Tent shelters removed behind Old Fort Hotel property

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — The tent shelter behind the Old Fort Hotel on 100th Avenue has been removed. 

According to a Facebook post by councillor Trevor Bolin, city staff notified the people last week that they could not camp on the premises. 

On Tuesday, the RCMP were present to keep the peace and asked the tent occupants to remove their tents and move on. The tents have since been taken down, and the people were removed without incident. 

According to Bolin, one of the individuals in the tents, Mike, has been waiting for housing since last year after injuring his shoulder at work.

“I had a conversation with Mike, and he shared with me what he could after being moved. This is an issue that we need to address,” Bolin wrote in his post. 

Bolin, along with councillors Sarah Macdougall and Gord Klassen, formed a committee last week to find solutions to the city’s homelessness problem.

Energeticcity.ca contacted the city of Fort St. John’s bylaw services department for comment but did not receive a response by publication time. 

Bolin will discuss the issue further on the August 2nd episode of This Week In the Peace on Energeticcity.ca.