The introduction was made on a late sunny morning in October 2019.
Parisian stood among the dozens of tents and structures, including a drug injection shelter and makeshift church, where people had lived for the better part of a year.
A small fire burned in a barrel nearby.
The story he told then was that he recently found housing at The Flint Hotel on Powell Street but felt an obligation to help people who continued to reside in the park.
His fiancée also kept a tent there.
He’d had a tough childhood, he said, and been in and out of prison “my whole life” — a story similar to others told by people in the park that day. Parisian didn’t elaborate on his crimes but talked about his desire to “give back.”
“I just live every day now trying to help everyone else instead of myself,” he said, noting he had served time in Matsqui Institution. “It’s easier to take from the community than it is to give back. I’ve got to give back now.”
The 47-year-old member of the Berens River First Nation in Manitoba is now back in custody after Vancouver police announced Wednesday that Parisian was charged with manslaughter in connection with the homicide of 78-year-old Usha Singh.
Police arrested Parisian Tuesday with the help of a police dog near the Strathcona Park encampment, where police believe he resided. He suffered serious but non-life threatening injuries in the arrest, said Sgt. Steve Addison, a VPD media liaison officer, at a news conference Wednesday.
Police also arrested a second man in an area near Main Street and Terminal Avenue in connection with Singh’s murder. Pascal Bouthilette, 41, who lived in a trailer, was charged with second-degree murder.
Police seized a vehicle and a trailer as part of the investigation.
Police made the arrests after two men who allegedly posed as police officers gained entry into Singh’s bungalow near Queen Elizabeth Park shortly after 6 a.m. on Jan. 31. Singh was injured and taken to hospital, where she died Tuesday.
“This really was a tragic and senseless act that did not need to happen and shouldn’t have happened,” Addison said.
“I understand this has caused a significant amount of anxiety and concern throughout the neighbourhood and —really — throughout the city. I want to let everyone know that Vancouver is a safe city and we hope that these arrests begin to restore a sense of safety in the community and help people feel at ease.”
Addison wouldn’t discuss a motive for the crime, whether weapons were used or whether there was a previous relationship or connection between the suspects and Singh, who lived alone in her house.
Police executed multiple search warrants Tuesday, including one at Strathcona Park, where Addison said they were met with a “volatile and hostile” crowd, which required a call-out for more officers to attend.
Fiona York, a volunteer at the encampment, said she wouldn’t describe Indigenous youth drumming as volatile. But York, who was at the park when police arrived, said she was saddened to learn of Singh’s death, noting a person of the same age lives in the encampment.
“Elders are really important and it’s just really upsetting to everybody,” she said.
“Elders are people that we try to protect and look out for, so it’s just very sad and distressing that anything like that would happen.”
A video posted on Facebook by Eric Tetley showed more than 40 officers forming a line at the edge of the park Tuesday night, including officers with dogs, rifles and shotguns.
Indigenous youth were seen drumming while a group of women and others verbally challenged officers over their presence at the park and to produce a search warrant. Tetley commented on his video that two recreational vehicles and a tent were searched.
Coun. Pete Fry, who lives a few blocks from the park, said he visited the encampment Wednesday to speak to a media outlet about the situation in the park. He was joined by councillors Rebecca Bligh, Sarah Kirby-Yung and Lisa Dominato.
“We were set upon by a group that identified themselves as warriors from the camp and had patched vests, so it was a very kind of gang approach to running the park,” Fry said.
“It leaves me uneasy that we’ve abandoned folks who are legitimately homeless in Strathcona Park, and the law in Strathcona Park right now is a group of thugs who identify as kind of a gang.”
Attorney General David Eby, who is responsible for housing in B.C., told Glacier Media this week the government’s plan — in partnership with the city and nonprofit housing providers — is to move every person who wants housing out of the park by the end of April.
Parisian, meanwhile, was wanted on a Canada-wide warrant at the time of his arrest, but police didn’t specify the nature of crimes associated to the warrant.
The Independent Investigations Office is investigating the injuries to Parisian, who also spells his surname Parisien and has active and inactive cases listed on the provincial court registry related to assault, being unlawfully at large, break and enter, possession of stolen property and breach of probation.
Police said he was treated in hospital before taken to jail.
In his role as mayor of Oppenheimer, Parisian also attended a city council meeting, where he suggested the park's homeless population increased in size because city crews told people in other parks to pack up their stuff and move to the park.
"You caused this problem, not us," he said, pointing his finger at councillors from a lectern inside the council chamber. (The city's communications department denied such an order was given, noting crews regularly pick up debris and belongings left behind by people.)
The Oppenheimer Park encampment, which organizers said had a seven-person “community council” and safety committee when Parisian was mayor, was cleared in the spring of 2020.
In April 2020, Solicitor General Mike Farnworth issued a public safety order under the Emergency Program Act related to concerns about the spread of COVID-19 and conditions in the park.
An encampment then popped up in a parking lot near CRAB park, which was later cleared after the Port of Vancouver successfully obtained an injunction that saw police move people off the lot.
The Strathcona Park encampment emerged in June 2020, with an estimated 200 people now living there, according to camp organizers. Showers and toilets, along with a warming tent, were installed at the park last month.
Police have requested anyone with information on Singh’s murder to call the VPD’s homicide section at 604-717-2500. Anonymous tips can also be shared at Crime Stoppers, 1-800-222-8477.
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