Park board finally taking steps, carefully, to clear campers from Oppenheimer Park
Credit to Author: Derrick Penner| Date: Wed, 11 Dec 2019 01:56:10 +0000
Vancouver’s park board is prepared to seek an injunction to clear out campers living in Oppenheimer Park, but that won’t happen until there is an adequate plan for alternative shelter space and services for the homeless there, the board chair said Tuesday.
At an in camera meeting Monday night, park commissioners directed staff to find an independent third-party organization to assess what the needs are of the homeless population there and make recommendations how to meet them, Stuart Mackinnon said.
After more than a year of park occupation by homeless struggling to find places to live, Mackinnon said park board’s goal is to help people move out through a respectful “decampment” of the facility.
The park board decided to step up action now because of safety concerns with encampment residents “taking warmth into their own hands” with implements such as propane heaters inside tents.
“We want to make sure everyone is safe and everyone can stay warm,” Mackinnon said. That will be one of the conditions the third-party entity will be trying to meet.
He added that it is intended to be a respectful process that engages with the campers living in the park in a more of a community response to help what has become a unique community within the city.
“Once conditions (of the plan) are met, the board has authorized the (parks) general manager to seek an injunction through the courts,” Mackinnon said. However, he didn’t set a schedule for that.
Parks general manager Malcolm Bromley said staff are in talks with potential third-party organizations, those with track records in the Downtown Eastside and trusted relationships with the residents there.
Bromley hopes to unveil the successful candidate before Christmas, but acknowledged it is likely some campers will be in the park through the winter.
Parks staff hope to have the plan complete within the first three months of 2020, but Bromley said it is more important to get the “decampment” right than do it quickly.
“I’m reluctant to put a date out there because if we miss it, it will be deemed a failure,” Bromley said.
Bromley added that much of the timing will depend on the findings and recommendations of the third party.
Mackinnon said the work will also be done “with a commitment to the principles of reconciliation,” acknowledging that studies have shown Indigenous people to be homeless in a far greater proportion than their overall population.
“I want to reiterate that the encampment is not the source but a symptom of a much greater problem of homelessness in our community,” Mackinnon said.
The park board will also consider revisions to its park-use bylaw that prohibits overnight camping in parks to rewrite rules that have been ruled unconstitutional in court challenges in other cities.
Bromely said park board staff have been consulting officials in Victoria and other communities where courts have ruled that people can’t be barred from sleeping in parks when no alternative is available.
He added that they are considering options for accommodating reasonable access to parks and how to align that with other complementary services that can be presented to the park board.