A News Release from the Niagara-based High Heels to Moccasins group
Posted May 15th, 2025 on Niagara At Large
Ashley Cronkwright and Fred Bowering at a Healing Fire at Richard Pierpoint Park in St. Catharines
St. CATHARINES, Ontario – Indigenous activists Ashley Cronkwright, Fred Bowering, Lesroy Walcott, and Brandi Johnson will be lighting a Healing Fire at Richard Pierpoint Park in St. Catharines, Ontario to hold a safe space for those affected by the City’s recent anti-encampment by-law.
They will hold the fire from 1-4 p.m. on Sunday, May 18th, and every Sunday from then.
Ashley previously successfully challenged the City of St. Catharines by exercising her Indigenous right to light Healing Fires on property claimed by the City, and campaigned for the rights of her brother Johnny Cronkwright.
Ashley is an organizer of the High Heels to Moccasins group which served food and clothing to the unhoused who are targeted by the by-law. Ashley says she is targeted by the by-law herself as section 8.2 says directors of an organization which “knowingly concurs” with the violation of the by-law are also “guilty” of an offense.
Ashley Cronkwright said, “The City’s by-law is ongoing colonialism and punishes organizations that protect the unhoused. I will light a Healing Fire to let them know we are here for them. It’s my right to have a Healing Fire there.
The City tried to stop me before but I continued to light it every week for almost 2 years and served food and clothing. I switched to outreach but this by-law is calling me back to the park. Sunday the 18th we will start the Healing Fire and be there every Sunday after.”
Ashley added, “The Healing Fire space is also in Memory of Loved Ones Lost and in Support of Families and Friends of Loved Ones Lost to Mental Health, Addiction and Homelessness or Living Through It.”
A January 7, 2025 memo from Niagara Region’s Homelessness Services Manager on the Homelessness Point-in-Time Count noted, “The Indigenous population…accounted for 28% of the population experiencing homelessness in Niagara. This highlights the need for culturally sensitive, community-driven solutions to homelessness within these communities.”
The City of St. Catharines anti-encampment by-law, called the “Public Space Use By-law,” includes fines for not just each day, but each part of a day unhoused people have temporary shelters in certain parts of the City.
For more information from High Heels to Moccasins, click on their Facebook page at – https://www.facebook.com/groups/1909402639245946/
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