The owner of a property where about 20 homeless former tent-city residents descended on Tuesday with their camping gear says he tried stopping them but they “kept on coming.”
“It’s unfair — I didn’t think this was possible,” said Sam Seera, who owns the 1.4-acre rural property at 5090 West Saanich Rd. with Gurpal and Pavnit Aujla.
On Wednesday, Seera handed a “one-month notice to end tenancy for cause” to the only tenant who was at home.
Seera said that when he was told by the District of Saanich on Tuesday 20 campers were setting up on his property, he thought he could simply evict them for trespassing. After phoning the district, its mayor and police, Seera was directed to the Residential Tenancy Branch. “I’m trying everything I can do,” said Seera, who has hired a lawyer. “I’m caught in the middle. They said they were invited by David [Shebib],” a tenant. That meant the only way to get rid of the campers was to evict the tenants.
The six-bedroom, five bathroom home on the cluttered property is leased to Andrew McLean, the son of fringe Saanich mayoral candidate David Shebib, who invited the homeless campers to move onto the property.
Rooms are informally sublet to about four other tenants for a total of six in the house.
Seera said when he spoke to McLean on Wednesday, he said he was not aware of what his father had done.
“He was very upset for himself and for his tenants who are angry and who pay him rent,” said Seera, adding that Shebib has gone to Bella Coola.
McLean returned from Salt Spring Island on Wednesday night to deal with the situation, said Seera, who planned to pick him up from the ferry.
Meanwhile, the tenants met to discuss their frustration over the eviction notice and possible health hazards, as approximately 25 people try to use one of the home’s bathrooms, on a septic system.
“[McLean] wants these people off the property,” said Seera. “I’m hoping he’ll tell them ‘I’m the official tenant’ and that he wants them off the property … but I doubt they are going to listen.”
The landlord said McLean asked police if he could evict the campers for trespassing, but was told Shebib as a tenant had a right to invite guests.
“It’s not right,” said Seera. “It’s not fair to me. If he wants to have a protest he can have it on his own property or government land, but not my property.”
Shebib, a retired junk seller, ran in all 13 regional mayoral races in 2014 and two in 2011.
He said he offered the homeless campers shelter because nobody else would.
Because neither Shebib nor McLean was on the property on Wednesday, Seera gave the eviction notice to a tenant named Paul, who declined to give the Times Colonist his last name.
Paul, who works part time moving furniture, said he has lived at the house for a few years and didn’t know the campers had been invited.
“It doesn’t surprise me — Dave’s got a big heart and he’s a politically active guy,” said Paul, who doesn’t want to move out. The eviction notice affects all of the tenants.
Seera said he is concerned about cleanup, storage and possible legal costs.
Camp organizer Chrissy Brett said the campers plan to stay until the municipal election on Oct. 20.
“The invitation was extended with goodwill and intention,” said Brett, adding the campers feel they have been shunted from place to place in their search for a safe haven. They spent five months at Saanich’s Regina Park and moved to Goldstream Provincial Park on Sept. 18 via Rudd Park and provincial green space off Ravine Way. After two weeks at Goldstream, they were forced to leave by B.C. Parks, since that’s the limit on camping in a provincial park.
“They are all somebody’s family, all somebody’s child, brother or sister or cousin and they belong somewhere and not just on a rubber mat or at two separate shelters that would split up couples,” said Brett.
The Victoria Native Friendship Centre seasonal shelter at 231 Regina Ave. had offered about 10 spaces for the campers. It’s open 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. and has 25 new mattresses, facilities, and services. If residents return nightly, beds are dedicated for them.
The centre said it could not house the entire group of 20-plus campers because it isn’t appropriate for couples, people needing gender-based quarters, or pets, since the residents would be housed in an open gymnasium.
B.C. Housing said two of the 20 campers from Goldstream park were sent to the former Tally Ho Hotel, purchased last year by the Victoria Cool Aid Society for supportive housing.
The rest were offered mats at shelters including Rock Bay Landing, Sandy Merriman Shelter and the Arbutus shelter, according to B.C. Housing. Some ended up back on the streets in Victoria, said Brett.
Many shelters are not open during the day, which is difficult for people with mental-health challenges who need around-the-clock services, or who have medical challenges and need to be constantly near a toilet, for instance, said Brett.
A portable toilet, paid for through donations, will be delivered to the West Saanich property for campers, said Brett.
Although Seera said he has tried to evict Shebib before, the rent on the property is paid on time and when ordered to clean it up, Shebib has complied.
“We’ve been really nice but this has gone too far,” said Seera.
ceharnett@timescolonist.com
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About 20 homeless campers who left Goldstream Provincial Park on Tuesday rejected warm shelter beds in favour of setting up camp on the West Saanich Road property where Saanich mayoral candidate David Shebib lives.
All but one of 25 new mattresses on bed frames delivered to the Victoria Native Friendship Centre went unused. The shelter, staffed by nine people, was made available from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. with breakfast.
“We had one person in the shelter last night,” said Ron Rice, executive director of the Victoria Native Friendship Centre. Staff had feverishly moved in the mattresses, built storage spaces and erected security gates to ready the centre.
The centre had initially said it would take about 10 people from the encampment, but its one gymnasium would not be appropriate for couples, people who need gender-separated areas, or people with pets.
“They decided if they couldn’t all come, they were all going to stay away,” said Rice, adding campers opted “to stay with Chrissy” — camp organizer Chrissy Brett.
Shebib, who ran in all 13 regional mayoral races in 2014 and two in 2011, lives at the property, although he’s not the owner. He said he offered the tenters shelter because nobody else would. “They have nowhere to go,” he said by phone from Nanaimo, where he was witnessing the dismantling of an encampment. “All the politicians are blowing it. They have no proposals at all and they don’t know what they are doing.”
B.C. Housing Minister Selina Robinson said Tuesday it’s unfortunate the rest of the campers have ended up on the property of Shebib, a retired junk collector.
“It makes me sad,” said Robinson, adding she has no doubt the demand for the Victoria Native Friendship Centre’s beds will be high.
“It would be irresponsible to hold them when the people we are holding them for don’t want them, but there’s others who need them.”
Shebib’s cluttered 1.4-acre property is an unexpected landing pad for the homeless campers, who spent two weeks at Goldstream Provincial Park and five months before that at Regina Park in Saanich.
West Shore RCMP were at Goldstream to assist B.C. Parks staff, but their help was not needed, as the campers departed voluntarily.
Piles of camping gear were delivered Monday to the property where Shebib lives at 5090 West Saanich Rd.
The campers will stay for a while to “rest up,” said Brett, and as a form of protest to demand more permanent housing that will accommodate the different needs of the group, which includes four couples, some with dogs.
They hope to remain at Shebib’s property for a couple of weeks.
Brett maintains the municipal election campaign and Shebib’s part in it will draw attention to the camp and the housing and poverty crisis it represents.
B.C. Housing said shelter spaces remain reserved for the campers at a variety of locations, including Rock Bay Landing, Sandy Merriman Shelter, Victoria Native Friendship Centre and the Arbutus shelter. Campers could be shuttled to the shelter of their choice.
Rice said Native Friendship Centre staff believed B.C. Housing was gathering a list of other homeless people who needed the shelter space at the centre. “There was no list,” said Rice, who blamed a series of miscommunications from the ministry. “Unfortunately, B.C. Housing was focused entirely on Goldstream.”
Rice said the focus needs to shift to the city’s other homeless and working poor. “There are 2,000 other homeless people in this city that might appreciate the space we have here.”
At Goldstream, B.C. Parks staff are assessing the area the campers occupied, on the hunt for discarded needles, drugs or damage to the park. The campground has been closed to other people since Sept.18, when the campers arrived.
B.C. Parks wants to ensure that the park is clean and safe for families, neighbours and tourists to use again, Langford Mayor Stew Young said.
— With a file from Richard Watts
