Nanaimo is resisting an Island Health order to install drinking water and more toilets at a tent city near its downtown, with the mayor calling the idea “ludicrous.”
A municipal lawyer will ask for the order to be reconsidered, Mayor Bill McKay said Friday.
The health order calls for the City of Nanaimo to install access to potable water, more portable toilets with related maintenance, and hand-sanitizing stations at the tent city. Work must be done by 5 p.m. Tuesday.
A City of Nanaimo statement quotes Dr. Paul Hasselback, medical health officer for Central Vancouver Island, as stating there are “reasonable and probable grounds to believe that conditions exist that present a significant risk of causing a health hazard.”
McKay responded: “If the medical health officer wanted to solve this issue, he could have easily issued a notice to vacate.”
Val Wilson, Island Health spokeswoman, said it is not appropriate to comment at this time because B.C.’s Public Health Act provides for a formal process while reconsideration is being addressed.
Nanaimo’s tent city was established, without permission, on city-owned industrial land on Port Drive on May 17.
It has grown to about 140 tents and upward of 200 campers, McKay said.
A woman died in recent days from a drug overdose at the tent city, a man was sent to hospital this week after a stabbing there, and a fire also broke out, McKay said.
Nanaimo issued a trespass notice to tent city residents in May, but they did not leave. A rally on site included some Nanaimo residents who support the campers, saying that they need a place to stay.
The city subsequently filed a petition asking the B.C. Supreme Court to rule on whether the campers should vacate or stay. A two-day hearing has been scheduled for the week of July 16.
“We’ve already got a date set. … We’ve issued them with eviction notices. We consider this to be trespass,” McKay said.
“This order from the medical health officer is the last straw. We’ve run out of patience. We have had enough.
“The day they [campers] came in, part of their list of demands was that Nanaimo provide housing options for everyone.” They want that site to be dedicated for social housing and they wanted running water, showers and toilets, McKay said.
“They want all the services that other citizens in Nanaimo have but expect all of the other citizens to pay for them.”
The idea of installing services is “somewhat ludicrous in light of the fact that we’ve given them notice to vacate,” he said.
“Why would we put conveniences in when we are hoping that they [campers] can be vacated?”
Meanwhile, Nanaimo’s DisconTent City Facebook page expressed gratitude for donations of food, water and clothing.
The head-butting between Nanaimo and Island Health is taking place amid growing concerns about homelessness and deaths from opioid overdoses in B.C.
Tent cities are cropping up on Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland where there is a shortage of affordable housing.
