Four people who work at the Stawamus Chief Provincial Park have written a letter to council, urging the District to provide real options for vehicle-dwellers. Below is the letter they sent to the District of Squamish council:
We work at the Stawamus Chief for a BC Parks contractor. Part of our job involves maintaining the Chief campground and, at times, enforcing BC Parks regulations. Recently after an inspection we were required to evict several campers who had stayed longer than the 14 day yearly limit. Some of the people we evicted were not travelers on vacation but Squamish residents who live in their vehicles. So the question is: where can these people go now?
Since the camping bylaw was passed in 2019 it is illegal to stay in town, and campgrounds are all full or limit the length of time people can stay. To make matters worse the District has not reopened the municipal campground on Loggers Lane. And just recently Walmart has shut down camping, further restricting people’s options.
Our experience working at the Chief contradicts one of the District’s main justifications for the bylaw. The District web site states ‘Squamish has several privately-owned campgrounds as well as provincial- and municipal-operated campgrounds. Many have available sites on a given night, while campers are camping in undesignated areas.’
This is false, and obviously so to anyone who has spent any time in Squamish during the summer in recent years. It is even more obvious to us, who actually work in a Squamish provincial park. Telling vehicle residents to go stay in a campground is a refusal to deal with this issue in good faith. Our experience working at the Chief contradicts one of the District’s main justifications for the bylaw. The District web site states ‘Squamish has several privately-owned campgrounds as well as provincial- and municipal-operated campgrounds. Many have available sites on a given night, while campers are camping in undesignated areas.’
This is false, and obviously so to anyone who has spent any time in Squamish during the summer in recent years. It is even more obvious to us, who actually work in a Squamish provincial park. Telling vehicle residents to go stay in a campground is a refusal to deal with this issue in good faith. The District needs to provide real options for vehicle-dweller residents. The Council cannot continue to pass the buck and send people to the parks. We are seeing first hand that this is not a solution.
Terry O'Connor says
Living in a van is the only way some of these people can find a roof over there heads. Real affordable housing needs to happen yesterday
Michael P. S. says
Should vehicle dwellers be entitled to occupy any public space? Is Squamish just one big, free campsite? Maybe campers could register with DoS and get fair-priced access to public shower, bathroom, laundry and library services.
Vickie Wheatley says
Private camp grounds do have available sites as a rule. Definitely if you book a week or two in advance, not on holidays and some weekends which require a month or two in advance. However they are costly at $45/night with out services and $65/night with services. However, just because you have a vehicle or RV to sleep in does not mean you can park and stay anywhere. It isn’t up to Squamish tax payers (home owners) to provide campers with amenities so they can squat anywhere.