The District of Saanich has again ordered residents at the Regina Park encampment to move out right away.
Saanich police have delivered a notice to cease occupation immediately, advising campers that they can spend nights there, but are to pack up by 9 a.m. A notice on June 8 ordering campers to leave failed to shift people.
Saanich Mayor Richard Atwell said if campers don’t move, “we will take another step,” but he would not say what that might be or when it could happen.
“I really can’t disclose those details as this has really become a complicated legal matter.”
The notice is intended to end permanent occupation of the site, he said.
About 85 campers are believed to be at the tent city, which was established in early May.
With Saanich setting up a sanitation station next to its municipal hall this week, there should be no reason for campers to stay at the tent city, Atwell said. The station includes showers and toilets.
In Nanaimo, after initially resisting, the city has obeyed an Island Health order to run potable water to a tent city at 1 Port Dr., a city-owned industrial site.
There is now a sink on the property, said Dr. Paul Hasselback, medical health officer for Central Vancouver Island.
His order also required the city to increase the number of toilets and expand garbage collection. Ways to deliver additional sanitation are being looked at.
Hasselback said the order addresses “pretty fundamental health issues.”
The encampment, set up in mid-May, has an estimated 150 tents and structures on mostly open land, with some scrubby bushes.
The City of Nanaimo is going to B.C. Supreme Court next week for a two-day hearing into its application for an injunction to close down the tent city.
Hasselback said he respects that is the city’s position. “Now we have to talk about what are the absolute requirements and needs so that we don’t have a tragic event occurring.”
This is a dynamic, evolving situation, he said. “Getting some fundamental health and safety protective measures in place was a clear priority.
“We need housing. We need a solution here. And that solution is not about to happen in a week or a month.”
He said Island Health is working with B.C. Housing, which is sending a team to do a census and identify specific needs to better help individuals.
Nanaimo Mayor Bill McKay said the city had no choice but to comply with the Island Health order. “We have a hotter, drier spell coming right now.”
The water service is similar to a “glorified garden hose” and cost about $7,000 to install, he said.
Tent city resident Wendy, who did not want to give her last name, welcomed the water. She has been walking downtown to a spot near the library to fill a five-litre jug to carry back to tent city. That water was used for washing dishes. “It’s necessary. You know water is essential.”
Some businesses have discouraged campers from accessing water to fill drinking bottles but a couple of nearby fast-food outlets have been accommodating, Wendy said.
Another tent city resident, Jason Cormier, 24, was also happy to see the water line. “I am so thankful.”
The city brought in three additional toilets this week, to bring the total to five. “We only had two for 200 people and there were quite the lineups. We’ve got five now, which is a saviour,” Cormier said.
He echoed calls for more housing.
Cormier said he has been at the tent city for two weeks after losing rental housing near Cedar. He said he spent five months looking for another place to live.
By the time a rental unit has been advertised for a couple of days, there are already about 60 people ready to take it, making it impossible to find a place, Cormier said.
Nanaimo Fire Chief Karen Fry, who also serves as director of public safety, said it is difficult to get a total count of people at the site. It is a busy place, with people coming and going.
Along with tents there is a recreational vehicle trailer, two cars and two trucks, she said.
Fry has heard that drug dealers have moved onto the property and said the dynamic of the tent city is changing.
Some new people who aren’t known as belonging to Nanaimo’s homeless population have moved in, Fry said.
RCMP check the property several times a day and the fire department visits daily, she said.
