An Osoyoos resident wants an unsanctioned campground next door to be dismantled, but the church running the campsite said it is providing a community service.
Osoyoos Baptist Church pastor Phil Johnson said he’s allowing seasonal migrant workers, transients and the homeless to camp at the property because they have no place else to go.
“We care about people. This really is not our problem,” he said.
Johnson pointed out that Osoyoos is the first stop for fruit pickers because of early crops.
Migrant workers arrive from around the world, searching for employment.
Australian tourist Baiden Lacey told Global Okanagan that he is trying to get a job on a farm, where some provide campsites and other services.
“We probably went to 15 to 25 farms yesterday, and all of them just sort of had the same sort of theme, like there is no work for the next couple of weeks,” he said.
Camille is an 18-year-old woman from Quebec. She said she works at a restaurant, but doesn’t want to live in staff housing which would cost $500 a month.
“We don’t know where we are going to be tomorrow and we want to go day-by-day,” she said.
Johnson said operating the campsite has cost the church around $19,000.
“Dinners were around $13,000, then we provide the porta potties and garbage and showers,” he said.
Neighbour Cody Douglas claimed the problem-plagued property is having an impact.
“We’ve filed many complaints with the town and the RCMP,” he said.
“There’s been issues of excessive noise and littering, trespassing, theft.”
He wants the campsite dismantled.
“I don’t believe the solution is placing 300 of them in a residential area. It has definitely negatively impacted the neighbourhood,” he said.
Osoyoos RCMP Sgt. Jason Bayda said it has received three calls to the camp.
One was for a theft/mischief that did not result in charges, while the other two calls were to remove unwanted guests.
“This is the first year the camp was open at the Baptist Church and we found the calls in general to deal with seasonal workers dropped considerably,” he said in an email.
“We use to get a significant amount of calls for seasonal workers camping on Crown land, where they were having camp fires and making a general mess. Although we still got a couple of those types of calls, the camp at the Baptist Church really help reduced those problems,” Bayda said.
“We did patrol the camp regularly and found it to be of a benefit to have the majority of the seasonal workers camping in one place.”
Johnson said the situation is not ideal, but questions “if it’s not here, where is it?”
The pastor is encouraging the hospitality and agricultural industries to provide accommodation for their seasonal migrant workers.
He also appeared before Osoyoos town council this week and urged them to advocate for provincial assistance in dealing with the housing crunch.
“Is there tools in their tool box to provide a zoning area someplace, because it’s not going to go away,” he said.
Gina Mackay, director of planning and development services with the Town of Osoyoos, acknowledged use of the property has been controversial.
“It is often difficult to balance the needs of our community members with those of our agricultural producers and the town is working toward a permanent solution,” she said.
The church property is located on the agricultural land reserve and Global Okanagan has confirmed it is not a lawful campsite.
Martin Collins, the director of policy and planning at the Agricultural Land Commission, said permission to house farm workers is only relevant when the farm parcel upon which they are being housed is actively engaged in farming.
“This is not the case with the church property,” he said. “Therefore, the migrant worker camp is not lawful in the ALR on the church property.”
Collins said the Town of Osoyoos applied for the land to be exempt from the ALR in 2010 because it has limited agricultural potential and could be redeveloped.
However, he said the conditions of approval haven’t been met, so the property is still in the ALR.
As far as enforcement of the camping infraction, he said it is unlikely because of the legal limbo.
“Given the conditional approval for exclusion it is unlikely that the ALC would pursue any enforcement action at this time,” he said.
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