Confusion reigned in Goldstream Provincial Park Thursday with the provincial government ultimately deciding to allow homeless campers to stay until it has assessed the situation and examined its options.
“There is currently no deadline,” said a statement by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. “Outreach staff continue to assess the campers’ needs.”
About 30 tenters who were ordered to leave Saanich’s Regina Park, and a green space at Ravine Way, made their way to the provincial park on Tuesday night with the help of supporters, who drove rented trucks to move possessions.
On Wednesday evening, the Environment Ministry closed the park and told the group and everyone else camping in the park they had to leave by 11 a.m. Thursday. West Shore RCMP set up a command centre and B.C. Parks rangers closed the gates. Registered campers packed up their sites and drove away. Police and parks staff met with the homeless campers.
Then at about 11 a.m., B.C. Parks issued a statement saying the campers were being granted a 24-hour extension. The situation changed again in the early afternoon, when a spokesman for the Environment Ministry said a staff member misspoke and there was no deadline or 24-hour eviction notice for campers.
The reprieve is a hopeful sign of an understanding by the government that a co-ordinated approach by involved agencies is needed, said John Heaney, a lawyer representing the campers. “By being able to stay, there’s an understanding they need to be together and an understanding that the agencies after this will be better co-ordinated.”
Dispersing the campers from the park with nowhere for them to go but back onto the streets is not an answer, he said.
The uncertainty took its toll on Lynne Hibak, a disabled homeless woman who lived in Regina Park and Ravine Way.
“All this running around, bouncing from place to place. I feel like a friggin’ yo-yo. This has got to stop. How would you feel if this was your son, your daughter, your niece, your nephew, your cousins, your aunt, any one of you?” said an emotional Hibak.
“I’m tired of all the people who are angry at us, who are saying we are a bunch of drug users. … Come down here and see for yourselves what it’s like to be on the streets, where there’s no food, no shelter, no clothing. No access to anything like that. See what you’re putting people with disabilities through.”
Ashley Mollison, spokeswoman for the Alliance Against Displacement, said police departments chasing people from park to street to campground has escalated anti-homeless hatred. “You can see behind us angry mobs of neighbours who are threatening to tear down the camp. This is not OK. This is not an adequate response to homelessness.”
Tensions soared as Langford residents got into a heated exchange with supporters of the homeless tenters. RCMP officers were forced to step in and calm the situation.
Camp organizer Chrissy Brett said the homeless people were relieved they could stay put.
“We all feel as though a two-week reprieve will help us figure out our next step. This was never a permanent move.”
Brett took exception to remarks by Langford Mayor Stew Young, who said he had received hundreds of complaints from residents concerned about drug abuse and break-ins.
The homeless campers steal and use illegal drugs and leave needles everywhere, Young said Wednesday in an interview.
“For a mayor who’s talking about being tough on crime, he hasn’t sicced the RCMP on any of the bike gangs who have houses here. But he sics a bunch of cops on disabled people who are defenceless and calls them the criminals,” Brett said.
“He should look in his own backyard.”
Young should come down, have dinner with homeless campers and talk, she suggested.
Young said the municipality has put out a press release telling residents it’s not safe to go into the park.
“With all the stuff that’s going on in there, we can’t guarantee everyone’s safety.
“They’re in the washrooms shooting up on two different occasions and they’re stealing stuff from other campers. I’m very disappointed that the government thinks it’s OK to go into a public park. They’re going to get a bill from me for the policing.”
Building housing units and providing health and addiction services should have been a government priority, he said.
Brett should leave the camp, take herself out of the picture and get a professional who knows how to deal with mental health and addiction problems and help these people, Young said.
“If she was going to help people truly, then you would only let people in who are seriously in need of housing and have the ability to have respect for the law and respect for other people around them. And that’s not happening.
“You don’t put kids in camps alongside drug users and people who have no regard for the law,” Young said. “She’s actually doing a disservice by saying: ‘Here. Come to this camp. It’s really great.’ No, it’s not.”
The provincial government needs to put serious money toward the situation, he said.
West Shore RCMP Const. Matt Baker said police had received complaints of drug use and suspicious behaviour and vandalism to property.
“We recovered a stolen vehicle in the area as well and arrested an individual with a warrant,” said Baker.
Langford resident Brian Clouter maintains the campers are in the park solely to make a statement about homelessness.
Kelowna’s Matthew Cote left the park with his partner one day into a planned three-day stay to find other accommodations.
He said the campsite occupied by the homeless people was clean and that he was not disturbed by having to move.
ldickson@timescolonist.com
ceharnett@timescolonist.com
