Conservatives call for B.C. government to remove Richmond encampment

An encampment under the Oak Street Bridge in Richmond is pictured.

The B.C. Conservatives are calling for the clean-up of a growing encampment under the Oak Street Bridge in Richmond.

The City of Richmond is also demanding the province speed up its response to the situation.

While the encampment has existed in some form for years, there are claims the situation is worsening.

“One constituent told me that they see people moving drugs around,” Richmond-Bridgeport Conservative MLA Teresa Wat told CTV News on Tuesday, saying she has received significant correspondence on the encampment. “And sometimes they find people, the unsheltered people living there, [with] very aggressive behaviour, so they’re really scared.”

The encampment is set up right in the path of a walkway many people use to get access to the Canada Line.

While some people walked through the encampment while CTV News was on site, there have been reports of people being told to stay away by those in the camp.

“They blocked people from going through that particular walkway, saying this is private property, you cannot come this way,” Richmond city councillor and mayoral candidate Kash Heed told CTV News on Tuesday, before highlighting some other concerning incidents. “Matter of fact, they’ve approached people with machetes and other weapons to prevent them coming through.”

The camp is on B.C. Ministry of Transportation land and Housing Minister Christine Boyle insists there’s a plan.

“My understanding is there has been initial outreach to get a sense of what the needs are of folks at the encampment,” Boyle told CTV News. “That obviously impacts what the timeline and plan is, because the best way to address an encampment is to find other places for folks living there to move to.”

But impatience is building, the City of Richmond even writing a letter to the province.

It’s been warning about fire hazards, the build up of combustible materials escalating public safety risk and a death at the site two years ago.

“It’s a time we put an end to this,” said Heed. “No more. It’s gotta go. And the province has the ability and the authority to do it. If not, we’re going to have to take some legal action against the province with respect to that.”

But supportive housing is at a premium in Richmond — the city quashed a 90-person unit in February following intense resistance from certain groups in the community.

“What we’ve seen time and again, is that the fastest and move effective way to address an encampment is to find alternative housing and supports for the people living there,” said Boyle. “And if those don’t exist, that the options through the court are limited.”

In the meantime, the Conservatives are calling for the province to provide a timeline for taking action at the encampment.