Tent city protesters in Victoria Park plan to stay until they get answers
‘We want to raise awareness about homelessness’
KITCHENER — Devon Roussel isn’t doing drugs in the makeshift tent city in Victoria Park.
“We don’t have an injection site here,” he said.
But those who need their fix in the privacy of their own tent won’t be stopped, Roussel said in an interview Saturday.
“We know people are using,” he said.
“We go around and check that they are using safely.”
About 20 people set up their tents last Monday in Victoria Park to protest the lack of affordable housing in Waterloo Region.
They set up last week on Roos Island but were asked to leave and go elsewhere in the park for events planned on the island on the weekend.
Nine tents are set up near park picnic shelters close to the children’s playground.
“We aren’t here to cause harm,” Roussel said.
“We want to raise awareness about homelessness,” said Roussel, 31, who is temporarily living in student housing but will lose his home next month.
“We want a resolution,” he said.
“People are dying on the streets,” he said.
Born and raised in Kitchener, Roussel left home at 16 and he’s been homeless on and off.
He’s lived at Bridges shelter in Cambridge and the men’s hostel at House of Friendship in Kitchener.
As a child, he lived at a women’s shelter when his single mother tried to raise him and his sister. She had mental health issues.
Roussel readily admits his own choices have led to his homelessness at times but said more options for affordable, safe housing are needed for people like him.
Roussel said regional workers know the tent city protest is ongoing in the park. It’s been a yearly event for the past few years.
Police officers monitor tent city but are being respectful, he said.
Roussel said they plan to stay in the park until they get some answers on housing.