The community came out in force to support those living in Moccasin Flats today, cleaning multiple dumpsters worth of debris out of the encampment.
An estimated 50 people pitched in throughout the day, bringing everything from just their hands and gloves to full heavy equipment and loaders.
Mayor Simon Yu opened the day by addressing the crowd of workers gathered, thanking them for their time and reminding everyone that nobody deserves to be living in conditions like what was there.
“The number of people that have come out is really heartening to see,” said City Councilor Trudy Klassen, who had been helping to clean the flats for two hours.
“It is really heartening to see how many people are here from the Millar Addition and all different areas of the city – people with heart for the community.”
She said events and causes like this can help remind people that there is a higher standard, saying “We don’t need to have people living in our city like this.”
“It is obvious that many things have gone wrong in order for people to end up living like this, outside in the north,” she said. “We have to begin somewhere to fix that problem, and cleaning up this area in the spring is certainly one of them.”
By her estimate, by noon (two hours into the clean) a full industrial sized green dumpster had been filled with trash and debris, as well as “several pickup loads.”
The clean was scheduled to go for four hours, from 10:00 to 2:00 today (Saturday).
Many more residents will take to parks and public spaces tomorrow for the city’s annual spring cleanup. For more information on that, click here.
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