In the wake of the police-enforced removal of homeless encampments on Pandora Avenue and Ellice Street, nine members of Victoria’s unhoused population died by fatal overdose over 11 days in November, according to downtown service providers.
Last summer police began to implement a safety plan for Pandora Avenue, which had become home to a large encampment of Victoria’s unhoused, following the July 11 assault of a paramedic responding to a call on the 900-block.
“The situation quickly escalated as a crowd swarmed police and first responders, resulting in a call for emergency back-up from all neighbouring police agencies,” stated the Victoria Police Department in a Sept. 11 update. “During an emergency meeting following the incident, it was determined that Victoria Fire and BC Emergency Health Services would no longer respond to calls for service in the 900-block of Pandora Avenue without police presence.”
One week before the safety plan was implemented, police seized a loaded handgun from the encampment, plus eight knives, two machetes and other weapons. The first month and a half of the safety plan resulted in 50 arrests and the seizure of more weapons, including knives and a rifle. Drug trafficking investigations conducted by police found 330 grams of fentanyl, 191 grams of crack cocaine, 73 grams of powder cocaine and 73 grams of crystal methamphetamine.
“The rising entrenchment and densification of encampments, along with increased hostility, violence, and the presence of various weapons, have heightened public safety concerns,” noted Victoria police. “Additionally, there are growing worries about the victimization of vulnerable individuals within these areas. A routine police presence was no longer adequate to address these escalating issues.”
Enacted in mid July, the safety plan aimed to support partner agencies and service providers to eventually remove encampments from the area.
Now, instead of the street being filled with tents and Victoria’s unhoused population, Pandora is lined with fencing, reducing the number of people mustering in the area dramatically.
“Pandora is completely fenced off,” said Karen Mills, co-founder and lead organizer of Peer2Peer Indigenous Society. “In the middle of the boulevard, the sidewalks, in front of businesses, and so forth.”
“I think anyone going down Pandora now is surprised to see just how few people are still there,” said Julian Daly, CEO of Our Place Society. “There isn’t really much space left to camp.”
In late August, as changes began to take force on Pandora with VicPD’s safety plan, the Ministry of Housing announced the addition of 72 shelter spaces. Since spring a total of 132 shelter spots have been allocated to various organizations in Victoria.
By the end of the summer, Victoria police called the safety plan a success.
“The project has so far been a success in that we are accomplishing our goals of reducing overall entrenchment in the areas, creating a safer environment for those sheltering in the area, for other first responders and for service providers, and building stronger relationships with those in the street community,” said Deputy Chief of Operations Jamie McRae. “There are larger issues outside of our scope that need to be addressed by our partners, but we will continue to do our part in improving safety in these areas of the City.”
A major partner in this effort is Our Place Society, which received 40 of the 72 additional shelter spaces announced in August. Daly shared that some of the individuals who previously stayed on Pandora have gone to shelters, while others have relocated to other areas in the city.
“My biggest hope is that people will take up shelter spaces when they are offered to them, and get inside for the winter,” said Daly. “Once people get into shelter, then begins their pathway to housing.”
Now Mills is concerned that her clients are dispersed in other areas in Victoria, making it difficult for Our Place to provide the care they normally do.
“We’re spending our outreach looking for people, instead of doing what we’re normally used to doing, which is providing care to everyone,” said Mills.
Given the lengthy time it takes for one of Mills' clients to get in for a doctor’s appointment, get into a detox or a recovery program, or have a housing appointment, not having her clients in a place she can easily locate them has made it difficult for the Peer2Peer team.
“What is happening to us is these appointments are coming to date and we can’t find our clients,” she said.
But when Mills can’t locate her clients, she worries about overdose.
“When you’re working with somebody… for a very long time and all of a sudden you can’t find them, the very first thing you think of is… that they’ve had an overdose somewhere,” said Mills.
Mills told Ha-Shilth-Sa that within a period of only 11 days in mid November, Victoria’s unhoused population saw nine fatal overdoses. Three of them were Mills’ clients.
“We have never had nine fatal overdoses that close together,” said Mills, noting these individuals previously frequented Pandora Avenue. “That’s where all their resources are; that’s their community.”
On the old Pandora Avenue with the supervised drug consumption site, outreach workers available, and a larger population of people who are trained to use Naloxone, Mills said there was less of a chance of fatal overdoses.
Alongside the fencing of Pandora Avenue, three parks in the area are also fenced off, she shared.
“The Indigenous folks that we're working with, they're from all over this Island, and there's actually a lot of Métis people in Victoria that are unhoused,” said Mills, noting that the Peer2Peer Indigenous Society also serves individuals from areas such as Port Hardy, Campbell River, and Tofino.
Peer2Peer Indigenous Society always asks clients if they would like support in returning to their home community, as a means to help alleviate barriers and struggles that may keep them from doing so. Mills shared that they have helped a couple clients return back up Vancouver Island to their home communities.
“Indigenous people, this is their land, this is where they made their community [and] they're being dispersed to other areas,” said Mills.
“People are getting dispersed, their belongings are being taken, the community [is] divided, people are moving into territories where they’ve never sheltered before,” she added. “They’re out of place.”
A count conducted on March 7 and 8, 2023 identified 1,665 people in Victoria who were experiencing homelessness, including 282 staying in shelters, 601 in some form of transitional housing and 242 who were unsheltered. One third of these individuals surveyed identified as Indigenous.
