The City of Prince George has served an eviction notice to the last registered occupant of the Lower Patricia Boulevard encampment, known as Moccasin Flats.
The notice, served Thursday (Feb. 27), gives him 21 days to respond to the civil claim. The court filing also applies to two to four other people, whose identities are unknown to the city, who were previously camped at the site on the eastern edge of downtown.
The 59-year-old, referred to as Bel in this story, said he knew the day was coming when he’d have to pack up his belongings and leave a site he’s occupied for nearly three years.
He has no plans to fight the eviction and is resigned to the fact he will soon need to find a new place to call home for himself, his dog, and his two cats.
“I’ll just do whatever the judge says. Basically, I’m not that kind of person to get in the way. In the eyes of progress, it’s got to go forward, right?” said Bel.
He’s hopeful he’ll be given enough time to pack up all his belongings, including a wood stove that’s been his lifeline this winter. He’s gotten to know city staff and bylaw officers and is reasonably sure they will work with him to give him the time he needs to vacate his campsite. He hopes to be out by mid-April.
“It’ll take me at least a month because I don’t want to leave the city with the (cleanup) bill,” he said.
“I’m not in a state of panic or anything. I’m just trying to figure out what I can do next and see where I can go without being bothered. I can’t be cooped up like those folks in (the Third Avenue temporary housing facility 100 metres north of his camp). The rooms are too small and people can’t bring their stuff with them.
“Even at the North Star (Inn) they’re having problems. People are breaking into rooms and staff doesn’t do anything about it. They don’t feel safe there. It’s a locked door, and doors get kicked in and it’s not being dealt with.”
He’s thought about leaving the Flats at least every other day in recent months, fearing for his own safety. This winter has been especially hard for Bel, who was good friends with Hank Hayden, known around the camp as the “voice of the homeless.” Hayden was a well-respected advocate who volunteered as the camp medic and lived close to Bel’s camp until he was found dead in his tent on Dec. 8.
“I’ll stand up for the rights of homeless people, but I’m not going to continue living here. It’s too chaotic,” said Bel. “I need to move on with my own personal life. At some point, I was (fearful), but not too much anymore. Who knows?”
Nighttime was usually the worst in the Flats, when stabbings, shootings, and rapes were more likely to occur under the cover of darkness. Most of the residents would stay awake through the night, believing they had a better chance of avoiding harm if they slept during the day.
While there are about 11 people currently camping at the site, Bel is the last remaining Moccasin Flats resident of the 45 who were there on May 13, 2024, when the province’s Encampment Response Teams conducted a count of how many people were living there. The eviction notice notes that Bel has been offered shelter and housing numerous times by BC Housing and its non-profit partner organizations and has indicated he’s not interested in accepting options presented to him for indoor shelter, supportive housing, or rent supplements.
The other 44 residents have either found alternative housing from BC Housing or have left the area.
But the problems that lead to encampments are not going away, and Bel sees the pending closure of Moccasin Flats as a band-aid solution for the city.
“It’s not going to last because the population of homeless people is getting bigger and bigger and younger and younger,” said Bel. “People 15 or 16 are coming here because their parents lose their place and then they’re all homeless. It’s crazy. A lot of them are couch-surfing and they’re unseen. They’re trying to keep their image up or whatever, but in reality, they’re still homeless.”
“There are still people who show up here at night. They don’t feel safe at the warming centre (at the St. Vincent de Paul Drop-in Centre). People are still getting robbed of their belongings. People just need a place to go. That’s all they need.”
Originally from Dease Lake, Bel moved to Prince George for a construction job after working in Quesnel building the West Fraser Centre arena. He had steady employment and was renting an apartment until 2021, when he lost his job as a handyman working for Pace Realty during the lockdowns when tenant concerns about the second wave of COVID-19 infections stopped him from doing his work.
With no income and the price of rent unaffordable, Bel set up camp on the north side of the Nechako River until he was forced to move the following spring on the order of a bylaw enforcement officer, who suggested he could move to the strip of city-owned land along Patricia Boulevard.
Bel’s willingness to help others get settled earned him a positive reputation in the homeless community. When the city closed the Millennium Park encampment in September 2023, residents were directed to Moccasin Flats, and he became the go-to person for newcomers wondering where to set up camp.
He wants to get back to work as a carpenter and has been applying for jobs but hasn’t had any success yet.
“I just need a permanent address. It’s kind of a catch-22,” he said. “I don’t need much, basically just a roof over my head. I need to start paying rent so I can make my own decisions. I was thinking if they have space over at Lombardi (Trailer Court) I could go there. It’s just a matter of going back to work and stuff.”
At its height in the summer of 2022, there were close to 100 residents sheltering at Moccasin Flats. Most were drug users, and that attracted drug dealers, thieves, arsonists, and violent offenders who took out personal vendettas against some of the encampment occupants. On Jan. 1, 2024, a man was shot in the face at the warming centre adjacent to the encampment and later died of his injuries in hospital. There have been numerous fires in the shelters, especially in the 17 tiny homes brought to the site through donations, and many of them were purposely burned, allegedly by dealers fighting over control of the illicit drug trade in the camp.
Early on the day he received his eviction notice, one of the tiny homes next to Bel’s site burned down. That happened only a few days after another fire at the west end of the camp destroyed another tiny home. There are now only a few occupied campsites.
The city had made attempts to permanently shut down Moccasin Flats and prevent people from using the area as a permanent encampment until a precedent-setting court ruling obtained by Bel and two other unnamed residents in October 2021 forced the city to back off on its eviction plans.
Bel is no publicity-seeker, and his reason for putting his name on the court challenge was his belief that Moccasin Flats could eventually become its own orderly community where people would feel safe and protected, not living in lawlessness in a place with no running water or toilets, poor sanitation, and dangerous people.
“That (court order) was a big deal, and it still is,” he said. “It’s just that other people squandered that and made it so hard to actually get anything started here. (About the suspicious fires) there was nothing done about it.
“It still could be a good place. It just needs some structure, helped by the city, to have rules and regulations.”
Moccasin Flats/Lower Patricia Boulevard Encampment court case history
The BC Supreme Court decision on Oct. 22, 2021, handed down by Chief Justice Hinkson ordered the George Street encampment next to the Prince George Courthouse to be vacated and cleaned of structures, specifying that all personal belongings be brought only to the Lower Patricia Boulevard Encampment (LPBE). The George Street encampment was dismantled in mid-November that year, and the occupants were offered shelter at the Knights Inn, a former motel at 655 Dominion St., owned by BC Housing.
Hinkson dismissed the city’s application to vacate and clear the Lower Patricia site until the city could demonstrate there was suitable housing and daytime facilities for the occupants of the camp. That ruling became known as the Stewart Order Conditions.
On Nov. 24, 2021, a week after some of the sites were cleared using front-end loaders and a dump truck, the City of Prince George filed a petition to permanently shut down LPBE, which would have given occupants 10 days’ notice to remove all structures and belongings and vacate the site. After that, city workers would have been allowed to clean up the area, and RCMP would have authority to arrest anyone who remained.
The petition was to be served to Bel and two other residents of the Flats, who were represented by Darlene Kavka and Melanie Begaika, lawyers from the Indigenous Justice Centre, who had defended their rights in October 2021 when the BC Supreme Court first denied the city’s application to shut down the camp.
In December 2021, the City applied for an injunction to close Moccasin Flats on the basis that it had met the Stewart Order conditions.
On Feb. 23, 2022, Justice Simon Coval ruled against the city’s second request to close LPBE, citing insufficient shelter space and a lack of daytime facilities for people without permanent homes. Coval stated that the city’s dismantling of much of the encampment in November 2021 breached Justice Hinkson’s October 2021 ruling, which allowed the camp to remain open until sufficient housing and daytime facilities were available.
Coval also ruled that the city was not entitled to dismantle much of the camp and failed to identify how many people were regularly occupying the camp and how their shelters and belongings should be handled.
In March 2022, the city apologized for the trauma caused to residents who lost their shelter, clothing, and irreplaceable personal items, such as the ashes of loved ones, when the camp was dismantled. Four months later, the city voluntarily initiated a process to financially compensate people who had sustained losses when the camp was taken down.
Court-ordered conditions have been followed
The city is confident there are enough available supportive housing units in multiple locations to house all the people currently in need of shelter and that, should the number of unhoused people rise sharply during non-winter months, the temporary overnight campground at Moccasin Flats will be sufficient to handle the influx.
BC Housing’s Third Avenue facility, which opened in January, offers priority access to Moccasin Flats occupants and is currently operating below capacity (43 units, plus two for handicapped residents).
BC Housing and its contracted operators also offer supportive housing at Knights Inn (44 units since October 2021), North Star Inn (96 units starting in May 2024), and the First Avenue Integrated Health & Housing facility (50 units since March 2022).
The claim notes the Stewart Order conditions were met as of January with the opening of the Third Avenue site, accessible to Moccasin Flats residents. The city acknowledges there are also nearby parks and winter warming centres offering daytime options to those dependent on temporary housing.
The claim states: “While (Bel) and other occupants of LPBE are not obliged and cannot be compelled to accept housing at the Third Avenue site or any other facility, they cannot maintain a right to encamp on public lands while accessible shelter is available and has been expressly offered.”
The Stewart Order was not intended to grant Bel or any other LPBE occupant the right to indefinitely occupy and encamp on public lands despite the availability of suitable indoor shelter.
Bel’s site and his accumulated possessions occupy about 875 square metres. The claim indicates that the area has been used as a “chop shop” for stolen bicycles, where they are disassembled and sold for parts or scrap metal.
The entire encampment requires significant cleanup to restore it to its original condition before it became an encampment. Once remediation is complete, the land will be available for overnight camping.
The civil claim filed in BC Supreme Court on Feb. 25 by Jeffrey Locke, representing the city, refers to the city's Zoning Bylaw P1 for parks and recreation, which does not provide for seasonal short-term use or year-round storage or accommodation for residential use on city land.
The city approved amendments to the Parks and Open Space Bylaw on May 8, 2023, allowing temporary overnight camping for people experiencing homelessness when no alternative shelter is available in the city. The area at 498 Ottawa St. (Moccasin Flats) is designated as a space where a homeless person can camp overnight between 7 p.m. and 9 a.m.
It is up to city council to decide whether this will remain the only designated space or if other locations will be identified for overnight camping. These areas would be closed to the public (for visitors) between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.
Mayor Simon Yu said he’s looking forward to the end of Moccasin Flats as a permanent shelter, knowing the challenges it has caused nearby residents and business owners, as well as city bylaw staff, first responders, and police. He’s confident the city has met its obligations, as defined by the court.
“At the present state, Moccasin Flats is not a safe nor suitable place for anyone to be,” said Yu. “The current situation is unacceptable, and regardless of the court’s decision, we want to ensure every person who can call themselves Canadian is provided with suitable, safe, sanitary shelters.
“We had to demonstrate to the court that there are suitable alternatives to Moccasin Flats, and we leave the judgement to the court.”
