Teenagers should be taken out of tent city before a tragedy happens, says B.C.’s representative for children and youth.
Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond said she has had concerns about the camp on the lawn of the Victoria courthouse since it sprang up last fall.
“I don’t think there’s a single day that I haven’t felt sick to my stomach about it because I know the situation of some of the kids there,” she said. “Kids who need urgent mental-health assessment and assistance who are self-medicating, who are exposed to some very dangerous behaviour and drugs.
“I’m watching the situation and I have nothing except a sick feeling about what’s going on there.”
Turpel-Lafond said she has evidence of unwanted sexual activity involving youth at the site.
“The idea is that a young person who is completely incapacitated at a moment — certainly because of the influence of these strong drugs that are available there — is certainly an easy target.”
Turpel-Lafond said she knows of 13 teenagers at the site.
“I’m sure there’s more because there’s no accurate census — it could spike,” she said. “It will draw in kids outside the child-welfare system, and the situation becomes more and more difficult to manage.”
The site is an enticement for youth, she said. “This is going to be a place where young people will come. It’s a fluid situation.”
Turpel-Lafond described the tent city as “pretty open, lawless,” and said it has taken on more of a feeling of permanence lately.
She said it is not acceptable to simply say there has a been a court decision allowing campers to stay put for the time being.
“My piece is I’m very concerned about the passive notions that have taken hold here, but also putting on the shoulder of the kids the responsibility to keep themselves safe,” Turpel-Lafond said.
“It’s not possible and one can only be fooling themselves if they think that this is a safe environment and that there’s no risk to those kids.”
She said she is sensitive to the needs of all vulnerable citizens at the site, “but this tent encampment reflects a bit of the failure in our social policies.”
Turpel-Lafond said her staff has been in regular contact with Victoria police and Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps as they monitor what is happening.
