Volunteers clean up homeless camp outside Chilliwack, amid environmental worries
A large Fraser Valley homeless camp in an environmentally sensitive area has been cleaned-up by volunteers.
But there is growing concern about the impact of similar camps on rivers and creeks, as well as the rising number of homeless people.
Volunteers recently converged on the camp, hauling out around 6,800 kgs. of garbage.
“It was between 15 to 20 people living here in their own temporary made sheds,” explained volunteer Adila Shaukat of Streams Foundation Canada.
But the camp, which sits on Crown land just outside Chilliwack’s boundaries, recently caught fire and all but a couple of squatters abandoned the site, leaving their belongings behind.
Shaukat said the worry is that the camp is located alongside a river. When the spring melt begins, the area is flooded and garbage ends up in the waterways.
“We want to clean up before the water covers the area and takes all the garbage with it," Shaukat explained.
“We will lose all of our salmon if we don’t take care of it.”
Just a few weeks ago, volunteers with the same organization cleaned up a larger encampment along the Chilliwack River. In that case, they pulled out almost 13,000 kg. of garbage and 1.5 metric tonnes of metal.
“It was very close to the Chilliwack River and the water currents were already touching the garbage and all the leftover stuff there,” she said, emphasizing the urgency of that clean-up operation.
In Chilliwack, homelessness is on the rise.
“It’s definitely growing,” said Scott Gaglardi, the executive director of Ruth and Naoimi’s.
“At the last count, in 2017, there was around 300 (homeless people). So we’re anticipating 450 to 500 (during the next count),” he explained.
Tom Snell, 35, spent the past year-and-a-half living on the street in Chilliwack.
“It was definitely cold and dangerous,” he said. “I have a friend who lost a part of their foot from frostbite.”
He said living on the streets in the winter was particularly difficult.
“I’d spend nights outside shivering cold and in the rain. It sucks. It really sucks,” he said.
Snell said after a car accident, he was unable to work and ended up living in his car. Before he knew it, he was on the street.
But he’s grateful to have recently moved into housing.
“It’s really nice knowing when it’s cold, I have a place I can go…my stuff is safe.”
Ruth and Naoimi’s offers 100 beds in two shelters, which are always full. During cold weather, they also run an emergency shelter.
Gaglardi said there continues to be a lack of affordable housing.
“And the more street-entrenched a person is, the harder that journey is to get into housing. So to have people who can walk with them, it’s not just dropping them off at the door of a house, it’s making sure some of the skills and learnings, that you have that relationship,” he explained.
Back at the camp, volunteers continue to work with the remaining campers.
“This environmental issue is the by-product of homelessness,” said Shaukat.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.