Abbotsford women's recovery centre faces eviction as farm rules enforced
Credit to Author: The Canadian Press| Date: Tue, 29 Oct 2019 22:03:20 +0000
An addiction recovery home for women has received an eviction notice after the pastoral property in the Fraser Valley was deemed not to have met regulations governing the use of British Columbia’s agricultural land.
Angie Appenheimer, a regional director at the Abbotsford Women’s Centre, says she’s now looking for a new facility to house up to nine women who live at the 1.2 hectare property for up to a year.
She says the centre appealed the eviction decision, suggesting it could expand its vegetable gardens to become more like a farm, but the appeal was denied.
The Agricultural Land Commission is an independent tribunal responsible for administering a law that aims to preserve agricultural land and encourage farming.
The eviction of the women’s centre has become part of the Opposition Liberals campaign on behalf of frustrated farmers to repeal NDP government legislation that they say places farmland ahead of the people who work on the land.
Agriculture Minister Lana Popham says she does not interfere in the decisions of the land commission, which could not be reached for comment.