Lacking Suitable Housing Options, City Can't Evict Tenters - Court - Vancouver Sun

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Lacking suitable housing alternatives, city

can't evict tenters from CRAB Park, Supreme
Court rules
Ruling comes after a pair of tenters in CRAB Park challenged Vancouver park
board eviction orders
Sarah Grochowski
Jan 14, 2022 • 51 minutes ago • 3 minute read • Join the conversation
Part of the tent city inNOTICE

CRAB ParkFOR
on Vancouver downtown waterfront.
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grant the Vancouver park board an injunction that would have allowed it to clear out the dozens of
people living in tents in CRAB Park.
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“When I first heard Thursday’s judgment, I felt happy,” said David Nelson, who has lived in the camp
at the southwest corner of the park for three months. “However, I’m now scared because I know this
problem isn’t going away. We don’t know what tomorrow could bring.”
Thursday’s decision came after Kerry Bamberger and Jason Heber petitioned the Supreme Court for
a judicial review of the park board’s July 8 and Sept. 7 orders to clear out a portion of the park that it
said was damaged by tenters and to ban people from sheltering there during the day.
With pro bono help from three Vancouver lawyers, Bamberger and Hebert argued that the park board
had not proven “suitable” indoor shelter was available for campers as it asserted in both orders.
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“Simply assuming that those sheltering in CRAB Park can find ‘another place to go,’ fails to accord the
necessary priority to their rights and ensure minimal impairment of those rights,” Justice Matthew
Kirchner wrote in his decision.
“It was incumbent on the general manager to satisfy herself that closing the last major public park in
or near the Downtown Eastside to overnight sheltering would not adversely affect the petitioners’
ability to access the services and other facilities they need to survive.”
The judge rejected injunction requests from the park board, and accepted Bamberger and Herbert’s
petition for a judicial review.
The ruling sets a precedent for Vancouver’s homeless, said lawyer Julia Riddle, who was a legal
counsel on the case.
“When we surveyed people in the park, a majority told us they simply had nowhere else to go,” Riddle
said. “Some mentioned having waited hours for beds in a shelter that was ultimately filled to
capacity.”
Historically, CRAB Park tenters, part of the 2,095 people in Vancouver who self-identify as homeless,
haven’t found favour with the courts. In 2020, groups were evicted from CRAB Park’s parking lot
after a B.C. Supreme Court judge granted an eviction injunction to the Port of Vancouver. Last year,
Oppenheimer and Strathcona park tent cities were disbanded.
However, i n October, a landmark B.C. Supreme Court decision refused a City of Prince George
request to enforce tent city evictions, ruling there were no suitable housing options for the residents.
Weeks later, city crews demolished camp structures they believed were unused.
The fear among CRAB Park residents is that a similar fate could see them stripped of their makeshift
homes.
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Nelson. OK
Kirchner’s ruling found the park board’s argument, which said the encampment posed a safety risk to
the public, was unfounded.
“Right now I see at least half a dozen with dogs walking among CRAB Park and children using the
playground equipment, people feel safe enough to be here among us,” said the 29-year-old.
Kirchner also concluded residents of the encampment were not granted adequate notice before the
eviction orders were issued.
“Those individuals have a right to notice and a right to be heard, as their rights, privileges, or
interests are uniquely affected,” the judge wrote.
Still, the city could reapply to get rid of the camp once it feels it can provide evidence sufficient to
prove that those living in CRAB Park could be housed elsewhere or even sooner if there is a
significant change in conditions of the camp.
In a statement, the park board said it’s considering “a range of options” to prevent encampments in
Vancouver parks, noting that it’s responsible for “enforcing bylaws when suitable spaces are available
for people to move indoors.”
“Our primary focus will continue to be working to support individuals sleeping in CRAB Park by
helping connect them with indoor spaces and the other services they need to get back on their feet,” it
said in an email.
Drew Hirschpold, who lived in the camp before being enrolled in a B.C. Housing program, says he
still goes to CRAB Park for meals.
“They only feed us once a day at the Holiday Inn. It’s just not enough food,” the 43-year-old said. “At
camp, people from the community donate clothing and meals enough for all of us, we share. We make
sure everyone has what they need.”
sgrochowski@postmedia.com
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Lacking suitable housing alternatives, city

Part of the tent city inNOTICE

STORY CONTINUES BELOW

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STORY CONTINUES BELOW

STORY CONTINUES BELOW

STORY CONTINUES BELOW

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