Maple Ridge can address fire risks at Anita Place tent city: court
Posted February 9, 2019 10:14 pm.
Last Updated February 11, 2019 12:03 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
MAPLE RIDGE (NEWS 1130) — A B.C. Supreme Court judge has agreed, for the most part, that a tent city in Maple Ridge poses safety risks to those living there.
The ruling gives the city the ability to move in and remove accelerants and electrical connections inside the Anita Place encampment. The Pivot Legal Society has been defending homeless people who live there, saying they’re simply trying to keep warm.
RELATED: Tent city dwellers in Maple Ridge demand protection
Lawyer Anna Cooper says she was encouraged by the judge’s statement that acknowledges the difficult situation people at the camp are in, recognizing that they were put in the situation of freezing or burning. But now the group will be appealing the injunction.
Cooper says the injunction gives police the power to arrest and detain homeless people who refuse to give up their heating equipment. Not only that, she says they could be put in an even more dangerous situation.
“If the fire department comes along and takes away their propane heater, and you have nothing else and you’re cold, then you’re going to use whatever you can get your hands on. Maybe now that’s candles,” she says. “The end result is that you have people who are already in precarious living situations who don’t have an ability to really take care of themselves having to scramble to come up with probably even worse options, supposedly in the name of safety.”
The court heard the city’s injunction January 14 and 15, where the city asked to be allowed to address fire and safety issues. The judge’s ruling does allow for the wooden structures in the camp to remain.
The camp sprang up in May 2017 after a Maple Ridge shelter closed.
City responds to injunction
Maple Ridge Mayor Mike Morden said in a statement the city will be working with the bylaw and fire departments, police and BC housing representatives.
“We are thankful that no one was has died as a result of the multiple fires in the camp. It greatly concerns me that the Court did not specifically grant the City the authority to remove the wooden structures, we are grateful that we have been given the authority to address the other serious fire safety issues that are putting the camp occupants and neighbourhood at risk,” he said in a statement.
He also says the city will be working to identify people living in the camp and connect them with services.
