Image: City of Chilliwack / Chilliwack Mayor Ken Popove is strongly criticizing homeless camps around the Abbotsford cenotaph that have forced changes to the city's upcoming Remembrance Day activities.

By Mike Vanden Bosch and Don Mitchell

Chilliwack Mayor Ken Popove

Mayor Popove condemns homeless encampments surrounding Abbotsford cenotaph

Nov 7, 2024 | 9:09 AM

CHILLIWACK — Chilliwack Mayor Ken Popove is strongly criticizing homeless camps around the cenotaph on Justice Way in Abbotsford that have forced changes to the city’s upcoming Remembrance Day activities.

Mayor Popove made the comments Thursday morning (Nov. 7) during his weekly “Ask the Mayor” segment with 89.5 JR Country Morning host Glen Slingerland. Popove and Slingerland often discuss a wide array of topics affecting Chilliwack, the Fraser Valley and the province. But in today’s interview, Popove expressed outrage after learning that a homeless camp on the grounds of Abbotsford City Hall has resulted in changes to Abbotsford’s Remembrance Day ceremony.

The local Canadian Legion in Abbotsford will be restricting access to the cenotaph and surrounding areas to only those marching in the parade, as well as veterans and invited dignitaries.

“I’m sorry, the sense of entitlement, the sense of disrespect, it just irritates the crap out of me where veterans, veterans’ families, the general public, are going to have to alter their plans because of an encampment that’s surrounding the cenotaph in Abbotsford,” Popove said on 89.5. “No! You can’t set up camp here. This is a public area. They interviewed one gentlemen there, they offered him a place to go and he said, ‘Well, there are too many rules.’ Here’s a rule: move your damn tent!”

Popove said he’s sympathetic to the challenges that street people are facing, but that doesn’t excuse people taking over a public space.

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“It makes my blood boil. This is a day to pay your respects to our veterans. A lot of them gave up their lives for our freedom. These folks, OK, I’m sure there are some challenges, mental challenges, they don’t understand, but at the end of the day, it’s still a public place that the public is not going to be able to go. Sorry. It just burns me.”

Image: Fraser Valley Today / A homeless encampment near Abbotsford City Hall.

The City of Abbotsford welcomed a decision in mid-October by a B.C. Supreme Court judge that upholds the city’s bylaw and closes the homeless encampment at Abbotsford City Hall. According to a statement dated October 17 from the City of Abbotsford, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Sandra Sukstorf released her decision to uphold the City of Abbotsford’s bylaw. Justice Sukstorf denied a judicial application by Matsqui-Abbotsford Impact Society on behalf of the Drug War Survivors for an injunction preventing the city from carrying out its bylaw ordinance and closing the homeless encampment at City Hall.

“The City of Abbotsford is pleased with Justice Sukstorf’s decision to deny the Drug War Survivor’s injunction application and uphold our bylaw,” the city said. “The City’s lawyers will be reviewing today’s 74 page ruling by Justice Sukstorf and providing additional advice to the City.”

The City of Abbotsford says it will continue to work closely with BC Housing and the Province of BC on addressing encampments and homelessness in the community.

In September 2024, nearly 60 people living in an encampment behind Abbotsford City Hall received trespass notices, requiring them to leave the site for at least 10 days.

In an email, city spokesperson Melissa Godbout said the notices were issued in accordance with the Trespass Act and the city’s Parks Bylaw.

They were given due to ‘safety concerns’ observed by local authorities.

“Even with the daily support from Abbotsford Police Department and contracted security support, the encampment has continued to grow and includes both the original protestors as well as people who are unhoused,” Godbout said.

“There have been increasing safety concerns identified by AbbyPD and the City’s Bylaw staff. Public safety is our top priority, which is why we have decided to move to close down this encampment.”

Most of the occupants arrived after two summer relocations involving 50 individuals who had been living in camps at Gladys and Babich parks.

At the time, Abbotsford Drug War Survivors program coordinator Brittany Maple, who is working as a liaison for the encampment residents, insisted that the Gladys Road encampment was necessary to protect the health and vitality of unhoused people amid what she described as an ‘unprecedented housing crisis.’

Maple says that despite the city’s action, they still ‘haven’t offered any reasonable solution’ to the issue, and that the shelter beds offered through BC Housing don’t meet individual needs.

The group said it planned to respond to a clause in the trespass notices, which indicates that individuals have the opportunity to address bylaw services if they believe their rights are being violated.

“So the group has collectively drafted a letter to the city outlining some charter violations that they feel are appropriate and highlighting some other really important factors,” Maple explained.

She went on to argue that there aren’t any safety concerns for the public, insisting the site has been ‘well managed by peers’ and ‘consistently cleaned up.’

Maple found the timing of the eviction ‘of interest,’ as it appeared to coincide with National Day for Truth and Reconciliation events on Monday, Sept. 30.

“The city is telling us that this is being done in the interest of public safety because … there has been increasing safety concerns,” Maple said. “We would definitely argue that that’s not the case.”

Godbout said that since the notices were served, six individuals have accepted shelter while the rest have declined.

She added that they will ‘continually offer’ shelter to individuals in the encampment.

Maple said they will be seeking public support through ‘a call to action’ to ensure the issue isn’t pushed back into their community parks, which she believes lack the capacity and resources to support the unhoused.

Last year, the city estimated around 400 people were experiencing homelessness, with at least 50 per cent living unsheltered.