NNN’S Last 10: Discontent City had impacts still being felt today

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Discontent City on its opening day. (Image Credit: File photo/NanaimoNewsNOW)

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NNN'S Last 10: Discontent City had impacts still being felt today

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“We need to make it inconvenient for the people in power to continue to ignore this issue,” she added.

Establishing a downtown encampment, which eventually exploded to well over 300 residents at its peak, followed much smaller temporary encampments on the front lawn of Nanaimo City Hall two months earlier.

Just prior to the City Hall encampments, NanaimoNewsNOW revealed the B.C. government had pulled $7 million in funding for a Chase River supportive housing project after Nanaimo city council turned down the project in response to mounting localized pressure.

Discontent City led to public safety, social disorder, crime, fire hazards and sanitation concerns.

Those issues produced mounting concerns from the city and Nanaimo RCMP.

Not only were local officials concerned, but citizens were also fed up.

Verbal clashes ensued between residents of the encampment, including at downtown Nanaimo rallies.

In early October 2018, several activists broke into a closed north Nanaimo elementary school.

Spokesperson Amber McGrath proclaimed it’s obvious the government doesn’t care about those dealing with housing insecurity.

“We’re claiming this space as safety for homeless people, and we’re basically telling other homeless people to start claiming public buildings,” she said.

Conditional sentences and $1,000 in restitution were later handed to two people as a result of the Schoolhouse Squat occupation, which caused an estimated $75,000 in damages to School District 68.

Meanwhile, the City of Nanaimo sought court orders to obtain safety compliance at Discontent City, and an injunction to remove the camp altogether.

BC Supreme Court Justice Ronald Skolrood ruled that Discontent City needed to be permanently shuttered, citing numerous factors, including public safety and criminal activity.

Discontent City officially closed on Dec. 10, 2018, in conjunction with roughly 150 unhoused transitioned into temporary housing units on 250 Terminal Ave. and inside the city’s public works yard on Labieux Rd., which still exist to this day.

In 2020, the City of Nanaimo and B.C. government announced a major Memorandum of Understanding to build over 300 new affordable and supportive housing units throughout the Nanaimo area.

Those projects are incrementally coming to fruition.

Despite the investments, the number of homeless individuals in the Nanaimo area has exploded to nearly 580 people, according to the most recent formalized census done last December.

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