By: Sofia Chassomeris, News Writer
On October 23, the residents of CRAB Park’s tent city woke up to an eviction notice from the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation. The Board stated they aim to close the camp and return the park to “general park use” by November 7. Advocates in support of the tent city and residents of the park criticize the decision.
In a recent press release, park resident L. said the Park Board is “making homeless people more homeless” through this decision. The Peak spoke with Athena Pranteau and Ryan Exner, residents of CRAB Park, about the eviction notice. “It’s not a legal document,” said Exner. “They have to give us a tenancy agreement to give an eviction.” A tenancy agreement is a contract between landlord and tenant detailing the terms of tenancy. There is no such contract between residents of CRAB Park and the Park Board.
“It’s a city park but it’s federally owned,” Pranteau added. “Municipally, [the Park Board doesn’t] have the jurisdiction or grounds to be able to evict anyone, especially when it’s on federal land and a federal court judge [allowed] us to be there.” The 2022 court case Pranteau referred to was Bamberger v. Vancouver (Board of Parks and Recreation) — a case in which the judge ruled that “the court should not condone by injunction the displacement of people who are causing no harm and have nowhere else to go.” The ruling has allowed the residents of the encampment to remain in CRAB Park for the past three years. In a statement to The Peak, the City of Vancouver said they “are now focusing on restoring CRAB Park to daytime public use while continuing to support overnight sheltering in accordance with Park Board by-laws.”
Both Pranteau and Exner explained how the eviction notice is only one part of the residents’ “harassment” from the Park Board. “They’re bullying, they are literally robbing us every single morning. Every morning it is an anxiety,” said Pranteau. “It’s extremely against our rights as individuals, as Canadians, as status-Aboriginals, as Indigenous People to this land.”
A case study published by the Canadian Human Rights Commission in 2022 stated that CRAB Park and similar encampments predominantly house Indigenous Peoples due to the systemic results of colonialism. Indigenous Peoples are overrepresented in Canada’s houseless population due to the effects of ongoing displacement of Indigenous communities and lack of government funding for Indigenous housing.
“They’re bullying, they are literally robbing us every single morning. Every morning it is an anxiety.” — Athena Pranteau, resident of CRAB Park
In a statement to CBC, the Park Board claimed that “all seven people on site had been offered shelter previously but declined those offers.” The City of Vancouver told The Peak that the plans to shelter the remaining residents were “developed through weekly collaboration of Coordinated Access and Assessment (CAA) partners from BC Housing, the Homelessness Services Outreach Team, the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, and Vancouver Coastal Health.”
Exner shared a few reasons why they declined the plan: “It’s simple. SROs — single-room occupancies — they’re considered housing, but it’s not really housing. I mean, you don’t get any rights, you’re in a room, you don’t get [your own] bathroom.” He described constant surveillance in rooms “infested with bugs,” explaining that “it’s ideal for people to live outside because they don’t have to be so controlled. It kind of feels like we have a little bit more privacy out there.”
Exner said the Park Board’s “view of it is that encampments aren’t proper and that we’re supposed to be housed in the way the system’s set up now. We’re trying to say that the system’s not working, and people are more comfortable living in encampments.”
“They don’t want us there,” Exner agreed. “They don’t care about the human rights, they don’t care about the laws, they just do what they’re going to do to get rid of [the encampment]. We want to stop that.”
Pranteau, Exner, and advocate Fiona York attended the Canadian National Conference on Ending Homelessness in Ottawa from October 29–31 to present “the story of CRAB Park.” Their presentation shared details about CRAB Park, such as how it came to be. The conference hosted organizations, advocates, and community members from across the country sharing their experiences and “actionable information” for attendees.
Pranteau said it was important for them to share “positive outcomes” from within their community “from [their] perspective, and the things [they] do without the Park Rangers.” A month prior on September 30, CRAB Park residents hosted a salmon barbecue “in honour” of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, “serving over 75 meals to community members.”
“We wanted to counter some of the other stuff that’s out there,” said York on presenting at the conference.
This is a developing story that The Peak will continue to cover.
