Bylaw changes prohibiting overnight camping in certain parts of Saanich came into effect Tuesday after council ratified changes to the municipalityB次元官网网址檚 parks management and control bylaw Monday, and earmarked more funds towards the camp at Regina Park.
The changes officially codify the rights of homeless individuals to camp in public places, if shelters are unavailable as per a previous court ruling. But they also prohibit overnight camping in Cuthbert Holmes Park among other parks and public facilities in Saanich, following comparable legislation in the City of Victoria.
Saanich has now aligned its bylaw with an existing court ruling, but also limited the spaces where homeless individuals can camp.
The bylaw changes identify environmentally sensitive areas, playgrounds, sports facilities, as well parks zoned natural park (P4N) and conservation park (P5) as off-limits to what the bylaw calls temporary overnight sheltering.
This language means that Cuthbert Holmes Park, Swan Lake Christmas Hill Nature Sanctuary and RithetB次元官网网址檚 Bog Nature Sanctuary would be off-limits to campers.
where residents living near Cuthbert Holmes Park have long complained that individuals B次元官网网址� some homeless, some not B次元官网网址� have damaged the park through their various activities, while creating an atmosphere of fear and intimidation.
The park near the McKenzie interchange project has become a long-term favourite of campers because of its proximity to amenities offered by Pearkes Recreation Centre, Tillicum shopping centre and the surrounding area.
The changes do not impact Regina Park, the site of a tent city that sprung up in May.
Much of the earmarked contingency funding will flow towards additional policing, but additional spending on other items including a sanitation station that opened up Tuesday could end up raising the total cost to $950,000. Depending on events, the final figure may be even higher.
Some 75 individuals currently camp on the site in defiance of an eviction order issued June 8. Some camp residents, for their part, have accused authorities of harassing them, and using fire safety as a round-about way to dissolve the camp, and advocates for the camp that Saanich is B次元官网网址渇ighting a losing battleB次元官网网址� by putting money towards the camp.
B次元官网网址淚nstead of working towards solutions and acknowledging that tent cities exist because of a housing crisis B次元官网网址� not as an act of defiance B次元官网网址� it is pouring money and resources into policing the camp and the area,B次元官网网址� wrote Marilou Gagnon, an associate professor at the University of Victoria and president of Harm Reduction Nurses Association, and Ashley Mollison with the Alliance Against Displacement, in the Georgia Straight.
Tent city are not B次元官网网址渞iskyB次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址淸fighting] them is not the answer,B次元官网网址� they wrote. B次元官网网址淚t is not a good use of public money and sadly, it only serves to ignite anger, fear and hate toward people who experience homelessness.B次元官网网址�
Neighbourhood residents, meanwhile, have blamed the camp for a spike in crime throughout area, and called for its dissolution, having launched a change.org petition that calls Saanich to shut down the campsite.
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 time for [the] District of Saanich [council] to enforce the laws and bylaws and shut down the illegal [tent city] at Regina Park. In addition to shutting down the Regina Park Tent City, measures should be put in place to prevent these B次元官网网址渃itiesB次元官网网址� from setting up near any residential neighbourhood in the future,B次元官网网址� it reads on the
