Police tape surrounds the tent city in Oak Bay on Oct. 19, 2018.
Update: Tent city leader Chrissy Brett said the group is moving to Songhees Park near Delta Ocean Pointe Hotel in Vic West.
Oak Bay Deputy Police Chief Ray Bernoties said the police department expects all the homeless campers at Cattle Point in Oak Bay to leave peacefully by the end of the day.
On Friday, police tape had been put up around the encampment.
The campers were served a trespass notice by police on Thursday following a request from the District of Oak Bay. The notice informed the residents they needed to immediately vacate the property.
Police also went down to the between 15 and 20 tents in the Cattle Point area of Uplands Parks to speak to the campers about leaving. The homeless campers had set up their tents on Wednesday night after receiving a trespass notice and a notice of unauthorized use and occupation from the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure regarding the occupation of the provincial land beside the Patricia Bay Highway.
“The campers are currently, peacefully, packing up their belongings,” Bernoties said.
If some campers refuse to leave Bernoties said they will be subject to arrest but that is not the outcome the police department wants.
“We believe everyone will just move peacefully and they seem to be co-operating right now. Obviously, we want to give them some time to co-ordinate transportation.”
Several officers are still down at Cattle Point along with approximately 20 campers. Bernoties said they need to be gone by the end of the day.
“Our parks department has been clear that they need to get in there and clean-up the area. “They’ve co-ordinated with a hazmat team to come in as well and clean up the area as we have done in the past here in Oak Bay,” Bernoties said.
Last fall, a group of homeless campers put up an encampment near the cenotaph. Bernoties said there have been fewer calls to police about an encampment perhaps due to the fact that the camp is further away from the road.
As of Friday afternoon, Oak Bay police and Saanich police were supervising the campers who were packing up their belongings. Uplands Park is closed to vehicle traffic but is open to pedestrians and cyclists.
Police tape surrounds the tent city in Oak Bay on Oct. 19, 2018.
Police tape surrounds the tent city in Oak Bay on Oct. 19, 2018.
CHEK News
