. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s unbelievable that she gets the award on Wednesday night and this is happening Thursday morning,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2025. <\/p>\n
Cassidy McMackon, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 Dozens of people gathered outside a church in Toronto\u2019s Kensington Market neighbourhood on Thursday as city…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":310524,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2147,50,39343,3161],"class_list":{"0":"post-310523","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-canada","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-ontario-quebec","11":"tag-social"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115389118253973587","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}