Its unknown if council will continue with the homeless campground plan in La Ronge. (Image Credit: Derek Cornet/larongeNOW Staff)

By Derek Cornet

concerns raised

Council pauses homeless encampment plan

Apr 28, 2026 | 4:11 PM

Town council appears to be taking a pause when it comes to establishing a homeless campground in the municipality.

Instead of making a decision on whether or not to move forward with the potential $11,400 encampment at a regular meeting on Monday, council passed a motion to direct administration to prepare a Parks Bylaw amendment to allow sheltering in natural (undeveloped) park areas for those persons who do not have alternative sheltering options. The motion also notes setbacks and other tools be incorporated into the bylaw to address various sheltering concerns.

When asked if council would continue with the status quo on the homelessness situation, La Ronge Mayor Joe Hordyski said there will be continue to be discussions at the council table.

“Maybe we will even start to look at more long-term and tri-community solutions. We’ll have that conversation and see maybe there’s some other direction we go and find ways to connect with the population that’s in question,” he explained.

“The community needs to be a little patient with what’s going. We try to hear some of the concerns that were brought up at the public meeting. I think that kind of drove the decision a little bit. We’ll work through it and we’ll come up with a viable solution.”

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At a public forum held last week, community members had a wide variety of concerns about establishing a homeless campground such as the lack of security and social supports, property value depreciation, the well-being and safety of children, inappropriate behaviour, a potential rise in violence, liability issues, and other negative effects of allowing the creation of a ‘tent city’.

Council first began discussing the idea of a homeless campground back in March when administration asked for their direction for its construction in the Finlayson Street snow dump area. The encampment would include signage, portable toilets, garbage receptacles and fire pits.

“I think some of the councillors felt with some of the impacts on businesses and having more people focused on that area might be negative,” Hordyski remarked.

“I don’t know. At the end of the day, really what we wanted to accomplish was to be able to operate the parks.”

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com

by Derek Cornet

Council pauses homeless encampment plan

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