Three years ago an encampment at Alexandra Park — in a residential area near a Toronto hospital — was removed and the park closed for a series of improvements.
The encampment had become the scene of repeated fires, drug dealing, violence and assaults. It had deteriorated considerably with garbage everywhere and residents afraid to use it.
After nearly three years of work and $ 1.1 million in improvements — new lighting, new grass, new walkways, a pickle ball court, a new skateboard park and playground equipment — it reopened on Aug. 23.
Mere weeks later, the squatters moved back in.
About two dozen tents now reside where the last encampment once was and the shiny new playground equipment sits empty.
This is Mayor Oliva Chow’s Toronto — one where squatters can take over public parks and are not removed because of their “human rights.”
True North’s Sue-Ann Levy reports.
