Encampment Protocol, Parks Masterplan, Public Health, Community Cleanups, and Fall Fun
Dear Neighbours,
As we enter this long weekend, I have been reflecting on the fact that we are all treaty people.
Last weekend, I joined many neighbours in attending National Truth & Reconciliation Day events at Gage Park, listening to the generous sharing of personal stories of survival and triumph. The City also commemorated the installation of “All My Relations” public art piece by Angela De Montigny, Paull Rodrigue, Cobalt Connects, and LaFontaine Iron Works on September 30th. And on Tuesday this week, I joined several of my Council colleagues at the annual Sisters In Spirit event, a day to honour and remember missing and murdered women, girls, two spirit and trans First Nations people, their loved ones & families.
My own lineage comes from the Punjab region which was carved up into present day India and Pakistan by British colonialism. I accept the responsibility and gift of settling here with my family who learned to thrive as immigrants thanks to our Indigenous neighbours in the ancestral and unceded territory of the Nlaka'pamux, T’kemlups Secwepemc and the Syilx people. We spent many days hunting, fishing, and gathering together while unpacking our stories of surviving the violence of colonialism.
In coming to Ontario and raising my own family here in Hamilton, I continue my role to protect the land, air, water and sacred medicines here. It is through mindful, intentional and heart forward relationship-building with Indigenous, Metis and Inuit peoples, that l become active in my solidarity towards true reconciliation.
And, in my role as an elected representative, it is that much more important for me to not be afraid of making mistakes. To work with integrity in advancing government accountability for the injustices still present today. To show up not only in times of struggle but also in times of celebration and community with indigenous peoples, this is how I continue to learn and grow.
My invitation to you, over this Thanksgiving weekend, is to take pause and understand for yourself how to be better neighbours, partners, and caretakers, so future generations may thrive here together.
Yours in community,
Councillor Nrinder Nann
Image of City Hall in the Summer. Transparent white box in centre with navy text reads "Council & Committee Updates".
ENCAMPMENT PROTOCOL UPDATES
I’m providing a comprehensive update in this e-newsletter to share some key developments in the implementation of the Encampment Protocol. This includes additional supports that have come online, how complaints are actions, and information on the weekly encampment updates available on the city’s website.
Hygiene Supports
Staff from Housing Focused Street Outreach, Recreation, and Corporate Security have worked to identify and operationalize 24/7 washroom access, shower access, and drinking water access throughout the city for individuals who are unsheltered.
Over 100 Recreation Passes have been given out to encamped residents across the city to enable dignified access to showers, washrooms and other services. Encamped residents are welcome to use any City of Hamilton recreation facility for these supports.
For shower access, Norman Pinky Lewis Recreation Centre and Eastwood Arena have been identified as two locations where showering access will be operationalized for individuals living unsheltered. Other facilities will be added to help enable access in proximity to where encamped residents are.
Each site will maintain security for all hours of operation, as well as staff from Recreation and Facilities present.
Individuals who are unsheltered will have access to a private showering room, and be provided with hygiene supplies, toiletries, and other sundry items to support their access.
Norman Pinky Lewis Recreation Centre will have a total of 14 hours of access distributed across different times throughout the week, in alignment with adult programming or periods of the day without programming.
The Centre will maintain all other programming and will continue to operate in a manner that welcomes all Hamiltonians inclusively.
Implementation Explained
We have received many calls and emails from residents wishing to flag encampment sites that are non-compliant with the City’s Encampment Protocol.
To help provide clarity and consistency for residents about how this process works, staff have created a system to try and ease the burden on individual offices and to ensure that the public sees a clear and measurable approach.
When communicating concerns about encampments:
Please direct all inquiries/complaints regarding encampments to the email address unsheltered@hamilton.ca.
The use of this email is important so that we can efficiently track each issue through a central system, in order to provide timely responses to complaints and to reduce the impact of duplicate emails and follow ups.
This central system approach helps create a process that is efficient and effective so staff can focus on addressing the complaints.
Please know that all emails received at this address will be actioned within 72 hours, as per the protocol, even though you may not receive a response from the unsheltered team.
Please do not send emails to specific departments or individual staff as each additional person copied or email sent it is taking extra staff time to cross reference.
Please do not send multiple complaints to unsheltered@hamilton.ca concerning the same issue or site as this creates a backlog reducing the systems efficiency.
The measure of success City staff are focused on delivering is on the ground, not in replying to each email received. I understand this is frustrating some residents, however, with winter fast approaching, working directly with unhoused residents living encamped is the priority.
My office also received many inquiries about how the Housing Focused Street Outreach Team goes about actioning a reported encampment site?
Your concern is received and logged by the team.
Outreach staff connect with every encamped resident at the site mentioned in the email to ask for voluntary compliance with the Encampment Protocol.
Encamped residents are given an appropriate amount of time to comply.
Should an encamped resident be unwilling to comply, the enforcement process begins.
In summary, actioning the requests submitted to the Housing Focused Street Outreach Team is a multi-week process.
Weekly Updates Online
The City is providing weekly encampment updates that are public. These updates list the following information:
The status of each site that has been reported,
A breakdown of complaints and service requests,
A summary of resolved complaints.
You can find the weekly updates here. (Tip: Bookmark this page to make future consultation easy.)
As my Council colleague Councillor M. Wilson recently wrote in her newsletter:
“Emotions are running high, often pitting neighbour against neighbour. The City of Hamilton is working to find ways to manage this humanitarian crisis, but until the Provincial and Federal Governments join us in making affordable and supportive housing a priority, the task is simply bigger than the city alone can handle.”
PARKS MASTER PLAN
The City has a long history of park provision, and an established and distributed set of parks in place today that meet the needs of many Hamiltonians. However, gaps and deficits exist in parkland provision in specific neighbourhoods and meeting the City’s Official Plan park provision targets will require sustained capital investment and subsequent operating resources to operate and maintain new parks.
As such, this week, the General Issues Committee, Council passed the Hamilton’s Parks Master Plan. Based on an in-depth assessment, the central lower city (including portions of Ward 3) have been identified as in the “High Need” category for parkland. The assessment took an equity and density approach when identifying areas that would benefit from more park space. This speaks specifically to City owned and operated parks and open spaces defined as:
City-wide park
Community park
Neighbourhood park
Parkette
The next steps include a report back with a strategic land acquisition plan and financing model with an emphasis on the Major Transit-Oriented Station areas, which span a 800m radial distance at each station stop from Cumberland to Barton.
I asked staff to ensure the acquisition strategy aligned with our affordable housing targets and is also applied to the tax sale properties that come up annually. Meaning, let’s maximize our potential to acquire lands that land both affordable housing and greenspaces which enhance our neighbourhoods. We anticipate further updates in 2024.
Image of street in the ward with a construction sign on the right side. Transparent white box in centre with navy text reads "Ward 3 Updates".
WARD 3 OFFICE POP UP AT VINTAGE COFFEE - Oct 19th
My office has been hosting Ward 3 Office Pop-Ups in the community across different neighbourhoods to connect one-on-one with neighbours. These community based office hours are a great way to connect in-person with my team and I on City issues, services, and ideas.
Many residents continue to share how much they appreciate connecting in this way, as not all of our neighbours have access to the internet or email and are not able to reach us in those ways.
Our next pop-up is scheduled for Thursday, October 19th from 4pm to 6pm at Vintage Coffee (977 King St E). Light refreshments will be provided. I look forward to connecting with you and offering access to the support of my team soon!
This is one of the last 3 pop-ups of the year, so be sure to save the date and attend.
SHERMAN AVE RECONSTRUCTION INPUT SESSION - Oct 24th
Join my office and City Staff for a virtual input session regarding Sherman Ave reconstruction south of King St. E. on Tuesday, October 24th, 2023 from 6:30-8pm.
Provide input on the proposed parking, bike lane, and other design changes to make this street more complete and safe.
This infrastructure work has been prioritized as part of LRT enabling early works. And, whenever we dig up the roads for substantive subsurface water main work, we use the opportunity as a City to advance our complete streets priorities to enable better neighbourhoods.
I know this roadway segment is a link for many households as an active school route to Adelaide Hoodless Elementary, Prince of Wales Elementary, and St Anne Catholic Elementary. If you are a member of any Parent Council or have a little one in your life who attends those schools, I especially want to invite you to join us on Oct 24th to have your say.
Please register in advance by emailing ward3@hamilton.ca. You will receive a registration confirmation and meeting link.
A photo of 2nd floor City Hall showing the traditional of traditional clothing from different countries of origin of many Hamiltonians of Muslim faith. On the right is the Salam Hamilton poster. Transparent white box in centre with navy text reads "City Services Update".
SALAM HAMILTON
Salam Hamilton is a city-wide public education campaign co-organized by members of Muslim communities across Hamilton and the City. Salam Hamilton balances celebration and awareness and is meant to educate, inform, and address issues of hate and intolerance. Focused on combating racism, rooted in anti-oppression, this campaign is specifically centered on challenging Islamophobia and its very real impacts on the daily lives of Muslim residents in Hamilton.
“Salam means peace, and is a greeting used to bridge hearts, foster understanding, and cultivate a sense of kinship. In choosing the theme of ‘Salam’, the campaign planning group aims to embrace the spirit of inclusivity and compassion that defines both our city and the Islamic heritage.”
There is a cultural display on the second floor at City Hall open to the public for viewing. You can also access all the Salam Hamilton resources through the City’s website.
FALL GARDEN & MUM SHOW - Opens Oct 20th
The Fall Garden & Mum Show is Ontario’s largest Chrysanthemum show presented by City Horticulture staff. This year, the theme is Medieval Mum and takes place at the Gage Park Greenhouses from October 20th-29th and is open from 9am-7pm daily with free parking available. The show started in 1920 takes us through dramatic scenes of flowers, colours and displays with over 200 varieties of Chrysanthemums, and more than 100,000 blooms grown at Gage Park Greenhouse. Ticket costs vary according to age, group and weekend passes are available. Buy your tickets here.
THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY: What’s Open and What’s Closed?
All City of Hamilton administrative offices will be closed on Monday, October 9, 2023 and will reopen on Tuesday, October 10, 2023. To get more information about which city services remain operational during the long-weekend please visit this City of Hamilton webpage.
RECYCLING & COMPOSTING FACILITY OPEN HOUSE - Oct 21st
On Saturday, October 21, 2023 members of the community can enjoy a free open house and tours at the Resource Recovery Centre to learn more about Hamilton’s Central Composting Facility and Materials Recycling Facility. Attendees will tour the facilities learning more about what happens to their waste after it’s collected from the curb. The tour also includes a visit to the Waste Education Room designed for elementary school aged children to learn more about the 3 R’s and an opportunity to talk to waste collection operators. To register, visit the event details page.
A photo of a masked girl seated in a crowded waiting area in an airport. Transparent white box in centre with navy text reads "Public Health Update".
RESPIRATORY VIRUSES UPDATE
Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), influenza, and COVID-19 are currently circulating in the Hamilton population. Each and every one of us has tools to protect ourselves, our loved ones, and our community.
Hamilton Public Health is recommending residents to take a multi-layered approach this respiratory virus season to prevent the spread of diseases and to reduce serious health impacts.
This includes:
Staying up-to-date with vaccinations including COVID-19 and influenza;
Screening for respiratory symptoms daily and staying home when sick;
Practicing good hand and respiratory hygiene (e.g. handwashing, covering mouth when sneezing or coughing, etc.);
Speaking with a health care provider about treatments for COVID-19, influenza, and RSV; and
Wearing a tight-fitting, well-constructed mask in indoor public settings, especially anyone at higher risk of severe infection, is effective.
Beginning in early October 2023, the initial prioritization for administration of vaccines will be those individuals that are at high-risk of severe disease and/or hospitalization from both influenza and COVID-19 infections.
To stay current with information, please visit: hamilton.ca/ProtectYourself
A photo of a monarch butterfly on a flower at City Hall. Transparent white box in centre with navy text reads "Community Events".
HELPING HANDS ANNUAL FUNDRAISING GALA - Oct 12th, 5:30pm to 9:30pm
On Thursday, October 12, 2023, Helping Hands Street Mission (HHSM) is hosting its annual fundraising Gala at the LIUNA Station, 360 James St N. HHSM is celebrating 20 years of service to the Barton community in our Ward 3 by sharing stories about their past and dreaming about the future. Tickets are $60 and group rates are available when you visit the event page.
BIRGE MEADOW PLANTING - Oct 13th & 14th
A collaboration of the Hospital Zone Steering Committee and in partnership with Green Cities Foundation. We will create a natural meadow on 784 feet of Birge Street between Wellington and Victoria with permission from the City of Hamilton. Please register at Join Us for the Birge Street Meadow Community Planting Day! (google.com)
BEAUTIFUL ALLEYS FALL COMMUNITY CLEANUP - Oct 21st, 9am to 12pm
Join us to clean and beautify alleys, parks and greenspaces across the City in partnership with Team Up to Clean Up, Community BIA's and The Ward 3 Office. Register at www.beautifulalleys.ca or email hamiltonalleys@gmail.com
CN TRACK GANG CLEANUP - Oct 21st
Join us for a cleanup event in partnership with CN Rail, Crime Stoppers and Beautiful Alleys. We will clean the area around Birge and Cheever placing barriers and signage to discourage illegal dumping. Email hamiltonalleys@gmail.com or visit www.beautifulalleys.ca
ST. CLAIR NEIGHBOURHOOD FALL CLEAN UP - Oct 21st
Grab your neighbor and come join the St-Clair neighborhood for a morning of community of civic engagement at LifeSaver Park from 9am-12pm. Refreshments and supplies will be provided at 9am. More information can be found on social media through the @st.clairlaneways account.
FALLOWEEN! - Oct 28th, 1pm to 4pm
A combination of Fall Fun and Trick or Treat! Join us October 28 from 1pm to 4pm for games, crafts and a costume parade at Powell Park Clubhouse. In partnership with GALA, Barton Village BIA and Wever Core. Register at Falloween Tickets, Sat, Oct 28, 2023 at 1:00 PM | Eventbrite