The B.C. Supreme Court has ordered the province to pay the law firm that represented campers who lived in Victoria's tent city.
A Victoria-based legal advocacy group helped retain two lawyers pro-bono to represent dozens of homeless campers during two injunction hearings.
The province will pay the law firm up to $55,000 for some of that work, which was valued at almost $250,000.
Stephen Portman, lead advocate for Together Against Poverty Society said the court order was preventable.
"Ultimately the outcome of this court decision that allowed the Province to evict the residents of tent city only happened because the Province invested in housing and came up with some resonable alternatives to people sheltering in parks. Had the Province done that ahead of time, there would have been no need for the court order."
The ministry responsible for the courthouse land said it respects the court's decision.
Remediation costs at the site are estimated at $350,000.