Conflict at Sugar Mountain tent city, as people living there defy city order
Posted December 15, 2017 10:17 am.
Last Updated December 15, 2017 1:32 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – There has been some pushing and shoving at a homeless camp in Vancouver as a noon deadline for the last holdouts to leave the area passed.
A news conference at the tent city was interrupted by a cyclist who began to accuse people in the camp of stealing bikes.
A supporter of the camp then pushed that cyclist into a car.
Advisory: Video contains explicit language
NEWS 1130 asked the man whether pushing the cyclist will hurt the cause of those trying to stay at the site.
“If you focus on that two seconds where I pushed that man, just after he told me to make him walk, that may hurt the argument,” he responded.
The man was then asked whether he would attack other people, should they walk past and have a comment about what they are doing.
“I’m not even going to answer that question. You can stop talking,” he replied.
A small group of people living at the the Sugar Mountain homeless camp say they won’t go anywhere, despite an order from the city to leave.
The gates of the camp on Franklin Street are being watched by members of the tent city’s community. Behind the fence, a few tents are set up and piles and bikes and bicycle parts are strewn about.
The City of Vancouver had told the people living at the camp to leave by noon today. It wants the people to leave so it can place modular homes there.
City of Vancouver says safety is a concern,, but may need to seek court injunction
A statement from the City of Vancouver says it has placed 18 people from the camp into shelters and secured housing for a dozen others. Still, a few final hold-outs say the city will have to get a court injunction to force them out.
It says it’s trying to work with the six people that are refusing to leave the encampment. Deputy City Manager Paul Mochrie tells us they are concerned about safety at the tent city.
“We had a tent fire last weekend. We’ve also had, unfortunately, a fatal overdose at the Franklin tent city. There are no other services for individuals at that site and that’s one of the reasons why we’re really looking to assist people in transitioning to shelters.”
Mochrie tells us the sooner the people are moved, the sooner modular housing can be built.
“Our hope is that people will work with us and relocate to a shelter. We’re really hoping to avoid the necessity of going to court to get an injunction. The impact of that will simply delay the construction of the modular housing.”
Mochrie says if they do seek an injunction, they would not expect it to be granted until at least after Christmas.
