Judge allows homeless site to be cleared, but reluctantly

A judge has reluctantly ordered about 50 homeless people who have been camping on a cityowned 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 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 cent 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.