The roving protest tent city hit Oak Bay in October.
The camp set up behind municipal hall Oct. 10. Protest leader Chrissy Brett committed to move Oct. 17 as part of the protest strategy to move around the region every seven days. The camp shifted to Willows Beach, then the cenotaph in Uplands park before leaving for Saanich’s Gyro Park.
“The issue of homelessness is complex and polarizing. Police must use a measured approach when enforcing the law, particularly at a peaceful protest where there is a set date for departure,” said Deputy Chief Ray Bernoties, Oak Bay Police Department. “Our primary objective is to ensure public safety and we are committed to doing that.”
The protest camp vacated the cenotaph area of Oak Bay by the morning of Nov. 1 and parks staff started immediate cleanup ahead of Remembrance Day Services. Staff also remediated a memorial bench painted by campers during the stay.
Oak Bay High students raised enough cash to send 60 kids to camp during this year’s Cops for Cancer (C4C) campaign. Every year the students await the Cops for Cancer Tour de Rock team to drop by near the end of the 1,000-kilometre cycle of the Island before revealing their funds raised. This year the campaign raised $90, 034 for the cause through fundraisers including car washes, bottle drives and a lunch break filled with head shaves, leg waxing and pies in the face.
A coalition of volunteers, community groups, municipal staff and local businesses clear the largest masses of trash – abandoned boats – from Cadboro Bay beach on a rainy Saturday morning in October.
“We’re finally getting rid of the dead boats on Cadboro beach,” said John Roe, of the Veins of Life Watershed Society, among the early instigators of the cleanup.
He started his process four years ago after a fire started in one beached boat and raged into the treeline. He reached out to the Cadboro Bay Community Association 18 months ago. That fire-ravaged hull was cut into pieces and hauled away to Hartland Landfill.
