Displaced Birchwood Terrace residents return to gather belongings

Posted on July 31, 2024 by Peggy

Residents of the Birchwood Terrace apartment complex who were suddenly evacuated nearly three months ago have been given time to go back and get their belongings out of the Winnipeg apartment building.

“I was told I was allotted four days to get my stuff out,” former resident Joanne Francis said outside the building Wednesday. “That’s what we’re doing, this is Day 2.”

The City of Winnipeg issued an order to evacuate the 171-suite building on Portage Avenue on May 9, after serious deterioration found in steel columns of the parkade put the entire building’s stability into question.

Roughly 250 tenants were forced to evacuate without notice, leaving people scrambling to get what they could out and find new homes.

Looking back at that time, Francis said the sudden evacuation was a shock.

a woman puts stuff in a vehicle. — Joanne Francis loads some of her belongings into her car. (Rudy Gauer/CBC)

“With such little notice given, it was just … surreal that you’re in this moment trying to pack up your stuff,” she said.

She said the last few months have been “not bad,” because she found a new apartment soon after leaving Birchwood Terrace, but knows that might not be the case for everyone.

“For others, I’m not sure,” she said. “I can’t speak for them, but I’m sure it’s not great.”

The province continues to provide emergency social services support to Birchwood Terrace tenants, a provincial spokesperson said in an email to CBC News. Accommodation supports include kitchen facilities that allow affected tenants to prepare their own meals, according to the email.

Meanwhile, Francis said she’ll be spending the next few days packing as many boxes as she can.

“Literally move out whatever I can take and then the movers are coming on Friday,” she said.