What happened after the city cleared a homeless man's Mud Lake shelter

On Wednesday, Robert came back from the store to find a bulldozer had cleared his site at Mud Lake, and workers had thrown out everything he owned, including winter clothes, food and essentials that people in the community had donated to him. He had been living there since July, in a makeshift shelter in the west-end Britannia neighbourhood.

If a bulldozer cleared your street's trees, your park path or the lot behind your house, you would want to know what happened to what was left behind. Lorna Squires, who lives in a condo near the 60-hectare wetland, often visited him, and she says there is a fundamental difference between clearing a site and destroying someone's basic essentials. She posted about it in a Britannia neighbours Facebook group on Oct. 29, with a photo of the torn-up ground where his home had been. Robert was well liked in the community, and residents say they are heartbroken.

Ottawa Coun. Theresa Kavanagh, who represents Bay ward where the park is, says belongings should not be removed and destroyed during an encampment removal. The last time a removal like this came up, the questions were the same: what was thrown out, and who decided it had no value. A notice to dismantle the structure went up on Oct. 21, seven days before the bulldozer cleared the area. City staff told Kavanagh they did not see anything of value at the site. Kavanagh questioned whether clothing or food could have been set aside instead of discarded, and says value need not be monetary.

On Saturday, Squires went to check on him, having last seen him two days earlier, and found him unable to move, sleeping in a hammock strung between two trees across the trail from his old spot. He had a temperature, and his health had gotten much worse. He refused help, but she called an ambulance anyway. When he finally agreed to come out, he almost collapsed. Paramedics helped him onto a stretcher. "Robert, we're here now; we might be able to help you, but we need to see you," one of them said.

Kavanagh says the man had refused help before, and that outreach workers had been in contact with him daily. The city says encampment removals are only considered after support efforts are exhausted, and that people are notified of scheduled removals and offered housing-focused support. Kavanagh says officials could not offer him a place to live, and the Ottawa Mission reported in 2025-26 that its beds and overflow mats were fully occupied.

The city has yet to explain how Robert's belongings were handled, and that explanation is the next thing residents are waiting on. Squires's post is still up in the Britannia group, and the Oct. 21 notice is the city's own record of what it told him before the bulldozer came.