Article content
We apologize, but this video has failed to load.
Try refreshing your browser, or Nine arrested as encampment at Alexandra Park is cleared Back to video
“They came in force,” he said. “They came in early. I was screaming to the people to wake up and get out of your tents.”
Domenic and girlfriend, Julie Watson, lived in the park for at least 18 months.
“I got booted out,” Watson said. “What they are doing here is disgusting. They’re getting rid of lots of people that don’t have housing and don’t even have a place to live.”
9 arrested as city, police dismantle encampment in Toronto s Alexandra Park cbc.ca - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from cbc.ca Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
TORONTO On his way to work on a construction site, Khaleel Seivwright surveyed the growing number of tents lining an intercity highway and in parks with increasing discomfort. How would these people survive Toronto’s damp, frigid winters, let alone the coronavirus, which had pushed so many out of overcrowded shelters?
He remembered the little shanty he had once built out of scrap wood while living on a commune in British Columbia.
So he hauled a new generator into his SUV, strapped $800 worth of wood onto the vehicle’s roof and drove down into one of the city’s ravines in the middle of the night to build another one: a wooden box 7 feet, 9 inches by 3 feet, 9 inches sealed with a vapor barrier and stuffed with enough insulation that, by his careful calculation, would keep it warm on nights when the thermometer dipped as low as minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit.
Khaleel Seivwright built himself a wooden shanty while living on a West Coast commune. Then he started building similar lodgings for homeless people in Toronto to survive the winter.
How Parks Got Us Through a Tough Winter thewalrus.ca - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thewalrus.ca Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.