Unhoused Prince George resident feels safe at Millennium Park

Chris lives at the Millennium Park encampment in Prince George but that may soon come to an end.

Prince George city council has approved a proposal to remove the Millennium Park encampment and has directed staff to begin the process to stop overnight camping at the site and restore it to its previous state.

“There are nice people who live here,” Chris said. “There’s camaraderie here and it’s safe. It’s not like that at Moccasin Flats, places are being burnt down, stabbings and all sorts of stuff goes on there and you don’t see any of that here.”

Chris said he doesn’t agree with the order to remove the Millennium Park encampment located at First Avenue and George Street.

“There’s no way we’re all going to fit at Moccasin Flats and we got some of the bad apples out of here now and we’re cleaning stuff up and starting to take care of stuff but I don’t think it’s going to be a welcome feeling because no one wants to go there,” Chris said. “That’s the reason we’re here and we’re not over there.”

When the city staff comes to remove the encampment residents, Chris said he and his friends will find another place to camp but it won’t be at Moccasin Flats, what the residents have named the Lower Patricia Boulevard encampment.

Chris is standing outside a dwelling that he shares with five other people. It consists of several tents that are close together and segregated from the other areas at the encampment with scrap plywood to enclose their area.

“I try to take care of everyone around here,” Chris said. “These people are my family.”