Organizer Testimonial: The Unhoused Woman

**The following is an excerpt from a larger testimonial provided by an Edmonton harm reduction community organizer. It has been automatically transcribed using Otter.ai and anonymized. It has not been independently investigated and all incidents described therein are alleged. **

I was trying to think of like some other like cases of police violence that we've kind of been like, a bit more proximal to. And one of the ones was just like, there was a old woman who, I think now she is like in hospice care, but she was staying in a tent, kind of like by the train tracks south of white Ave. And it was really quite obvious that, like everybody in this situation, really wanted to get her into housing, even the cops and like the cops who were involved were always like, trying to be you. Like, as as good as they could be, but like, at a certain point they just, they're like, we, we have to do our job. And like, we have to, like, kick this woman out of her tent and move her somewhere else. And they even acknowledged how, just, like, pointlessly Sisyphean, this was because they were like, we will. We need to move you from this spot. I We will take your belongings in the back of the police car and move you to somewhere else that we think people are less likely to complain about because, like, we can't get you into housing right now. Everyone can recognize this like old lady who is like sick and clearly needs help, should not be on the street, but also, they got the complaint, they have to move her. And so it's just like, even when they were being nice, even when it's like, yes, we're gonna pick up all your belongings, we're gonna help you move them to a new spot, it's still just like, you just didn't have to move her, though, like, there's even when they're, like, trying to engage their humanity. It's just like their job is to be bastards and to do violence. And that one really, like, stuck out at me again, similar to that other case, where it's like they took someone's tent, put it back together and put it underneath a tree. It's like all of this is totally pointless. There's no reason other than like our desire to be cruel, right? This has to happen.

October 18, 2025

Harm Reduction Organizer Testimonial Recorded Summer 2025