Couple evicted from Millennium Park say their “lives have been in turmoil”

It has been over a month since the Millennium Park encampment was removed by order of the mayor and council in Prince George.

Residents were cleared out by September 12th, with many reportedly relocating to Moccasin Flats on Lower Patricia Boulevard, others dispersing to different areas around the city, and a few moving to suitable indoor housing.

My PG Now visited Moccasin Flats yesterday (Tuesday) and spoke with a couple, Shayleen Jimmie and James Menro, who have been living in the larger encampment for about a month since Millennium Park was closed.

“Our lives have been in turmoil,” Menro said plainly. “We were promised a lot of things that haven’t been provided… and it is overcrowded, with that you get a lot of nuisancey neighbours that decide to take your stuff. A lot more problems with the bigger area.”

Jimmie said some of those neighbours are bears, who have been coming into the dead of night and foraging for any food or garbage they can find.

“Being in a tent and having hungry bears, it is food for thought. You don’t get good sleep,” Menro said.

He remembered being told community housing workers would be at the encampment every day to assess the needs of those sheltering when the move was starting.

Instead, he stated, “I think they came once, saw about 30 people and bounced, and effectively nobody got housing.”

Permanent structures have started popping up at Moccasin Flats, which Jimmie and Menro agreed are far from suitable.

“They build these coffin-like sheds that I wouldn’t even house my dog in. They are four feet by four feet and six feet long, it looks like a coffin,” Menro explained.

“I guess that’s what they want us to do, just climb in there and die. That’s what it feels like.”

Jimmie and Menro are not living in one of these coffins, the couple was given a trailer that was used to help move Millennium Park residents by someone they called “Mr. D” as a thank-you for an undisclosed good deed. They have been working to transform that into a home ever since.

They said police, bylaw, and city staff presence has been extremely high in the Flats since the two encampments largely became one.

A volunteer working in Moccasin Flats told My PG Now police cruisers have been speeding down the road that runs through the encampment at all hours of the day without their emergency lights on.

Speed bump-like trenches have been dug in the road in an effort to stop them, or at least reduce speed.

However, the group that Menro seemed to have the biggest issue with was the general public, who have made a habit of visiting the encampment just to observe.

“They are acting like we are a sideshow. From 1:00 to 3:00 it is a constant parade of people over 50 coming to look at the Moccasin Flat people. It is like we are people from the circus,” he said.

This reminded both Menro and Jimmie of their final days in Millennium Park, where a steady group of spectators were parked across First Avenue from the encampment to watch residents and volunteers pack up and leave.

“What gets me is how people can sit there and watch, but not one person would pick up their own feet and come over and contribute a helping hand,” he said. “That’s what we want to see in society, people helping each other. That is what being human is about, right? Being looked at through a microscope and being viewed as zoo animals, freaks, it isn’t helping anyone. It builds a brick wall.”

Some of these people have gone beyond just observing, and have stolen supplies from the encampment.

“We went to get water and gas,” Menro remembered. “We came back and about $4,000 of our belongings had been stolen in a matter of 25 minutes.”

“When we were building our trailer I had plywood, insulation, nails, and other supplies sitting there,” he continued. “I watched a tan Ford load up my belongings – I couldn’t get to him fast enough – he loaded up my belongings that I was using to have a place to live, he loaded them up and drove away.”

“The public citizens come in, they are stealing our stuff. I don’t know why people in society have to be so dirty and inhumane, to nail someone to the ground when they are already on the ground. It bothered me as a human, and it should bother everybody.”

He said the driver of the Ford was a man in his mid-50s.

To put the loss into perspective, Menro said a box of wood screws can go for well over $100 while the couple live on $600 a month each from welfare and social assistance, and getting these supplies is a hassle because the nearest supports in Prince George are at least five city blocks away.

“When you can actually afford [supplies] because you saved up, someone comes and scumbags them,” he continued.

“They needed them – they own a house in the Hart, they might need them for a fence or a shed – they figure ‘oh, nobody will mind if I scumbag the homeless people.'”

“And when you’re gone, people scumbag your tent,” Jimmie said. “The other night someone stole our [thanksgiving] roast… we didn’t eat that night.”

“If they wanted to, they could have just come over for supper,” Menro added. “I don’t need to be on a diet.”

The couple has been together for three years, they said they plan on staying in the encampment through the winter.

“We are going to tough it out, we are used to snuggling,” Menro said with a laugh. “What is nice about it, is we have 4 walls and a roof and we don’t pay rent.”

That is not the case for the majority of people in the encampment, the couple was sympathetic to those who will only have a tarp separating them from a harsh Prince George winter.

“Community Housing needs to step in and step up,” they said. “They are handing out juice boxes instead of taking names and finding residences for these people. I wonder if they are going to come snuggle with those people when it is 20, 30, 40 below.”

In the end, the couple said they are frustrated with Prince George mayor and council, who made the call to remove Millennium Park – they pointed out that nothing has been done with the lot since the encampment was removed.

“You won’t get my vote for re-election,” Menro plainly said. “I will be looking at someone with more sustainable views and more cherished ideas towards society in their values and opinions.”

At the end of the discussion, Menro and Jimmie wanted to say Prince George’s unhoused community is friendly and helpful, and “a lot of people here need jobs, need food, and need clothing.”

“If you need your fence fixed, your yard raked, there are people here that will do it,” Menro said. “A lot of these people here are older men, they will come fix it. Try it out, help society a little more, maybe get your feet dirty and see we are not monsters, circus animals or freaks.”