All of the people who were living in an encampment in front of Hamilton city hall are now gone.
It once included approximately 40 tents and 85 people.
The city says in February it began working with the people living in the encampment to connect them with resources, shelter spaces and alternative sites where an encampment would be allowed under the city’s protocol.
READ MORE: Hamilton bylaw issues eviction notices for city hall encampment
Bylaw officers handed out notices in March asking people to voluntarily leave, and then followed that up with trespass notices.
Protest organizer Angela Vos was arrested last Thursday. She is accused of assaulting one of the bylaw officers handing out those notices on March 25.
Vos says this video shows she is innocent.
@HamiltonPolice @HamiltonPol @cityofhamilton not even good footage and you can see that this is not an assault! This really looks bad for you @AndreaHorwath should be charged with neglecting her people! for each person that dies with an injury or an illness that was preventable pic.twitter.com/wNJHsWuNYT
— Angela Vos (@angelaVos7) April 10, 2024
“I was actually shocked because nothing happened…outside asking them how it feels to displace somebody who already doesn’t have a home and has nowhere to go,” Vos says in an interview with CHCH News.
“Other than the traditional things that we say to the bylaw officers, there was nothing and no other interactions.”
She says she’s disappointed more couldn’t be done for the people who lived there for so many weeks.
The so-called “Hamil-tent Protest Encampment” began in response to a council vote to keep two Stoney Creek parking lots from being turned into new affordable housing.
After much public outcry over that decision, Mayor Andrea Horwath announced she would use her “strong mayor powers” to veto the council’s decision.
READ MORE: Hamilton mayor intends to use strong mayor powers for affordable housing