City of Nanaimo officials say they are just trying to keep the community safe by enforcing fire regulations at the two-month-old DisconTent city.
They fear flammable tarpaulins widely used by tenters could catch on fire.
But tent-city representatives counter by accusing the city of bullying and harassment.
Both sides are waiting for a decision from a Supreme Court justice who last week heard Nanaimo’s application for an injunction to move the approximately 175-people living at the tent city.
The judge did approve an interim order requiring those living at the tent city to comply by July 18 with fire and safety requirements from the Provincial Fire Commissioner.
“Fire inspectors found the majority of occupants have not only failed to comply, but many are deliberately contravening that order,” a city statement said Thursday.
Rules require tents to be one metre apart, that they be at least three metres from vegetation, and no tarps be used.
“If a fire occurred in this area, it could be catastrophic,” said Nanaimo Mayor Bill McKay.
“There is a vulnerable population of people at 1 Port Drive [location of the tent city] and the city’s priority is the safety of the occupants and that of the general public.”
The city also wants to reduce its potential liability on that site, he said.
Nanaimo is considering returning to B.C. Supreme Court to seek an order allowing it to enforce the interim order requiring tent city residents to follow health and safety rules, McKay said.
Mercedes Courtoreille, DisconTent city spokeswoman, said the group has been in talks with B.C. Housing in the hopes of acquiring safer tarps.
The tarps are essential at the camp, she said.
In some cases, zippers at the entrance to a tent have broken and tarps are used to cover the doorway. The large site is open without shade and the tarps help kept tents and residents cooler and out of the sun at a time when temperatures have been rising, Courtoreille said.
Enforcing the fire and safety order would be like using a blunt hammer to punish people for being homeless and “strip them of their shelter from the elements in the midst of the hottest days of the summer,” a statement from the tenters said.
