A stabbing incident that sent one person to the hospital on Wednesday morning has prompted Squamish Helping Hands Society to call for increased resources and community-wide solutions.
Squamish RCMP responded to reports of an altercation at the encampment on Third Avenue at approximately 5:45 a.m. on December 10. Officers found one person suffering serious but non-life-threatening injuries. The victim was transported to the hospital for treatment.
Several individuals were arrested at the scene but have since been released from custody. Police are still searching for a male suspect described as between 5’8″ and 6’0″ tall, with a medium build, wearing all-black clothing and white running shoes.
Squamish Helping Hands, which provides services to people experiencing homelessness in the area, said it is fully cooperating with the active RCMP investigation to ensure the safety of its staff, participants and volunteers.
Executive director Lori Pyne said there are 10 known encampments in Squamish where people shelter outdoors. According to the most recent Point In Time Homeless Count, 125 people are currently experiencing homelessness in Squamish, with 48 known encampment residents engaged with the Helping Hands outreach team.
“Encampments are caused by many factors and systemic issues, including a lack of affordable housing, entrenched poverty, institutional trauma, addiction and complex mental health disorders,” Pyne said. “It is critical that we work together to find real answers to these issues without stigmatizing or blaming one organization or a group of people already facing dire circumstances.”
Squamish Helping Hands provides daily meals, medical treatment and emergency shelter beds. But the organization turned away 71 people from its emergency shelter between September and November due to a lack of space.
While Helping Hands does not control or manage encampments, its outreach team provides on-site support to address public safety issues, including violence, disease transmission, fire control and waste management. “Incidents like this are a call to action regarding the deep need for concerted and compassionate care for people experiencing homelessness in our town,” Pyne said. “This is a community problem that requires community solutions.”
The organization convenes a monthly Community Action Team with representatives from Vancouver Coastal Health, Sea to Sky Community Services, the District of Squamish, Bylaw Services, RCMP and Integrated First Nations RCMP to address urgent issues affecting encampment residents and unhoused people.
Investigators believe Wednesday’s attack was targeted and say there is no immediate risk to the public. The Sea to Sky RCMP Major Crime Team is working with Squamish RCMP to determine what led to the incident.
Police are asking anyone with security camera or dashcam footage recorded between 5:00 a.m. and 6:15 a.m. along Main Street and Third to Fifth Avenue to come forward. Anyone with information can contact Squamish RCMP at 604-892-6100 or submit anonymous tips through Crime Stoppers.
“If wishes were horses, beggars would ride” is a proverb meaning that wishing alone doesn’t bring results; you need hard work and action to achieve goals, because if just wanting something made it real, even the poorest people would have everything.
Or how about Mark 14:7: “For you always have the poor with you, and you can help them whenever you want, but me you do not always have.”
At the moment there are high-rise buildings in Greater Vancouver that cannot be completed because of the developers don’t have the money needed. These projects will probably result in bankruptcy. Our governments will have the opportunity to buy out and then complete these developments which could then be used to provide hundreds or thousands of units of “affordable housing. “
15 years ago, there was no homelessness in Squamish. Since creating bureaucracy and flowing millions of dollars into the homeless industry, the problem has exploded. We have far too many in Government and the NGO world lining their pockets off the misfortune of others. The rot runs deep and the incentives to maintain the status quo far outweighs and desire to fix the ongoing decline in our community. We’re going to need to confront corruption, or things will continue to get worse.
The problem is much deeper and more widespread than you think. We live in an economic/political system that is controlled by capitalist interests. Karl Marx predicted that the capitalist system would eventually bring about its own demise. It’s not too hard to see the signs of that happening now.