'It's time to leave': Nanaimo tent city ordered to shut down within 21 days
Spokesperson for Discontent City camp calls injunction 'absolutely disgusting and a travesty'
Residents of a contentious homeless camp in downtown Nanaimo have been told they have 21 days to vacate the site after a B.C. Supreme Court order came down Friday.
Activists set up the "Discontent City" camp in May at 1 Port Dr., on an empty lot. About 300 people are estimated to live at the tent city which has running water and portable toilets.
The protesters said they set up the camp to protest the lack of housing options for homeless people and to provide a place for them to live.
The City of Nanaimo petitioned the court for the injunction after a previous attempt was unsuccessful.
Tent city residents and their lawyer to speak to the media at noon after they have the decision.
—@lizziepetraCampers, lawyers react
Camp spokespeople, addressing reporters after reviewing the decision, spoke of sadness and fear about their future.
One of them, Amber McGrath, called the decision "absolutely disgusting and a travesty."
"Obviously, the homeless population has to be somewhere. Where that is, I don't know," McGrath said.
Campers will comply with the order, she added. They say they intend to use the next 21 days to plan next steps.
Noah Ross, the campers' lawyer, called the decision disappointing and was critical of the City of Nanaimo for not providing more housing options.
However, the city's lawyer, Troy DeSouza, said Nanaimo was pleased with the "substantive" decision.
"They've had their day in court, summer camp is over, and it's time to leave," DeSouza said.
'Disruption' or a 'safe and structured community?'
In his order, Justice Ronald A. Skolrood noted two competing views of the site: to the city, it is a source of "disruption" with "numerous problems involving fire safety, violence, crime, drug use, garbage and general chaos."
To the people who live there, however, it is "a safe and structured community" providing stability, safety, safer conditions for drug users and "a sense of fellowship that comes from living in a community that supports one another."
People coming and going from here this morning mostly seemed unaware of the judgement. Dismantling the tent city looks like a big job. <a href="https://t.co/Qj2VUPcNc5">pic.twitter.com/Qj2VUPcNc5</a>
—@lizziepetraThe injunction orders the campers to leave within 21 days and take any belongings with them, after which the city is authorized to move in and dispose of whatever items remain and the RCMP can arrest any person still at the site.
Justice Skolrood noted Nanaimo was applying for a broader injunction to permanently ban all unauthorized structures on city property.
He declined to grant that order, writing, "Any such future encampments can only be assessed in light of the circumstances existing at the time."
Other camps
Friday's judgment comes after a tent city in Saanich on south Vancouver Island was ordered removed last week.
Around 30 homeless people from that camp are now at Goldstream Provincial Park and say they have nowhere else to go, despite assertions from local government that they must leave.
With files from Liz McArthur
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