PROVINCE EVICTS CAMPERS FROM ‘FRENCH HILL’
Posted on 06 July 2010 by admin
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.
news@osoyoostimes.com
Tags | Add new tag, french
It is time for the Orchards to step up and start providing Housing, Bathrooms and Showers for their seasonal Workers. This is a problem all over the Similkameen, entirely caused by irresponsible Orchardist’s that are pushing their problems onto the surrounding communities.
Mexican Workers are enjoying all amenities while our fellow Canadians are being treated like third class citizens and are being forced to camp out.
Here we are fighting in Afghanistan for as we are being told “democratic rights “while we can not extend the French the same courtesy?
Canada, shame on you!
its unfortunate the mayor whom used to own a cherry orchard has buried his head in the sand over the strawberry creek affair but the people of osoyoos dont owe these kids from the belle province a living.i feel bad for them the policing of this problem could have started some years ago but the kids all say go to osoyoos its easy.now there here we say cet domage its too bad.i used to hire these people but it got to be to much of a problem so i pulled out the trees.id hire five and there would twenty five in my shower facility. and saccomadation.i think not
I come to Osoyoos from the Lower Mainland as much as I can. We even sometimes do the drive after work on a Friday, just so we can spend all day Saturday relaxing in the sun. We love it.
Going for a walk one day along the lake, I couldn’t believe what I saw. The amount of them at Gyro beach was unreal. To me, it brings down my enjoyment of Osoyoos a lot. They look very out of place, a lot of them drinking openly in public and just in general looking very dirty.
I was sitting down having a coffee with my wife on Main Street later that same day. Two of them walked by us and we almost threw up from the odor that they brought.
I’m not even a permanent resident of Osoyoos and it concerns me, it should concern the citizens and the mayor of Osoyoos.
The orchards should provide places for these people to stay. In Washington, the orchards have small cabins built to house their workers–it should be done here and these kids should not be living on the beach.
i love that this seems all new to people.
ive been coming to the valley for over 10 years off and on, picking for the summer.aho im english.
There are problems with the pickers thats true, including lazy punks who just come out for the party and dont want to work. but there are others who want to make money. and are able to if the farmers provide at least the basics to camp out for 3-4 weeks.running water, a cheap shower, those little things matter.
but not all the orchards are well run enough to be able to make money. old trees, no facilities, bitchy bosses.
and why does oliver have the brains to plan for this years ago, but osoyoos still gets surprised every year. maybe the senile people are rubbing off on the council?
thats why people smell when they walk down the street. thats why you get attitude when you tell someone he only made $30 dollars today.
hey, at least they’re french. isnt canada a bilingual country?
could be all spanish. oh wait…….
ps- am i the only one who thinks this happens EVERY year?
Pickers come, Town complains, French hill has a fire because no one cares, Loose Bay thrives because someone DOES care……..
its not like dirty french pickers have never been here before.
its not like this hasnt been happening for 20-30 years now.
Makes me want to run for Town politics, if I didnt hate politics so much……..
Seems to make sense to provide them with basic facilities.
Do they not spend a bit of their hard earned money in your town??
Make it a win-win !
They are someones sons & daughters.
I was picking in osoyoos last year. I didn’t stay on French hill, but i was there for most of the month of July. The orchard I was working on was good enough to allow us to camp on the property. It is a shame that many of the pickers do not respect the town or the surrounding area (garbage everywhere, etc.)
I really enjoyed my stay in Osoyoos last year, and was going to come back this year but was tied up with other stuff. I hope that something can be done not only to accommodate the workers who work in the seasonal industry and can be beneficial to the town.
Osoyoos is a beautiful town, one that i hope to return to. Best of luck. hopefully there can be a mutually beneficial solution.
there is no place for the pickers to stay. the farmer don’t want them on there land. hell, half the time they wwon’t even pay them for the work they have done. i find it hard to believe that the farmer will bring in people from other parts of the world, and put them into houseing. what’s wrong with helping your own, first. then there was this 5000 dollar grant given to the farmers in the 80’s to put houseing for there workers on there farms. what did you all do with that money. fun times in Vegas, or what? lokk honey, free trip to India, or was it Portugal?
after being homeless in that little town, working, haveing my dogs shot, horse abused, cows starved, ripped of time and again, by the farmers of that part of the world. my thoughts are that if you people do not want pickers from Canada, why don’t you get of your butts and get your fat butts out there and pick that posion crap yourself. good luck!!!!