By Spencer Sterritt

Ongoing mess prompts cease-and-desist letter against Parksville outreach group

Nov 20, 2018 | 5:35 PM

PARKSVILLE — The City of Parksville has issued a cease-and-desist order against a group committed to helping the homeless, over the trash allegedly left from their efforts to hand out food and supplies.

The order was sent to the Manna Homeless Society on Nov. 15 on behalf of Parksville’s mayor and council.

Manna has been involved in many homeless outreach programs around the Oceanside area for more than a decade. It specifically drew the ire of the City for the goods given to the roughly 10 people living on City land at Jensen Ave. beside City Hall.

Volunteers visit the campers every weekend and according to Parksville’s CAO Debbie Comis, they don’t clean up what isn’t used.

“We don’t have a problem with them providing food to the homeless,” she told NanaimoNewsNOW. “What we have a problem with is having them leave these materials out in the weather and creating a refuse pile the City then has to clean up.”

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Comis said Parksville bylaw officers have tried to foster communication between them and Manna, but “it didn’t really result in anything being rectified.”

However, Manna’s director and co-founder Robin Campbell believes the organization is being used as a scapegoat and a quick win in the fight against homelessness.

“This way the City can say ‘Hey, we cleaned it up.’ But the sad thing about it is homelessness and poverty is everywhere, not just on Jensen Ave. I don’t think they have the whole story.”

He claimed Manna does its best to clean up the site and doesn’t leave anything behind when leaving at the end of the day.

Campbell pointed to the needle issue at the site, which requires a Hazmat contamination team to clean the area once a week and has cost the City of Parksville nearly $2,000.

Of the services Manna provides, handling needles isn’t one of them. Campbell said they’ve left handing out harm reduction supplies to organizations like Island Health and he was annoyed to see no blame placed on the provincial health authority.

Over the 13 years it’s been in the community, Campbell said Manna has had a relatively smooth working relationship with the City of Parksville until the last few years.

Under the cease-and-desist order, the Manna Homeless Society can still provide the usual services elsewhere across the area, which Campbell said they plan on doing.

The lot on Jensen Ave. has become a major topic in Parksville and it was the subject of a lengthy discussion around the council table on Monday, Nov.19.

Councillors said they’ve seen people drive by and yell at the few tents on the lot. Coun. Doug O’Brien said he was worried about vigilantism against those living there.

Under Parksville bylaws, following rulings from the Supreme Court of B.C. about the use of public spaces for shelter, people can camp overnight on the lot at Jensen Ave. and Craig St. from 7 p.m. to 9 a.m. every night.

spencer@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit