By Ian Holmes

‘We’re thrilled:’ illegal Cedar homeless camp cleared out

Oct 25, 2018 | 5:19 PM

NANAIMO — A contentious homeless camp along the Nanaimo River in Cedar has been cleared, leaving local residents relieved and several camp residents in a lurch.

A trespass notice issued this week by the province resulted in a full-scale eviction Thursday as the government, RCMP and contractors coordinated the removal of several RVs and cleaned up various scattered items and mounds of garbage.

One large RV remained on the provincially-owned land as of late Thursday afternoon, located along a strip of land along the river between Cedar Rd. and the Duke Point Hwy.

“The biggest concern for the community here was the rising of the water coming very, very shortly and the amount of environmental impact that would have on our waterways,” Cedar resident Joanne Rintala told NanaimoNewsNOW while watching the clean-up.

“Our salmon are trying to spawn up the river right now,” she said.

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Rintala attended a community rally on Saturday, Oct. 20, which included several upset Cedar residents confronting the campers and voicing their concerns.

“It’s not our intention to see these people living without homes. If they’re looking for help we wanted to get together and get as much information and help as we can for them,” Rintala said.

Several curious Cedar residents stopped by the long-term encampment to catch of glimpse of what was going on Thursday afternoon but the area was blocked by RCMP.

A statement issued Thursday evening to NanaimoNewsNOW from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing said ten campers were asked to leave for safety reasons as water levels were set to rise, which would treaten the safety of people in the area and spawning fish habitat. The Ministry said all campers peacefully complied with a provincial trespass notice issued on Monday, which stated camp residents had 48-hours to leave.

The statement said officials with the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure secured the site in order to begin remediation work, while no arrests were made.

Staff towed away seven RVs from the site, some of which were taken to nearby private property. The ministry is the process of trying to identify the owners of the RV’s.

Camp resident Vince Mann said while he’s disappointed to leave he felt the province treated camp residents fairly.

He said only three people were at the encampment when Mounties arrived Thursday morning.

Mann claimed some members of the Cedar community became hostile towards their camp in recent weeks, including allegedly throwing rocks and igniting fireworks in their general direction.

“One time they were actually targeting the RVs, they were shooting flares, bear bangers and screamers at us. One flare did bounce off the canopy of one of the RVs.”

Mann, who owns three of the RVs towed from the scene, hoped to find a legal place to park one of his trailers while he looks for steady employment.

The 56-year-old Mann said the camp was home to as many as 20 people during the past four months he lived there.

ian@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes