Vancouver rangers were out Wednesday warning people sheltering in a portion of CRAB Park that they were at risk of losing their belongings if they left their tents up all day.
The park is the site of a long-running homeless encampment that, following a protracted court battle, the city has been ordered to leave in place due to a lack of housing.
That ruling, however, only applies to a corner of the park, and in recent weeks tents have been popping up elsewhere in the green space.
Rangers went tent to tent on the south side of the park Wednesday, handing out notices warning occupants that they are in violation of the city’s overnight camping bylaw — which only permits sheltering from dusk to 8 a.m.
If people fail to take down temporary shelters the following morning, rangers have the authority to remove them.
Campers, who declined to give their full name out of safety concerns, said the situation has left them with nowhere to go.
“There’s really no option. This is all we have. Over there in that corner (protected by the B.C. Supreme Court ruling) is all packed. They want us to move in there, there’s not enough room, it’s impossible,” said John, who told Global News he’d previously been sheltering in the Strathcona neighbourhood.
“I guess it is going to come down to us standing our ground and saying no. Where else are we going to go? They’re just going to go back up anyway.”
Crystal, who told Global News she had been at CRAB Park for about a month, said she was hopeful she might be able to find a space in the authorized encampment area.
“In the middle where everybody else is,” she said. “Hopefully someone moves.”
In a statement, the Vancouver Park Board said the rangers were handing out “weekly information notices” which they have done for the last two years.
However, it said board staff would be doing a cleanup of the park throughout October, including the removal of structures outside the designated encampment area.
“We’re not asking people to leave, we’re asking for people to comply with the by-law,” the statement reads.
“The Park Control by-law is in place for people to shelter from dusk to dawn. People are allowed to be there overnight, so long as they pack up their tents in the morning. ”
In January 2022, the B.C. Supreme Court rejected a Vancouver Park Board injunction application against the encampment, accepting residents’ argument that the city hadn’t shown there was suitable shelter elsewhere.
In his ruling, Justice Matthew Kirchner noted that the park was the “last major public park” in or near the Downtown Eastside open to overnight sheltering, and closing it could affect residents access to services.
“Simply assuming that those sheltering in CRAB Park can find ‘another place to go’ fails to accord the necessary priority to their (charter) rights and ensure minimal impairment of those rights,” he further found.
In May 2022, a man was murdered in CRAB Park, and the encampment was the scene of a stabbing spree last October and a major tent fire in December.
Earlier this year, the city received a grant through the Union of B.C. Municipalities, with $660,000 going to fund four temporary full-time park rangers and $55,000 going to health and sanitation at the park, including washroom cleaning, trash disposal, and police support for cleanup work.