Nanaimo balks at order for water, toilets in its tent city
Nanaimo is resisting an Island Health order to install drinking water and more toilets at a tent city near its downtown, with the mayor calling the idea “ludicrous.”
A municipal lawyer will ask for the order to be reconsidered, Mayor Bill McKay said Friday.
The health order calls for the City of Nanaimo to install access to potable water, more portable toilets with related maintenance, and hand-sanitizing stations at the tent city. Work must be done by 5 p.m. Tuesday.
A City of Nanaimo statement quotes Dr. Bruce Hasselback, medical health officer for Central Vancouver Island, as stating there are “reasonable and probable grounds to believe that conditions exist that present a significant risk of causing a health hazard.”
McKay responded: “If the medical health officer wanted to solve this issue, he could have easily issued a notice to vacate.”
Val Wilson, Island Health spokeswoman, said it is not appropriate to comment at this time because B.C.’s Public Health Act provides for a formal process while reconsideration is being addressed.
Nanaimo’s tent city was established, without permission, on city-owned industrial land on Port Drive on May 17.
It has grown to about 140 tents and upward of 200 campers, McKay said.
A woman died in recent days from a drug overdose at the tent city, a man was sent to hospital this week after a stabbing there, and a fire also broke out, McKay said.
Nanaimo issued a trespass notice to tent city residents in May, but they did not leave. A rally on site included some Nanaimo residents who support the campers, saying that they need a place to stay.
The city subsequently filed a petition asking the B.C. Supreme Court to rule on whether the campers should vacate or stay. A two-day hearing has been scheduled for the week of July 16.
“We’ve already got a date set. … We’ve issued them with eviction notices. We consider this to be trespass,” McKay said.
“This order from the medical health officer is the last straw. We’ve run out of patience. We have had enough.
“The day they [campers] came in, part of their list of demands was that Nanaimo provide housing options for everyone.” They want that site to be dedicated for social housing and they wanted running water, showers and toilets, McKay said.
“They want all the services that other citizens in Nanaimo have but expect all of the other citizens to pay for them.”
The idea of installing services is “somewhat ludicrous in light of the fact that we’ve given them notice to vacate,” he said.
“Why would we put conveniences in when we are hoping that they [campers] can be vacated?”
Meanwhile, Nanaimo’s DisconTent City Facebook page expressed gratitude for donations of food, water and clothing.
The head-butting between Nanaimo and Island Health is taking place amid growing concerns about homelessness and deaths from opioid overdoses in B.C.
Tent cities are cropping up on Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland where there is a shortage of affordable housing.
Saanich police arrested a 43-year-old woman about noon Friday at the Regina Park encampment for allegedly interfering with the Saanich Fire Department during a safety inspection.
Police described the woman as “self-referred to as the encampment founder” and said she was blocking firefighters from doing their duty.
A statement issued by a group calling itself Alliance Against Displacement Victoria identified the arrested woman as Chrissy Brett.
The statement said Brett was protecting a dwelling when she was arrested. It said that the people there have asked for such things as fire extinguishers and fire-retardant tents.
Firefighters were at the park for about two hours Friday and tried to impress on people why they were conducting inspections, Saanich police Sgt. Jereme Leslie said. He said they were also there doing work on Thursday.
On Friday, “what she ended up doing is physically stopping them from entering into the park,” Leslie said.
At one point, she blasted an air horn at the ear of a firefighter, Leslie said.
Brett was arrested for obstruction.
“After the arrest, all the staff from both the fire department and parks department were able to go into the park,” Leslie said. “Everyone else was co-operating.”
The combination of hot weather and people having fires at the site is a big issue for the fire department, he said. The collection of tents and shelters just off the Trans-Canada Highway, across from the Uptown shopping centre, is being used by about 88 people.
“Definitely, the fire department has some major safety concerns regarding fire and life safety of people at the park,” Leslie said.
Steps being taken include the removal of materials that are considered to be fire hazards.
An order issued June 29 by the Office of the Fire Commissioner directed that all quarters at the encampment must be at least a metre apart, all quarters must face an exit lane, no combustible household furniture can be at the site and no one can smoke in the park area.
The encampment, which began in early May as a protest against a lack of affordable housing in the region, could end up costing Saanich taxpayers close to $1 million this year for such costs as policing and sanitation.
It now looks as though tending to the tents will eat up the municipality’s entire contingency fund: $700,000 set aside to deal with unforeseen events, normally weather-related like snow clearance.
Saanich Mayor Richard Atwell said council will discuss the encampment and resulting costs to taxpayers on Monday.
Atwell said removal of the tenters will likely require the building of temporary, modular housing, possibly on Saanich-owned land. A more permanent solution would take years, he said.
He said he hopes the municipality can work with provincial B.C. Housing to accomplish the temporary housing that Atwell believes is the only solution in the near future.
“I don’t know how quickly we can identify a piece of land and go through the rezoning process. But ultimately, something like that would have to happen if we are going to decamp Regina Park,” he said.