Judge orders tent city taken down
HOMELESS: Reluctantly grants injunction to dismantle Main Street camp that went up in April
A judge has reluctantly ordered about 50 homeless people who have been camping on a city-owned lot in Vancouver designated for social housing to vacate the premises by Wednesday.
On Monday, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Joel Groves granted an injunction to dismantle the tents and other structures at 950 Main Street, where the homeless have been camping since April 28.
The Lu’ma Native Housing Society, a non-profit group which is planning to build 26 social housing units for aboriginal people on the site and recently leased the land from the city, went to court after a previous attempt by the city for an injunction failed.
In granting the injunction, the judge said he identified with the “hopelessness” felt by the homeless and noted the frustration from the judges’ standpoint that they can’t do anything about such tent city cases, which have been appearing before the courts in increasing numbers over the last few years.
“Much as I would sometimes like to think, that judges can solve problems, we don’t. Much as I’d like to think that a judge is the arbitrator in a justice system, where justice is handed out, what I really am is a dispute resolution manager who finds facts, figures out what the law is, applies the law and no more.”
The judge added that it was important for someone to apply the law, because applying the law and enforcing the rule of law creates a level of expectation and a level playing field in society.
“But abiding by the law doesn’t necessarily create a justice system for all those who come to the courts for redress.
“The solution to the housing crisis in Vancouver and particularly the homeless crisis in Vancouver more appropriately is something that requires a long-term solution that as a judge I cannot do and cannot address unfortunately.”
The society argued that it would lose the $9 million project if the protest site wasn’t cleared away in part because of funding deadlines, including a $500,000 grant from an unidentified German foundation that threatened to pull out if the site was not dismantled by the end of June. Another $800,000 in federal funding was also on the line.
Court heard that there are more than 2,000 homeless people in the city, about 38 per cent of them aboriginal, while the city’s population in general has only 2.5 per aboriginal people.
The judge said he was satisfied that irreparable harm would befall the society if the injunction was not granted and ordered the site be cleared out by Wednesday noon.
He noted that there is now a plan in place to find 60 spaces in a shelter for the homeless people at the tent city to relocate to, with the assistance of the city. The judge’s injunction gives the police enforcement powers to dismantle the site but it’s unclear what might happen on Wednesday.
Outside court, Maria Wallstam, an advocate for the homeless who spoke for them in court, said she wasn’t surprised by the ruling and added that it remained to be seen whether the court order would be obeyed.
“People don’t want to go into shelters. A shelter is not a home. There’s no privacy, there’s no dignity. People get pushed around. They’re also unsafe for a lot of people. So I imagine most people are going to be pushed back into the street.”
Dennis DeGuerre, one of three homeless people who addressed the court, told reporters that the ruling was a “bunch of b.s.” and he intended to stay on the land.
“Hopefully we’re going to try to fight it. We’ve got to do something. We like the way it is right now. Simple.”
John Croft, another of the homeless campers, said he, too, would like to stay on in the tent city and on his limited fixed income cannot afford anything else.
“The way it is now, I have nothing to live on. It’s more desperate, more desperate.”