Main Street Tent City receives new trespass notice with immediate vacate deadline

Vancouver's latest tent city has received a new trespass notice a month after the City of Vancouver had an injunction application denied by the courts in an attempt to evict the campers.

The latest notice delivered to the so-called Ten Year Tent City, established in a vacant lot at 950 Main Street on April 28, is on the letterhead of the Lu'ma Native Housing Society.

In the letter—which directs "all occupants of 946-950 Main Street" to "leave the Property and to stop camping on the Property"—Lu'ma states that the society has assumed a 60-year lease from the owners, the City of Vancouver, effective today (June 15).

The notice, signed by Lu'ma CEO Marcel Swain, ends with the following order: "Any and all structures, tents, shelters, objects and things must be removed from the Property by no later than 7:00 a.m. on Friday, June 16, 2017."

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Neena Sharma denied the city's injunction application on May 17, saying the city had failed to meet the legal test for such an order, partly because it had not shown that it would suffer "irreparable harm" if it did not obtain the declaration. The city had claimed that a social-housing project it planned for the site might lose funding if it experienced delays or did not go ahead. The tent-city occupants claimed that their safety would be put at risk if they were ejected.

In a news release dated today (June 15), organizers of the tent city called on "supporters to join us on the site tomorrow morning between 7-10 am to be witnesses if the cops" attempt to enforce the trespass notice.

Tent-city resident and spokesperson Crystal Cardinal told the Georgia Straight by phone that the latest notice was a surprise. "It was shocking, you know?...The city found another way to kick us out of here."

Cardinal said that the strategy of leasing the property and having the new leaseholder issue the trespass notice would mean that Lu'ma would "have more authority" if it applied for another injunction to remove the lot's residents.

"We're trying to come up with a strategy right now," she said in response to a question about the occupants' plans, "because it just kind of popped up, you know?

"I'm really hoping Lu'ma Housing or B.C. Housing can step up and house us."

Cardinal, who identified herself as aboriginal, told the Straight that she estimated the tent city's indigenous population to be approximately 40 percent, or about 20 of the 50 campers.

On its website, the Lu'ma Native Housing Society says that it owns and manages almost 500 units of affordable housing for "Aboriginal families and individuals with low to moderate income".

The site also states: "In response to the challenge of finding solutions to critical Aboriginal concerns, the Society partnered with the Federal government and the broader community and became the First Aboriginal community entity responsible for funding Aboriginal projects that provide front-line homelessness services to the Aboriginal community."