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Vancouver Island tent city protestors march chanting ‘homes not hate’

Members evicted from a tent city in Saanich relocate to a separate park
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Remaining members of Camp Namegans have relocated a piece of land owned by the Ministry of Transportation along Carey Road near Uptown. Namegans Nation/Facebook

A large crowd of people marched through a corridor in Saanich around 6 p.m. on Friday night in protest of housing and the municipality’s treatment of the people who were living at the Regina Park tent city.

Chanting “homes not hate,” The crowd of more than 100 people included supporters, advocates and occupants of the former Camp Namegans tent city that was closed off to everyone on Thursday by crews from the District of Saanich and Saanich Police. The eviction came after last week’s B.C. Supreme Court injunction to remove the occupants from Regina Park.

See: Displaced tent city campers face discrimination at Rudd Park

The march started with a 5 p.m. gathering at Rudd Park, where a group of Camp Namegans members stayed Thursday night, and marched along Boleskine Road to Uptown.

“Today we’re here to say homelessness … is not a crime,” said advocate Ashley Mollison.

“Camp Namegans means ‘we are one,’ and we are,” said member Lynne, who spent last year in the Rock Bay shelter but moved into a tent at Regina Park to be reunite with her common-law husband Blair.

Saanich Police rushed a fleet of squad cars and officers to the protest, arresting one individual that was carrying a wooden baseball bat.

The rally ended on a vacant piece of provincial land between Carey Road, Highway 17 and Ravine Way in Saanich. People stayed there Friday night in about a dozen tents.

The occupants of the smaller tent city now at Carey Road is unsure how long they’ll stay or where they can go, but does not wish to pack their belongings up each morning. By staying on the provincial piece of land, the belief is they’ll not be subject to Saanich’s new overnight sheltering bylaw that permits refuge in more than 100 parks between 7 p.m. and 9 a.m., but does not permit daytime sheltering.

reporter@saanichnews.com

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A crowd marches through Saanich Friday night in protest for housing and for better supports after 100 people were displaced by the District of Saanich and Saanich Police when they closed Camp Namegans tent city at Regina Park. Alliance Against Displacement/Twitter