FILE PHOTO

(LEVI LANDRY / iNFOnews.ca)

Kamloops riverbanks are the last resort for those without shelter in the city. They're places where it's easy to hide, easy to make a shelter and easy for fires to grow out of control, according to the city's fire chief Ken Uzeloc.

Multiple City departments are working on how best to clean the riverbanks of fire risk and to keep the most entrenched homeless encampments at bay, Uzeloc said. But before going in to clean up riverbanks, the City needs to coordinate with higher levels of government, particularly the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

City staff met with the federal department last year to find a way to address riverside encampments, but didn't make much progress.

"They weren't overly open to doing some cleanup in that area because of the fish habitat," Uzeloc said.

City staff are now working on a proposal for DFO to address camps together.

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The federal body has been reluctant to give approval to the work Uzeloc's department is pursuing out of concern for impacts on fish habitat.

"I'm sure they're concerned about bank erosion and trees being cut down," he said. "What we'd like to do from a City perspective is try and work together with the ministry and DFO and come to an agreement to manage these going forward, rather than just saying, 'Sorry, no, it's fish-bearing water you can't touch anything.'"

Meanwhile, it's up to bylaw officers to keep up with camps so they don't become too permanent, who are helped by City contractors to clean up abandoned camps so they aren't swept into the Thompson River.

Officers have stepped up their efforts in recent months to prevent individual camps from long-term stays.

"Right now the policy says they can temporarily shelter at night in certain areas on the riverbanks. They're not allowed to become entrenched, they're not allowed to accumulate garbage and they have to be taken down during the day," Uzeloc said. "So that's why in the last couple of months you've seen (bylaw officers) going out and cleaning up camps and moving people along because they have built them into kind of entrenched camp, almost like they're trying to make them permanent. That's not allowed."

North Shore resident Richard Wiberg sought to deter camps from the beach near his house this summer. He made multiple signs to remind visitors it's a public beach and to clean up what's brought in. Some signs also tell visitors there is no camping at the beach.

"It's up to us to use our beach and to stick together because our waterfront has disappeared, where we can sit and relax, dogs can play, kids can play," he said at the time.

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Richard Wiberg's signs are scattered around the North Shore beach as he tries to deter encampments and litter on the shoreline.

(LEVI LANDRY / iNFOnews.ca)

Uzeloc said the two main concerns for the City are related to riverbank stability and fire risk.

Depending on where they are, some camps are dug into the banks and trees are cut to manipulate the space for shelter. Uzeloc said there are concerns that some could affect City property, like some dug into the Schubert Drive banks almost under Rivers Trail. Fires, meanwhile, are not uncommon as temperatures dip, but it's also not uncommon for them to grow out of control.

Kamloops firefighters have responded to numerous fires along the riverbanks. The fire department's new FireSmart expert is assessing risks along the banks.

Despite the camps that have gone up in flames where there are often propane tanks adding dangerous fuel to the fires, none have so far spread to substantial interface fires, but one in January did result in a man's death.

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There's no intention so far to follow Kelowna's model and designate one specified area for an encampment. While Kamloops allows for shelters in public riverfront areas in multiple neighbourhoods, the Kelowna approach has been to centralize camps within a designated area in the city's north end.

The encampment along the Okanagan Rail Trail in Kelowna is seen in this March 2023 file photo.

(ROB MUNRO / iNFOnews.ca)

Canadian courts have ruled Canadian cities cannot stop homeless camps entirely when there isn't enough shelter space, so the Kamloops approach has been to designate public spaces along river shores.

Should Kamloops consider changing its model to something more similar to Kelowna's, Uzeloc said it would be up to council to decide. But he did say staff are reviewing what potential changes could be made to the bylaw as it currently exists.

"Some of the temporary overnight sheltering was brought in during COVID, so we're looking at that bylaw," Uzeloc said. "Is it appropriate, is there a different way and what are other cities doing?"

It's not clear when of if it might come to city council to consider new options.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans did not respond to requests for comment from iNFOnews.ca.

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