Judge gives district go-ahead to clear Saanich homeless camp

A judge has granted a temporary injunction allowing the District of Saanich to evict homeless campers from a tent city in a local park.

The municipality has asked for the injunction to come into effect on Tuesday.

A lawyer for Saanich says the district will provide temporary storage for campers as they move their belongings off the site.

Residents have named the settlement, whichsits on a grassy space along Highway 1 at the edge of a residential area,Camp Namegans. At the height of the summer, It was home to about 90 people

OrganizerChrissy Brett says the decision will force homeless people back onto the streets.

"This will cost lives. There will be more lives lost on the streets and in dumpsters and donation bins and through overdoses."

Brett did not say if she and other homeless campers would leave the park by the Tuesday deadline.

On Friday afternoon,Saanich Mayor Richard Atwell read a brief statement to the media.

He said "open defiance by the encampment and its leadership, as well as significant and increasing health and safety risks" pushed the district to legal action and said the homeless campers would be treated with dignity and respect as they leave the site.

The temporary injunction expires on July 7, 2019. A trial is expected to begin before then, as Saanich seeks a permanent injunction.

Stephen Portman is an advocate with the Together Against Poverty Society, a group that helped the homeless campers organize their legal defence.

He says it was an uphill battle to prepare a defence against the District of Saanich and the province with little funding.

"Certainly, it's hard to, in such a short amount of timeagainst these large opponents, mount the kind of defence that homeless people deserve."

During the upcoming trial, the campers are expected to challenge bylaws that limit camping in public parks to overnight use. They will argue that access to daytime shelter is reasonable in underused parks like Regina Park in Saanich, which does not have any facilities.

According to a recent survey, more than 1,500 people in the Greater Victoria region do not have a permanent home.

The provincial housing ministry has said it is working with the district on plans to build modular housing for tent city residents.

With files from Liz McArthur

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