Residents living at an RV rest stop in Abbotsford, B.C., say the province recently closed the site’s bathrooms and other utilities without notice — leaving them without water, power or a place to dump waste.
“Absolutely no notice. No notice about the hydro, no notice about the bathroom closures — total lack of communication,” said Karl Peters, who has been living in his RV with his partner at the Cole Road rest stop off Highway 1 for nearly five months.
Big orange signs at the front of the rest stop and bathrooms warn about the site’s closure, and its RV dump port is also shut. Some residents are using gas generators to power their appliances.
“Can’t get rid of your waste, can’t wash your hands, can’t see in the dark, nowhere to evacuate — it’s brutally unkind,” said Peters.
Mike Farnworth, whose B.C. Ministry of Transportation is in charge of the highway’s rest stops, said the utilities needed to be shut off because of ongoing complaints.
“When you’re constantly receiving complaints in terms of public safety, when a facility has been fixed and gets vandalized literally the next day or a few days later — that cannot continue,” he said.
The City of Abbotsford said in an email the province informed the city it would close the rest area as part of overall work to expand Highway 1 — but didn’t provide timelines or let the city know it would stop services at the site.
“The city supports provincial and community best practices that give notice to all individuals and support agencies when people are required to move from encampments, and we are disappointed that this did not happen in this case,” wrote Melissa Godbout, a public relations officer for the city.
The rest stop is among a number of encampment sites created along Highway 1 over recent years, and will soon be closed for good.
A Transport Ministry spokesperson added in a statement the rest stop was removed from a provincial rest stop inventory in September.
Andrea Hoefner with the Cedar Outreach group said residents in the camp “are there particularly because they can’t actually afford housing right now, whether it’s fixed incomes or disability or whatever it may be.”
“A lot of individuals are feeling fear right now,” the outreach worker said.
Farnworth said residents aren’t being evicted yet, but will be told to move on at some point.
“Those individuals are not being evicted. At some point, they will be moved on and they will receive two weeks’ notice for that,” he said.
He said B.C. Housing is working to connect residents with shelter and other services.
