Breadcrumb Trail Links
Published Dec 03, 2025 • Last updated 1 hour ago • 5 minute read
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This shows just a portion of the unkempt state of Mostyn Park before the most recent fires and explosions. Photo by Supplied /Winnipeg SunArticle content
The City of Winnipeg knowingly chose to risk public safety in November despite ample warnings about the dangers posed by an illegal encampment on the north shore of the Assiniboine River near the Osborne Bridge.
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Instead of fulfilling its duty to protect the public, the Winnipeg Police Service under Chief Gene Bowers continued to let criminals rule the roost and put residents, families and kids in a daycare in danger.
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Bowers defers on encampment enforcement to Inspector Helen Peters, Divisional Commander of the Central District. When I asked for a copy of her resume two months ago, the city could not provide one and Bowers claimed she deserved an apology for my giving voice to the citizens questioning her qualifications.
The apology is owed by Bowers, and Peters, to the people living in proximity to the encampments in Mostyn Park and behind the Granite Curling Club who have been abandoned by their warped version of “policing.”
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On November 4, both Bowers and Peters received an email from a resident in Osborne Village across the river from the park, who has a bird’s-eye view of the blight and disorder being inflicted.
“I want to share that I am observing multiple propane tanks across from me at an encampment that is guarded by a perimeter,” the observer warned. “As this represents a major fire and safety risk, I trust that WPS and WFPS members will coordinate to mitigate the hazard near (apartment buildings on Balmoral).”
Instead of being proactive about “a major fire and safety risk” guarded by a perimeter, the cops did nothing. And neither did Fire and Paramedic Chief Christian Schmidt, who was the third person addressed in the email but did not invoke an Order to Vacate.
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Instead, the rights of the property owners and area residents to peace and security have been deemed inferior to the rights of dysfunctional riverbank squatters.
Unknown individuals are seen delivering water and supplies to the encampment in Mostyn Park that was torched about two weeks later. Photo by Supplied /Winnipeg Sun
On November 21, area councillor Sherri Rollins received an email about the consequences of the authorities allowing the encampments to continue.
“Turbulent last night, caused by one camper close to the river behind 39 Balmoral. He was very noisy then started a fire. I called WFD. After they extinguished it he proceeded to do carpentry work. I actually yelled out the window at him to stop. Not a good one for us around the camp.”
Try that even in your own backyard after midnight — starting an open fire that needs to be put out by the fire department and then hammering boards outside the neighbour’s windows. Try stealing electricity from the neighbours by using extension cords.
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There would be consequences. But Winnipeg’s homeless criminals face no consequences. And they know it.
A few days later, the exasperated resident sent me an update.
“On Sunday, throughout the day beginning at 0730, propane tank explosions began to happen. Earlier there was a fire that I called in. Early afternoon we heard an unholy bang, like a Howitzer being fired off. There followed three more explosions. When I looked out the window, I saw a couple of fire trucks with plenty of firemen at the scene, police followed.”
“The park today resembles a dump (not that it didn’t before) but now everything is burnt.”
Keep in mind that this could have been prevented if Bowers, Peters, Schmidt or anyone else had done their legal duty on November 4 and removed the illegal, dangerous encampment that posed an ongoing threat to public safety.
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Instead, it was allowed to spiral out of control until finally, a bulldozer was sent in to remove the charred debris and other junk last week.
Yet the city made clear it would be allowed to happen again.
“We were not displacing anyone currently living in the space, nor enforcing any sort of policy action,” a city official told CBC, and it was not part of its “enhanced activity to remove encampments.”
In fact, Greg McPherson, the city’s acting manager of community development, told CBC “he’s not sure when the Mostyn Park encampment will be dismantled.”
“The number of units that would be required for that site is fairly substantial. We want to be sure to make … those good offers [to people], and have something in hand when we visit them and ask them to move on.”
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A mother whose kids go to a daycare across the street from the Mostyn Park encampment revealed that security guards now attend during pick-up and drop-off times of the 100 children enrolled. She didn’t want her last name used “due to safety concerns for her children.”
You’d think that alone would inspire the city to act to protect those families. Instead, McPherson offered words, not action.
“We want to be sure that we’re supporting these neighbourhoods and these communities to have access to their public sites, and so it’s a balance for us,” he said to CBC. “We want to make sure we’re moving as quickly as we can, as carefully as we can.”
There’s nothing “quick” or “careful” in his approach — as his concern isn’t truly for community safety but rather for “people who are suffering in these sites, and we’re trying to approach that with as much compassion as we can.”
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Civic officials have ignored complaints of unsecured propane tanks, explosions, open sewage and other hazards and dangers because of “compassion” for the perps. But a disturbing detail from last week’s horrifying attack on an elementary school child by a convicted sex offender has raised alarm bells they will not be able to ignore.
Scott William George was found guilty of molesting a kid at a movie theatre. After doing time in jail, he breached his restrictions by wandering through a city park in February and Dakota High School in March.
According to CBC, the court heard evidence, “He had no fixed address at that point and was living on a riverbank.”
Parents want to know if he, or others with similar convictions and release conditions, have been laying low in riverbank tents in Mostyn Park and other public spaces near daycares and schools.
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If city officials like police chief Bowers and McPherson truly want to show they’re “supporting these neighbourhoods and these communities,” then a “quick and careful” investigation to identify such dangerous sex offenders and remove them from the riverbanks would be a good starting point.
Read More
GOLD: Winnipeg refuses to oust homeless camp with crime, safety issues
GOLD: Fires and vandalism expose City’s slow encampment response
GOLD: Promises to clear and clean encampments not a priority, residents learn
— Marty Gold is a Winnipeg journalist and a guest writer for the Winnipeg Sun. You can find more of his work at The Great Canadian Talk Show
Have thoughts on what’s going on in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, or across the world? Send us a letter to the editor at wpgsun.letters@kleinmedia.ca.
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