Only time I ever did that was when somebody put ice in my drink and I had to fish it out.
Homeless Tent Cities in Canada
- Thread starter Ron in Regina
- Start date
Tried it when I was younger. Not my bag. To each their own though.
The guys that do it with a shelter, that would be a game changer, but that’s something we didn’t have.
Nope no ice fishing. Seismic and EC across the lake.
Ahhhh….It’s making more sense now. I was starting to wonder if you were on a prison work crew.
.
Riverhurst isn't somewhere fancy schmancy like Moose Jaw but it wasn't a prison.Ahhhh….It’s making more sense now. I was starting to wonder if you were on a prison work crew.
Barrie's 600 homeless in tent cities will soon be kicked out of town
Citing a declaration of a state of emergency Alex Nuttall has vowed to take his city back from being nicknamed "Zombieland."
Author of the article:Joe Warmington
Published Sep 09, 2025 • Last updated 16 hours ago • 4 minute read
Accustomed to being tolerated, coddled and serviced, Barrie’s mayor is running hundreds of squatters living in tent cities out of town.
Authorities found crossbows, knives, a flare gun and a whack of cash in one of the tents in a squatters' camp city in Barrie.
Pretty soon Barrie’s homeless are going to be finding themselves … homeless.
Or at least city-less.
Accustomed to being tolerated, coddled and serviced, a sudden declaration of a state of emergency by Barrie’s mayor means hundreds of squatters will soon be run out of town. In fact, city workers started handing out eviction notices Tuesday that gives long-term homeless people living in tents around Barrie 48 hours to get out of Dodge.
If they don’t, they will be moved out of “Zombieland.”
Mayor Alex Nuttall is relying on emergency powers to try to close 20 homeless encampments which are currently used by about 600 people.
Home for not much longer.
“Barrie residents have had enough,” Nuttall said Tuesday.
Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall.
Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall Photo by Joe Warmington /Toronto Sun
With support from the Barrie Police and the Ford government, the mayor said, the encampments will be dismantled and everybody in them kicked out.
This could be dangerous.
Fresh off a double murder in the summer related to a tent community on Barrie’s Victoria St., one tent in the past week was discovered to be hiding two crossbows, one flare gun, some hunting knives, drug paraphernalia and thousands of dollars in cash.
“They are not safe,” Nuttall said of the tent cities. “The lawlessness is real, the assaults are real, the double murder, the rampant drug use and dealing and all of those things are real, and people are done with it. They certainly want those to who want help to get help but those who don’t want help, they don’t want them in the community anymore.”
Nothing can help William “Blake” Robinson, 45, and 41-year-old David Kyle Cheesequay who were murdered in January and July, respectively, but discovered in August. Charged with first and second-degree murder in the alleged dismembered of the two slain men is 52-year-old Robert Ladouceur, who lived in the same camp as the two victims. The charges against him have not been tested in court.
Something like this happening has been feared for years.
Another reality of this is many of the campers are not from Barrie and have no ties to the city. Nuttall’s message to them is “if you refuse that help, you cannot stay in these encampments. Our city will not allow lawlessness to take over our community. Barrie will protect its residents, its neighbourhoods and its public spaces. It is time to take responsibility, accept the help that is there or move on.”
Barrie
It’s a picturesque greenspace which has become a tent city on private property next to Barrie’s Millligan’s Pond
Something has to give. The Toronto Sun has done several stories there over the years on this crisis. There’s just no way a city with a downtown waterfront view like that should look like it’s recovering from an apocalypse.
“It has become Zombieland,” said legendary Barrie businessman Steve Sperling, who has an encampment on his property and worries every day about the people living in such squalor.
He also worries for the “Barrie Police who I have so much respect for because they have had to deal with this for so long with no support.”
This, said Sperling, is not a partisan issue but a human issue.
“The city is not set up to deal with this and nor are the social service agencies,” he added, saying it’s like a house fire: If you don’t put it out, it will end up burning everything down.
Barrie
Barrie’s beautiful downtown with tulips and view of bay also now has hundreds of homeless people living outside — Joe Warmington photo
It’s “unhealthy” for the homeless and for every citizen of Barrie.
“As the mayor said, the water in the creek where the murder happened showed extremely high levels of e.coli and I suspect its the same in Milligan’s pond. That effects everybody in town’s health and safety,” said Sperling.
And while Barrie should be thriving, it has instead become an unsafe eyesore.
“I have brought a lot of American and international companies here to take a look at Barrie over the 50 years I have been in business and if I did that now, they would just keep driving out of town,” said Sperling.
Mayor for 2 1/2 years and an MP for the area before that, Nuttall has talked about putting an end to the squatters’ camps since 2019, but it all fell on deaf ears. A double murder this past summer and many other incidents made it clear to people from all sides of the debate that the status quo is unacceptable.
Something has to give. And some people just have to go.
“There is definitely an element that needs to be dealt with,” said the mayor. “We shouldn’t be seeing murders here, we shouldn’t be seeing rampant drugs, seeing defecations on doorsteps and drug use 20 feet from a children’s slides. These are not OK things.”
Nuttall said it’s long past the point where enough is enough and people living in tents have been given notice.
Whether they like it or not, it’s time for them to go.
jwarmington@postmedia.com
torontosun.com
Citing a declaration of a state of emergency Alex Nuttall has vowed to take his city back from being nicknamed "Zombieland."
Author of the article:Joe Warmington
Published Sep 09, 2025 • Last updated 16 hours ago • 4 minute read
Accustomed to being tolerated, coddled and serviced, Barrie’s mayor is running hundreds of squatters living in tent cities out of town.
Authorities found crossbows, knives, a flare gun and a whack of cash in one of the tents in a squatters' camp city in Barrie.
Pretty soon Barrie’s homeless are going to be finding themselves … homeless.
Or at least city-less.
Accustomed to being tolerated, coddled and serviced, a sudden declaration of a state of emergency by Barrie’s mayor means hundreds of squatters will soon be run out of town. In fact, city workers started handing out eviction notices Tuesday that gives long-term homeless people living in tents around Barrie 48 hours to get out of Dodge.
If they don’t, they will be moved out of “Zombieland.”
Mayor Alex Nuttall is relying on emergency powers to try to close 20 homeless encampments which are currently used by about 600 people.
Home for not much longer.
“Barrie residents have had enough,” Nuttall said Tuesday.
Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall.
Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall Photo by Joe Warmington /Toronto Sun
With support from the Barrie Police and the Ford government, the mayor said, the encampments will be dismantled and everybody in them kicked out.
This could be dangerous.
Fresh off a double murder in the summer related to a tent community on Barrie’s Victoria St., one tent in the past week was discovered to be hiding two crossbows, one flare gun, some hunting knives, drug paraphernalia and thousands of dollars in cash.
“They are not safe,” Nuttall said of the tent cities. “The lawlessness is real, the assaults are real, the double murder, the rampant drug use and dealing and all of those things are real, and people are done with it. They certainly want those to who want help to get help but those who don’t want help, they don’t want them in the community anymore.”
Nothing can help William “Blake” Robinson, 45, and 41-year-old David Kyle Cheesequay who were murdered in January and July, respectively, but discovered in August. Charged with first and second-degree murder in the alleged dismembered of the two slain men is 52-year-old Robert Ladouceur, who lived in the same camp as the two victims. The charges against him have not been tested in court.
Something like this happening has been feared for years.
Another reality of this is many of the campers are not from Barrie and have no ties to the city. Nuttall’s message to them is “if you refuse that help, you cannot stay in these encampments. Our city will not allow lawlessness to take over our community. Barrie will protect its residents, its neighbourhoods and its public spaces. It is time to take responsibility, accept the help that is there or move on.”
Barrie
It’s a picturesque greenspace which has become a tent city on private property next to Barrie’s Millligan’s Pond
Something has to give. The Toronto Sun has done several stories there over the years on this crisis. There’s just no way a city with a downtown waterfront view like that should look like it’s recovering from an apocalypse.
“It has become Zombieland,” said legendary Barrie businessman Steve Sperling, who has an encampment on his property and worries every day about the people living in such squalor.
He also worries for the “Barrie Police who I have so much respect for because they have had to deal with this for so long with no support.”
This, said Sperling, is not a partisan issue but a human issue.
“The city is not set up to deal with this and nor are the social service agencies,” he added, saying it’s like a house fire: If you don’t put it out, it will end up burning everything down.
Barrie
Barrie’s beautiful downtown with tulips and view of bay also now has hundreds of homeless people living outside — Joe Warmington photo
It’s “unhealthy” for the homeless and for every citizen of Barrie.
“As the mayor said, the water in the creek where the murder happened showed extremely high levels of e.coli and I suspect its the same in Milligan’s pond. That effects everybody in town’s health and safety,” said Sperling.
And while Barrie should be thriving, it has instead become an unsafe eyesore.
“I have brought a lot of American and international companies here to take a look at Barrie over the 50 years I have been in business and if I did that now, they would just keep driving out of town,” said Sperling.
Mayor for 2 1/2 years and an MP for the area before that, Nuttall has talked about putting an end to the squatters’ camps since 2019, but it all fell on deaf ears. A double murder this past summer and many other incidents made it clear to people from all sides of the debate that the status quo is unacceptable.
Something has to give. And some people just have to go.
“There is definitely an element that needs to be dealt with,” said the mayor. “We shouldn’t be seeing murders here, we shouldn’t be seeing rampant drugs, seeing defecations on doorsteps and drug use 20 feet from a children’s slides. These are not OK things.”
Nuttall said it’s long past the point where enough is enough and people living in tents have been given notice.
Whether they like it or not, it’s time for them to go.
jwarmington@postmedia.com
WARMINGTON: Barrie's 600 homeless in tent cities will soon be kicked out of town
Accustomed to being tolerated, coddled and serviced, Barrie’s mayor is running hundreds of squatters living in tent cities out of town.