Residents of Vancouver’s CRAB Park encampment and advocates for the homeless staged a rally in front of the B.C. legislature Wednesday, saying politicians refuse to come to them.
People sheltering in the city’s only sanctioned homeless camp said they’re consistently on the receiving end of government policy but have had little to no meaningful consultation with decision-makers.
“When you are taking away truckloads and truckloads of people’s tarps and belongings and tents and clothing and blankets, obviously that is going to mean something to somebody who’s got nothing,” CRAB Park advocate Fiona York said.
“And meanwhile we have people in these buildings who are just writing something on a piece of paper and not taking into consideration what that actually means to somebody.”
Vancouver’s bylaws ban sheltering in parks during daylight hours, but the CRAB Park encampment has been allowed to remain in place with a special exemption since the city’s park board lost a court challenge in 2022.
The city moved in April to clean the site up, citing propane tanks, human waste, hazardous materials and built structures that violated city bylaws and the special exemption.
With the cleanup complete, the city has also limited residency to people who were sheltering in the site ahead of the work.
CRAB Park resident Sarah Upshaw told Global News the city’s cleanup initiative destroyed a community.
“It’s hard to be down there and CRAB Park was like an oasis from everything,” she said.
“We were allowed to build our own shelters and have our own friends live next to us and people cared, there was empathy, which is something you don’t see in the Downtown Eastside.”
Just one MLA, the NDP’s Joan Phillip who represents Vancouver-Mount Pleasant, came out to meet the rally on Wednesday.
“We’ve been doing everything we can to offer affordable housing, but it’s a challenge,” she said,
Phillip went on to place some of the onus on the City of Vancouver.
“If you re going to move someone from the area have at least alternative housing for them,” she added.
B.C. Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon, however, said the province had already moved to secure housing for the people sheltering in the park.
He said the encampment had at one point been home to more than 100 people, a number that sat around 30 prior to the cleanup.
“We have been offering people housing from the beginning. I believe we are down to 10 people remaining on the site, and housing has been offered to all 10 people,” Kahlon said.
“My understanding is that they have rejected the housing. But we will continue to work with them to get them indoors.”
Not everyone sheltering in the park made the trip to Victoria.
Christine Campbell, who is currently sheltering at the site, told Global News the relationship with city park rangers has deteriorated in the park.
“My concerns are that the rangers are very rude and aggressive when they come here and they take anything they can, they’re bullies,” she claimed.
Volunteer and former resident Athena Prenteau said people sheltering in the park no longer feel like they can trust rangers for help in an emergency.
“We’re just trying to be human and not be dehumanized by people who seem to think they have privilege over us because they’ve been housed,” she said.
“Any one of us could be in any type of situation and be unhoused, but we’re not un-human.”
The City of Vancouver did not respond to a request for comment by deadline.