The homeless encampment that is currently in Oak Bay has been cordoned off by police tape as of Friday morning.
As of Friday afternoon, the campers have decided to pack up and leave Cattle Point. However, it is unclear where they will move to next.
Earlier this week, 28 tents from the encampment that was originally organized in Saanich, were pitched in the Cattle Point area of Oak Bay.
The campers were served eviction notices by Oak Bay authorities, pursuant to the municipal bylaw which states that people are not allowed to erect a tent or any type of shelter in a park without first obtaining written permission of the Commission.
The bylaw also states that “no person shall camp, or take up temporary or permanent abode in or on any park”.
However, in a previous ruling, the BC Supreme Court stated that homeless people can camp out in parks overnight as long as they take down their tents and move on by 9 a.m. the next morning.
In response to police tape being installed, the encampment’s official Facebook page, “Camp Namegans”, issued the following call to action:
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The encampment was also served an invoice worth a total of $1882.65 earlier this week for the tent city’s previous stay in Oak Bay in the fall of 2017.
At the time, the homeless camp leader Chrissy Brett criticized the Oak Bay Police of “making it personal not policing” in a tweet.
The Oak Bay Police responded with a tweet of their own: “We have an invoice for you. It was initially going to be mailed to your home…but I felt we should just hold it for you for if you came back,” read the tweet.
“Its for the damaged bench $1500 & 3 Hazmat call-outs ($500 each). I’ll hold it here and if you return to camp, it will be served on you.”
