Image: Submitted, used with permission / A homeless camp along Chilliwack Lake Road showing a Mazda vehicle on blocks.

By Mike Vanden Bosch

Homeless camp task force

Chilliwack River Valley homeless camp task force carries on, but its success is hard to measure

Jul 17, 2024 | 9:30 AM

CHILLIWACK — Since January 2023, a homeless encampment task force has been meeting to address the proliferation of homeless camps in the Chilliwack River Valley, with a goal of offering support to the unhoused community living in the Chilliwack backcountry.

The homeless encampment stakeholder group has previously included representation from the RCMP, Chilliwack Restorative Justice, Fraser Valley Regional District, Salvation Army, Fraser Health Integrated Homeless Action Response Team, Soowahlie First Nation, FVRD Electoral Area E, Ann Davis Outreach, Natural Resources (provincial agency), B.C. Housing, Ministry of Forests (provincial), Chilliwack Tourism, and Fisheries and Oceans Canada (federal).

After 18 months of ongoing discussions and meetings, Fraser Valley Today asked the Chilliwack River Valley Homeless Encampment working group, as it is formally known, for clarification on the group’s work and if it had any numbers to provide concerning the number of people living in the rough, or how many people had been specifically assisted by the group and its social services partners in the non-profit sector. The working group’s stated mission is “to work collaboratively to provide supports to those experiencing homelessness and solutions to address the safety and environmental risks associated with homeless encampments in the Chilliwack River Valley.”

Their response, though, did not provide a fulsome understanding around the group’s work.

For example, two representatives of this homeless task force could not provide specific information on the number of homeless camps east of the Tamihi Creek Bridge, where Chilliwack Lake Road crosses the Chilliwack River, or the number of housing offers for unhoused residents, instead redirecting an FVT reporter to contact the B.C. government’s Natural Resources Officers (NROs) about the exact number of homeless residents in the Chilliwack River Valley.

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According to a joint response issued Friday, July 5, FVRD Electoral Area E Director Patti MacAhonic and Corporal Brad Rendall of the Chilliwack RCMP’s Community Response Team both say the homeless task force was formed to bring different agencies together that may be able to help in assisting the community with moving people experiencing homelessness into alternative housing, and that the group was not formed for enforcement and decampment.

“Having said, that there are agencies in attendance that can exercise the enforcement option if they choose,” the joint response stated. “I do know from speaking to the outreach agencies that they have had success in reintegrating some clients.”

The joint statement did not elaborate on what exactly that meant, or exactly how many unhoused people have been offered housing.

When asked what the group’s short-term goals are, the joint statement said, “Short term goals would be to have the agencies of jurisdiction come up with a plan. This is where we are currently and if not satisfied with the result, coming up with a plan of who else to approach and at what level.”

The two did not respond to a question about whether the homeless camp task force can effectively say that its work has been successful, or what it would consider a successful outcome of the group’s work.

Fraser Valley Today also learned through their joint statement that only a fraction of the $200,000 grant money that the province provided in 2023 to assist with encampment cleanups has been spent. Fraser Valley Today voluntarily asked for this information; it was not provided through a news release to the public. Roughly one year removed from the grant’s funding announcement in July 2023, only $16,430 has been spent, leaving a balance of $183,570 in the grant fund. The grant funding is designated for future costs associated with the Chilliwack River Valley cleanup of abandoned encampments, including tipping fees for refuse, removal of destroyed vehicles, or rental of containers to remove debris. However, it does not address occupied homeless camps, meaning anyone can literally squat on Crown land in the Chilliwack River Valley with little to no enforcement against them.

Fraser Valley Today has also obtained an email dated May 17, 2024 sent by MacAhonic to the working group in which she disputed a story by Fraser Valley Today about the growing numbers of homeless camps in the Chilliwack River Valley. MacAhonic wrote in the email that the number of homeless people in Electoral Area E appears to be actually down.

However, Chilliwack resident Ross Aikenhead said in May 2024 there were 24 occupied RVs and tents at 18 sites east of the Tamihi Creek Bridge in the Chilliwack River Valley. In May 2023, there were 11 occupied RVs in the Chilliwack River Valley.

Image: Submitted, used with permission / One of 23 RVs currently stationed illegally in the Chilliwack River Valley.

To his credit, Aikenhead has meticulously documented the number of homeless camps east of the Tamihi Creek Bridge, including their GPS coordinates, and provided descriptions about the camps. Aikenhead regularly travels up Chilliwack Lake Road with his dog to document these camps, doing the work as a volunteer that few people do. He now says there are 20 sites containing 23 RVs, including four people living in their vehicles, and three tents all occupying land beyond the 14-day legal camping limit for Crown land. In addition to these figures, Aikenhead says five camps in the no-camping zone are not on Crown (unceded) land and are currently situated in no-parking zones from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m., meaning they can be evicted at any time.

Here are the current sites in the Chilliwack River Valley containing RVs, tents and other objects, along with their GPS coordinates, as provided by Aikenhead:

• 3 motorhomes and a 5th wheel and pickup just outside the Chilliwack city limits before the On the Way Store; 49.09057, -121.94587
• Dark blue pickup and white canopy at Edwards Road; 49.08016, -121.90707
• Escalade just east of Tamihi; 49.07140, -121.82654
• Long term Rv just east of Allison Pool; 49.07591, -121.77907
• RV that was by Tamihi is now at Cedar run; 49.07594, -121.76987
• Rv at Cedar run; 49.07606, -121.77110
• Silver car usually near the Borden Creek area; 49.07463, -121.74504
• Long term Rv just before New Borden FSR; 49.07558, -121.72518
• Slesse Creek area, 6 Rv’s and decrepit motorhome several structures as well; 49.07603, -121.71588; 49.07594, -121.71761; 49.07521, -121.71796; 49.07688, -121.71314
• Tent camp, 3 weeks now; 49.07749, -121.71153
• Middle Creek FSR, 1 motorhome, 1 homemade 5th wheel and 2 tents; 49.09124, -121.61418
• Bench FSR camp, 1 5th wheel with a structure attached to it and 2 RVs; 49.10691, -121.63561
• Long term RV on Center Creek FSR and another Rv at this site; 49.09296, -121.57543
• RV north end of Center creek FSR; 49.10257, -121.53195
• Drywall dump; 49.07481, -121.73581
  Image: Submitted, used with permission / An illegal drywall dump in the Chilliwack River Valley, not far from Chilliwack Lake Road.
• 2nd drywall dump; 49.09743, -121.64296
• Abandoned junk flat deck trailer with no wheels; 49.07736, -121.70782
• Boat in ditch since last August; 49.10005, -121.62563
• Burnt motorhome; 49.09992, -121.48656

In short, despite ongoing meetings by the working group, occupied homeless camps in the Chilliwack River Valley don’t appear to be going away anytime soon, meaning governing authorities in B.C. aren’t taking appropriate action to either house all these individuals or enforce bylaws against squatting on Crown land.

The only occupied homeless camp in the Chilliwack River Valley that was dismantled and removed was across from Thurston Meadows, an arrangement that was authorized by ministry staff and not the stakeholder working group.

In response to the lack of enforcement around homeless camps and their unlawful squatting on Crown land, Chilliwack River Valley resident Derrick Kramer launched an online petition in June 2024 that calls for better environmental standards in the Chilliwack River Valley as well as the removal of an elected official representing that area.

According to the text of a Change.org petition, Kramer says he has witnessed first-hand the deterioration of the pristine Chilliwack River Valley due to what he calls a lack of adequate protections. He says the failing state of the environment is a source of deep personal agitation as the majesty of Chilliwack’s splendid surroundings is marred by negligence. He cites a report by the Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators Network that argues the Fraser Valley region is struggling with meeting environmental protection standards established by the federal government (CESIN, 2020). The deterioration has direct consequences on health, wildlife, and the beauty of the overall community.

“Our beloved Chilliwack deserves better. The time is right for stricter enforcement of the public standard on environmental protection,” Kramer wrote in his petition. “We should not have to sacrifice our well-being for the sake of economic convenience or lax regulations. Let’s come together as a community and demand higher standards for environmental protection to safeguard our city’s future and our children’s futures. We urge our local government to commit to more robust protective measures and sustainability programs to restore the beauty and health of our environment.”

One person who agreed with the online petition said the Chilliwack River Valley continues to be used as a dumping ground for illegal dumping and multiple long-term encampments.

“Despite paying escalating property taxes, [I’m] tired of CRV being used for illegal dumping, multiple long-term encampments, hazardous and toxic waste going into the river (and groundwater we drink) while our FVRD Director, along with regulatory agencies, do absolutely nothing but hide behind a supposed ‘stakeholder group’, claiming to be making progress (at what???), and at the same time expect residents/volunteers to clean up the valley,” A. Lynn Bower wrote. “Regional District and provincial ‘leaders’ need to be held accountable for doing nothing and stop with the ‘it’s complicated’. If you can’t do your jobs and make a positive impact, step down. You are putting a lot of kind hearted people that do care at risk sending them out to do the dirty work that you’re obviously incapable of handling.”