Homeless challenge Victoria's no-camping bylaw

JUSTINE HUNTER
March 19, 2008
The Globe and Mail

VICTORIA -- Heidi and Mike have just been given two hours to pack up all their belongings and move.

The homeless couple were camping in Cecelia Ravine Park in Victoria, in a sun-dappled nook next to a river where ducks are nesting. It was a nice spot to sleep, until a Victoria police officer arrived yesterday to enforce the city's no-camping bylaw.

In a city that is spending millions of dollars dealing with homelessness and its attached problems - drug addiction, mental health and crime - Heidi and Mike get the feeling they aren't wanted.

"They want us to go in the shadows and hide," said Heidi, as she began rolling up a tarp that has kept them and their three shopping carts' worth of possessions sheltered.

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