Homeless encampments will linger unless B.C. govt. evicts squatters on Crown land

“For inhabited camps, we can’t touch them,” Aikenhead said. “We need the Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations to evict the people, then we can deal with the mess.”

In other words, so long as the homeless encampments have the presence of at least one person, volunteers are not technically allowed to intervene.

The end result is a toxic eyesore whereby encampments consist of stolen goods and household effects strewn throughout the pristine trails that run parallel or perpendicular to Chilliwack Lake Road, or even along the roadway itself. And there’s very little environmental stewards can do until then.

At a multi-household homeless encampment just west of Thurston Meadows, a popular campsite midway between the Vedder Bridge and Chilliwack Lake, belongings like propane tanks, table saws, generators, tables, wheelbarrows, garbage cans, shovels, bikes, and other miscellaneous items could be seen outside in what resembled a junkyard.

One woman who lived at the multi-household encampment could be seen happily conversing with a couple visitors who were examining the site, which abuts the Trans-Canada Trail.

Farther up Chilliwack Lake Road and just south of the main road, a burned-out car has been sitting for months. Authorities have been notified, Aikenhead said, but nothing has happened.

Image: Supplied by Ross Aikenhead / A burned-out car has been sitting for months just south of Chilliwack Lake Road near Borden Creek. Ross Aikenhead says he’s sent in pictures of the VIN to authorities, but the car continues to sit.

“I’ve sent in pictures with plate numbers and VIN numbers and nothing. There’s been a torched car up Borden Creek that was in Nursery Creek since Aug. It’s still there, it’s been pulled out of the creek but is still there. There’s no accountability for anything abandoned or not,” Aikenhead said.

Meanwhile, a resident in the Chilliwack River Valley (CRV) has compiled a somewhat meticulous list of all the homeless encampments in the Chilliwack River Valley, including information about GPS location coordinates, what’s kept there, a partial list of residents’ names, the condition of the camp, if dogs exist, and when the encampments were last observed.

Simply put, volunteers are ready to act and restore the natural beauty of the CRV, but they’re constrained unless the Ministry ousts the squatters.

It’s not the only illicit activity that lingers in the remote CRV. According to two individuals with knowledge of the active homeless encampments in the area, there was even a brothel set up on the north side of Chilliwack Lake Road in the past year where two workers in the sex trade offered their services to clients. The brothel is no longer operating as of December 2022.

by Mike Vanden Bosch

Homeless encampments will linger unless B.C. govt. evicts squatters on Crown land

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