Limping due to a broken ankle, Mike struggled to get his huge orange tarp, his bike and whatever belongings he could muster up the embankment, covered in compact snow and ice, at lunch Thursday.
Mike, 37, a former landscaper who has lived in Vernon for 22 years, was the last of to leave a homeless camp decommissioned Thursday beside Highway 97 across from Vernon Toyota on 48th Avenue.
鈥淲e had five days notice,鈥� said Mike, who said he broke his ankle when his bike cart clipped him from behind.
鈥淚鈥檝e got two truckloads full of stuff. I don鈥檛 have a truck.鈥�
Mike said he had lived at the camp for 鈥渇our or five months.鈥� Asked where he was going to go, he simply said, 鈥淣o idea.鈥�
The Ministry of Transportation owns the camp property and, under Sec. 63 of the Transportation Act, advised campers of concerns that the property was not a safe location, and they should find another place to camp or go to a homeless shelter.
鈥淭his was done on Dec. 22,鈥� said a ministry spokesperson in an e-mail to The Morning Star. 鈥淎dvance notice was given by the RCMP approximately five days ago. Official notification of 48 hours was given at noon Tuesday.鈥�
The safety and well-being of the individuals, said the spokesperson, 鈥渋s of utmost concern to this ministry.鈥�
鈥淭he RCMP and social service agency were on-site last week to offer shelter. The City of Vernon was consulted as part of the process, as their boundaries run further north. They did not go to the site with the ministry or the RCMP.鈥�
Campers were given 48 hours to remove their property and bags were provided. The material left behind will be disposed of.
Crews from Vernon鈥檚 Venture Training were on hand Thursday to remove items from the camp. Those included two large tents, four smaller pup tents, a handful of propane tanks, a drum from a drum set, three-wheel carriers and tarpaulins.
Kelly Fehr from the Camp Okanagan Outreach Liaison (COOL) team said the team had been on a regular basis.
鈥淎t least one person was not interested in going to a shelter, they wanted nothing to do with curfews,鈥� said Fehr, co-executive director of the John Howard Society of North Okanagan. 鈥淪ome of them might come to the shelters.鈥�
Shelters in Vernon are either full or near full, and that includes the 33 temporary mats placed at Howard House (20) and the Gateway Shelter (13), and will likely stay that way until the end of March.
roger@vernonmorningstar.com
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