Displaced agricultural workers, many of whom have come to Osoyoos from Quebec, gathered at Gyro Beach on July 2 after being evicted from the Strawberry Creek area by the B.C. Forests and Range Ministry. Photo by Paul Everest - Click on picture for larger image
OSOYOOS TIMES-July 7, 2010
By Paul Everest – Osoyoos Times
The B.C. Forests and Range Ministry has evicted as many as 160 people living on Crown land in the Strawberry Creek area behind the Buena Vista Industrial Park due to violations of the provincial Land Act and the Wildfire Act.
On June 22, the ministry’s Compliance and Enforcement Division received a public complaint regarding people camping in the area that has come to be known as “French Hill.”
Rory Smith, a forestry officer with the ministry, said the complaint focused on garbage being strewn throughout the area and campers filling in a ditch that was reestablished in May along the Strawberry Creek Road to prevent people from driving vehicles onto the hill.
Compliance officers responded to the complaint on June 24 and found 50 to 60 tents in the French Hill area, Smith said.
He added that the ditch had been filled in, there was garbage and human waste everywhere and officers found that people were having campfires without any tools or water to prevent wildfires from breaking out.
Last June, an unattended fire in the Strawberry Creek area sparked a wildfire that burned three hectares and cost $50,000 to extinguish.
It was also discovered that people were illegally driving vehicles onto range land, cutting down trees and pulling out fence posts, Smith said.
Compliance officers therefore issued notices to the campers to vacate the Crown land.
During a follow-up inspection on June 30, compliance officers found 22 tents still remained on the hill and there was still a great deal of garbage, Smith said.
He added that the remaining campers were again told to leave and ministry personnel cleaned up several truckloads of garbage.
Provincial emergency management personnel were brought in to help the evicted campers find other campgrounds in the Osoyoos and Oliver areas.
Some of the people evicted from French Hill moved onto nearby Crown land that has been set aside for the future expansion of the Town of Osoyoos while most ended up coming into town.
That has created a headache for police.
Staff Sgt. Kurt Lozinski, commander of the Osoyoos-Oliver RCMP, said roughly 160 “predominantly French Canadian seasonal workers” displaced from French Hill spent the evening of June 29 on Gyro Beach.
“This circumstance has caused significant concern for the Community of Osoyoos and the Osoyoos Bylaw agents,” Lozinski said.
Cpl. Jason Bayda, an RCMP spokesman, added that at least five seasonal workers were found sleeping on the sidewalk on Main Street on the night of July 1.
Bayda said police were not consulted by the ministry when the French Hill eviction took place and there is no intent at this time for police to ticket anyone who does stay at Strawberry Creek.
He added that pushing the evicted campers into town was “not the right idea” and while no confrontations had been reported so far, police are worried about problems that could arise from having the displaced people gathering in Osoyoos’s parks and beaches.
“That stress may result in an increase in complaints generated by other members of the community and requests for assistance by the Bylaw agents,” Lozinski said.
Mayor Stu Wells said the ministry also failed to consult with the Town on the evictions and he’s disappointed at the lack of communication.
“It was a mistake in my mind,” he said, adding that the ministry should have had another location, such as Oliver’s Loose Bay facility for agricultural workers, ready to handle the high number of displaced people.
Having so many seasonal workers hanging out on Osoyoos’s beaches and in the town’s parks won’t look good to visiting tourists, he said.
“It’s certainly a major issue, we’re a resort municipality,” Wells said. “The optics certainly aren’t good.”
He said the Town can’t be responsible on its own for dealing with the need for accommodations for the workers, adding other government ministries, the Regional District Okanagan-Similkameen and the local agricultural community need to come forward to deal with the issue.
Seasonal workers Patrick Charette and Marc Parentau, both of Montreal, said after the evictions took place, some people were sleeping in ditches, under the Hwy. 3 bridge that connects east and west Osoyoos or in cars.
The pair, who were hanging out on Gyro Beach on the afternoon of July 2 with dozens of other seasonal workers who were mostly from Quebec, said those workers who can’t find a place to pitch a tent in the orchard or vineyard where they’re employed have to resort to camping on public land such as French Hill.
They added that they are aware of the Loose Bay campground in Oliver that was established for workers.
That facility charges by the night, however, and with the cherry harvest beginning late due to the cold, wet spring, many workers who have come from Quebec don’t have the money to stay there.
Many of the workers hanging out at Gyro Beach on July 2 said they planned to return to French Hill to camp at night.
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