Sudbury city council fires back at allegations related to Memorial Park encampment

Sudbury -

A bitter dispute has broken out at Greater Sudbury city council over allegations of criminality and other extreme events at the homeless encampment at Memorial Park.

In a social media video posted Saturday, Ward 2 Coun. Michael Vagnini said he witnessed a young woman being chased by several men, among other allegations.

In the video, he and homeless advocate Bob Johnston interview someone off-camera dubbed 'Roger' who tells them bodies have been pulled from tents at the park, and that there was a recent stabbing at a shelter.

'Roger' also told Vagnini that city staff is posting eviction notices on tents in the park. The video was posted on Vagnini's personal YouTube channel and Facebook page.

"Somebody called me last night and that's where this all started," Vagnini said in the video. "In the afternoon, they were downtown giving out some food and they said there was eviction notices on one of the tents that they noticed."

The video drew the ire of fellow councillors at Tuesday's finance committee meeting, who questioned city staff about the allegations in the video.

Ward 11 Coun. Bill Leduc began the meeting by seeking information from Tyler Campbell, Greater Sudbury's director of social services.

Campbell refuted each of the allegations made in the online video. He said there have been no reports of stabbings in the last few months in the shelter system, and there haven't been any deaths in recent weeks at the park.

Campbell also said there have been no forced evictions, but notices had been placed on tents at the park that appeared to be abandoned. The notices warned the tents would be removed if they stayed unoccupied for 24 hours.

City staff told CTV News that from Jan. 1-17, there were six cold-related calls due to extreme temperatures. Four were taken to Health Sciences North, one was taken in by police and another refused transport.

Leduc then took aim at Vagnini, questioning why a city councillor who sits on the police services board wouldn't have verified the claims before posting them in a video to social media.

"Why haven't you taken the opportunity to verify any of these facts before you chose to go public in any way shape or form?" Leduc asked Vagnini.

"Yes I have, Coun. Leduc, been out there, I've been at the different shelters," he said. "Actually I spent Friday night and Saturday night driving around and watching what's going on because it was the two coldest nights."

Vagnini then took issue with Campbell's version of events.

"There has not been three people that have died with the last one being Thursday?" Vagnini asked Campbell, sounding audibly frustrated during the Webex meeting.

"You said there was none and there were two pulled out of a tent three weeks ago and there was one in a tent on Thursday night directly related to freezing."

'Are You kidding?'

"In checking with Greater Sudbury Police and our EMS calls, we have not had anything related to a cold weather emergency death at Memorial Park in a service call in months," Campbell replied.

"Are you kidding?" Vagnini shot back. "I talked to the homeless people that saw them being pulled out of the tent."

"Do you want the truth or not?" he continued. "I talked to the people who saw the lady go to sleep on Thursday night and who passed in the evening, I don't make this up! What reason would I have? This is what the true facts are."

The councillor also drew raised eyebrows from his council colleagues after asking Campbell if the city was aware of prostitution happening inside Memorial Park after witnessing an event Saturday night.

"There is one big large tent when I was there on Saturday night and there was about eight gentlemen in the tent and they were yelling at an individual woman," Vagnini said.

"She got out of the tent and ran for her life when other two people from the shelter tried to get her to come back to the shelter and she just kept running … Are we aware of those things happening?"

Mayor Brian Bigger then stepped in and asked the councillor if he tried to help the woman.

"I would like to ask Coun. Vagnini if he reported that to police, being a police board member," asked Bigger.

"That's a great question," he responded. "I have a meeting tomorrow (Wednesday) with the police board and that will be the first question that I ask so thank you very much, Mr. Mayor."

Doesn't believe city staff

He said he didn't believe what he heard from city staff, concluding, "I guess we have to follow protocol and not worry about our homeless, but we're in a big situation down there and I saw it."

Both Leduc and Ward 4 Coun. Geoff McCausland looked shocked and visibly frustrated by Vagnini's final comment, with McCausland telling his council colleagues they need to speak the truth and stick to what they can actually verify.

Leduc told CTV News on Thursday he's since been in touch with the city's integrity commissioner and has filed a complaint against Vagnini.

He's also in the process of drafting a motion to have Vagnini removed from the police board.

"When you see a young woman in distress in Memorial Park on Saturday night and you don't dial 911 automatically -- that tells me there's something wrong," said Leduc.

"None of this information that Coun. Vagnini is talking about makes any sense."

In a follow up interview with Vagnini on Thursday afternoon, he said stands by his comments, his questions to staff and his decision to post the video.

"First of all, contacting the police is a red herring," he said. "That's becoming the part of the story that everyone's talking about. Secondly, the person, there was no sexual abuse going on or anything of that nature and they were in the tent."

He said the woman was running from shelter staff.

Vagnini said he's been told there are people who died in the park and that there just isn't enough room within the shelters at the system.

"We checked the tents, we knocked on the tents, there's not only tents there but there's tents in other places, as well," he said.

"I brought forward what I've been told, whether it's right, wrong or indifferent -- that's what I've been told."