It’s growing season in the Similkameen, and the temporary farmworkers have arrived - bringing with them the seasonal issue of farmworkers accommodations.
This year, incoming workers from other parts of Canada won’t even have the basic facilities that existed beyond the cement plant east of Keremeos, as the Farmworkers Campground was dismantled after last season.
Campers who expected to use the location again this year got a surprise on July 6 when they received a visit from Forest, Lands and Natural Resource compliance personnel, who effectively served an eviction notice on a number of campers who had already set up there. Originally the campers were given unitl July 9 to leave, but later had that extended to July 10.
“Where do they expect us to go?” asked Emma, one of those evicted. “There are new people coming in every day.”
On July 12, during a sweltering summer afternoon, a dozen or so campers could be seen in Pine Park, grouped under the shade of a couple of trees near the park’s washrooms. At the former campground, two tents remained set up .
Bob Warner, Compliance and Enforcement Officer at Ministry of Forests and Range told the Review that the ministry responded to a complaint about the campers taking up residence at the former campground site.
“We have concerns over health risks,” Warner said, noting that there was human waste and garbage strewn around the site.
“There are also fire concerns,” he added.
Warner could not say where the campers might go, commenting that the problem was an annual one.
“We try and do what we can,” he said, adding that it was the ministry’s intention to follow up on the order to ensure compliance.