Federal Housing Advocate hopes council will reconsider bylaw

PRINCE GEORGE — At last week’s council meeting, city council approved changes to the parks and open space bylaw to create a centralized encampment model. Since this decision was made, there has been lots of attention on this issue. Marie-Josée Houle, Federal Housing Advocate, says she is concerned about the city’s plan.

“It is a violation of both human rights and the rights of indigenous people. So and I hope that they take the time to really sit down with the right people in order to come to to these real solutions, because the real solutions are there. They are going to take time. But until they get there, they need to force people is is just going to cause more harm. And if they’re worried about liability, I would be more worried about the liability of not doing the right thing.” – Marie-Josée Houle, Federal Housing Advocate

Houle says that encampments are a choice of last resort.