British Columbia

Contaminated soil trucked away from former Victoria tent city site

The lawns in front of the Victoria Court House are being converted into a playground after it was the site of a number of homeless campers for close to 10 months last year.

The site — the lawn in front of the Victoria Court House — is being converted into a playground

Truckloads of contaminated soil have been taken away from the site of Victoria's former "tent city". (Megan Thomas/CBC)

Several truckloads of contaminated soil have been trucked away from the site of Victoria's former tent city as part of remediation and restoration efforts.

At its peak, the so-called "tent city" — located across from the Victoria court house — housed around 100 people who camped on the lawns for close to 10 months. The encampment was the subject of months-long court battle until the B.C. government received a court injunction to remove the camp in August 2016.

Many of the camp's residents were moved into supportive housing facilities, but the transition has not always been smooth.

A homeless encampment occupied Victoria's courthouse lawn from November 2015 until August 2016 when a court order forced it to be dismantled. (Megan Thomas/CBC)

Plans were put forward to re-grade and landscape the space into a playground.

Soil testing at the site revealed low levels of fuel and methamphetamines which made the soil removal necessary.

The Ministry of Technology and Innovation estimates about one tonne of dirt has been trucked away from the site and more is expected to be removed by the end of this week.

It is being processed at a facility just outside of Victoria.

The ministry says in a statement that the remediation is estimated to cost around $350,000.

The completed playground is expected to be ready for use in spring.

With files from Liz McArthur