Three Saanich fire officials including its top firefighter faced questions Monday from the lawyer representing residents of the homeless camp in Regina Park.

Saanich Fire Chief Mike Burgess told the court under cross-examination from John Heaney, who is representing almost 100 camp residents, that the camp had failed to comply with 11 fire orders issued since its start in May, a charge that camp leaders have challenged, while conceding that the camp might never be officially fire safe.

Three days of hearings are scheduled in B.C. Supreme Court to hear arguments from municipal as well as provincial authorities on removing the camp from Regina Park.

MondayB次元官网网址檚 hearing marks the official start of a legal process that started when the in late July.

Much of MondayB次元官网网址檚 hearing centred on whether camp residents had followed through on fire department orders.

B次元官网网址淚 think we have all agreed that the way itB次元官网网址檚 written, it will never be 100 per cent compliant,B次元官网网址� said camp leader Chrissy Brett outside the court.

B次元官网网址淲e will continue to work with the [Saanich Fire Department] to ensure that we are doing as much as we can to be fire safe, as well as being safe with just our lives.B次元官网网址�

The question of fire safety looms large in the hearing as both the District of Saanich and the provincial government have argued among other points that the camp represents a fire risk that endangers both its resident, as well as residents in the surrounding residential neighbourhood.

Camp leaders have challenged this narrative in arguing that camp residents face far greater threats if authorities succeed in displacing them from the camp.

B次元官网网址淒efinitively, we are concerned about fire safety,B次元官网网址� said Brett. But the camp is more concerned about keeping people alive, she said. She added that fire officials including Burgess have refused to provide fire suppressing training and tools.

B次元官网网址淩ather than protecting peopleB次元官网网址檚 safety, heB次元官网网址檚 trying to teach them a lesson,B次元官网网址� said Ashley Mollison with the Alliance Against Displacement in a later interview.

MondayB次元官网网址檚 hearing also marked an escalation in the public relations battle between the two sides, as local camp residents appeared before media with residents from the respective tent cities in Nanaimo and Maple Ridge.

Ivan Drury, with the Alliance Against Displacement, said SaanichB次元官网网址檚 court case against the Regina Park camp is part of a co-ordinated effort between various municipalities and the provincial government to criminalize homelessness. All of the money spent on these court cases should instead go towards supplying adequate housing, he said.