Service planned on Dec. 11 for homeless man who died in Windsor, N.S.

CITYnews halifax / By The Canadian Press

WINDSOR, N.S., Ont. — A memorial service has been scheduled for Dec. 11 by a support agency for a homeless man who died in Windsor, N.S., last week.

Leslie Porter, director of the Windsor-West Hants Caremongers, says the man in his early 50s was found dead on Tuesday at the site of an ice fishing tent where he lived.

She says he was a regular at a warming centre her groups operates, adding that her community doesn’t have services, including addictions treatment, that he could have benefited from.

Connie Pollock, a volunteer at Caremongers and a friend of the man, identified him as William (Billy) Walsh and says that prior to becoming homeless he was a welder and — as a younger man — was an avid motocross racer.

Pollock says in recent years Walsh was receptive to receiving assistance from the Caremongers group and other support agencies in the town, and had planned to move to affordable housing in Yarmouth.

RCMP have confirmed that a man died Tuesday in the community and, while the death was not considered suspicious, an autopsy to determine the cause of death is being conducted by the medical examiner’s office.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 2, 2024.

The Canadian Press

<!– Photo: 2db006c862782c08d8cd22d4cfc418ab0e9a193481f39aecf3424a38ceee9653.jpg, Caption: A person uses a broom to clean snow off ice fishing enclosures at a tent encampment in front of Halifax City Hall in downtown Halifax, Monday, Dec. 4, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese