Just one day after moving into the Goldstream Park Campgrounds, the homeless campers of Camp Namegan are being evicted.
RCMP officers, Park Rangers, and Park Operators turned up to the campgrounds at 5:20pm on Wednesday to inform all people staying at the campsite that it would be closing at 11 am the following morning.
This came to a surprise to Chrissy Brett, the leader of the encampment which began 5 months ago in Saanich, as well as the 20 to 30 homeless campers who had just moved in.
Brett says she thought they were abiding by the rules of the camp, and she said they were even set up in a distant, empty corner of the site, so as not to disturb the other people camping at Goldstream.
Brett says the order came just moments after the Camp Namegan residents had filled in the paperwork to get the disability pass, which grants persons with disabilities a free two week stay at a provincial park.
She says the RCMP barricaded the road in and out of the campsite, and would not let any of the camps supporters in, which was causing another issue:
"We have 30 people's belongings that are in the camp. We used two U-haul's and three vans to caravan everyone out here, and now we can't even talk about regrouping and ensuring that people have transportation."
Everyone, not just the homeless campers, have until 11am on Thursday September 20th to vacate the campgrounds.
The RCMP could not be reached for a comment.