Homeless camps in forest near Kamloops spur frustration with provincial inaction

A handful of forest encampments on Crown land near Kamloops are attracting calls for removal, but it’s not clear if authorities are taking any action in the area.

Police have been heading to the area on regular patrols for a month, spurred by rising tensions seen on social media, but it’s up to provincial authorities to handle entrenched rural encampments.

“Jamieson (Creek) is a hot point in some respect because it’s an area that is cherished by many,” Thompson-Nicola Regional District area director Lee Morris said. “Over time, the elements that have moved into the area and the lack, possibly, of oversight of that area… has eroded, it seems.”

Only a short distance away from the city and Westsyde Road, some pullouts in the Jamieson Creek area have seen regular camps for months if not a few years. Each camp, with trailers, vehicles and tents, appear only large enough to host a few people.

According to Tk’emlups Rural RCMP, officers have been patrolling the area since Sept. 29. Spokesperson Cpl. Dana Napier said the detachment received a second-hand report about “frustration” on social media and that there were “efforts to make noise in the area.”

The regional district has no authority to oust people from Crown land, but the regional district director said she has lobbied the provincial government for enforcement in the area. It hasn’t been successful.

“This is clearly a provincial issue. Clearly it’s not getting enough attention, and clearly we don’t have enough resource officers to address this. We have done this at a provincial level, at (the Union of BC Municipalities convention), at separate meetings in Victoria. We are getting nowhere in terms of attention to this issue,” Morris said.

She said the province has told her it’s a capacity issue. The province doesn’t have enough Natural Resource Officers to deal with the camps.

North-Thompson MLA Ward Stamer said he has heard complaints from residents about squatting in the Jamieson Creek area and has spoken with government ministries about it.

He said BC Wildfire Service staff have periodically cleaned out camps and towed vehicles. Without housing or mental health supports, and depending on their needs, the campers frequently return.

“Maybe it’ll take a collective group to find better ways of identifying the housing situations they have and offer up real, tangible solutions, rather than just pretending it’s not there and we’re not going to do anything about it,” the MLA said.

In letters to multiple ministers, Stamer said the camps have been reported in the area for three years leading to “multiple violations” like open campfires, unauthorized cutting of trees and sewage disposal into the creek. There have also been “threats” directed at other people in the area.

“I understand the frustrations from residents because it’s probably building. There are more people there than have ever been before,” he said.

“I know we’ve got an issue with housing in this province, but there’s also rules that we have to follow including if there’s sewage going into waterways and fish-bearing streams, illegal fires when it was dry — there’s a whole list of things that could’ve been done, and no one wanted to go up and do it.”

Rural homeless encampments aren’t isolated to the Jamieson Creek area, nor are they isolated to the Kamloops area.

In 2019, the Union of BC Municipalities began lobbying the province to step up, not only enforcement, but social supports too. At the time it was led by the Fraser Valley Regional District where Stamer said rural homeless camps are frequent.

The provincial government had responded to the lobbying effort by asserting its commitment to addressing homelessness and coordinating various ministries, along with BC Housing, to deal with both urban and rural encampments.

iNFOnews.ca asked the BC Environment Ministry for comment about the encampments in the Jamieson Creek area and the lack of provincial government response, but didn’t receive a response.