Newcastle neighbourhood residents gathered at a Nanaimo park, demanding change after another shooting left a man in critical condition at a well-known encampment for people experiencing homelessness.
Community members and neighbourhood advocates participated in the rally at Pearson Park on Tuesday, June 20, after a man was left seriously injured at the encampment along the Millstone River on June 14 – the second shooting in three months at or near the camp.
“I don’t really want to be here today, but we continue to show up because we care, because we want to do the right thing, because we want to prevent death and maybe save this area,” said Karen Kuwica, president of the Newcastle Community Association.
She added that there have been incidents not only involving stashed weapons and stolen property, but explosions, pedestrian-caused vehicle collisions and physical assaults in the area as well.
She said it is now too dangerous for volunteer and community cleanups along the river banks, and the last cleanup was in October 2022.
“In December of 2022, the Newcastle Community Association approached council to set aside funding for a Newcastle recovery action committee to address the root causes of safety and neglect in Newcastle. In April of this year, we applied for a watershed grant to rehabilitate the Millstone embankment. Both requests have gone unanswered,” she said.
Fred MacDonald, a Newcastle resident and member of the association’s crime reporting program, said the encampment not only poses a safety hazard to residents, but also to the ecosystem the camp is built on.
“Initially, I really enjoyed it because it was a beautiful setting, but in the past three years now I’ve seen every sort of illegal activity imaginable down here. Each activity has completely degraded the natural environments of essential good riparian area,” he said.
The association called on the city and the B.C. Ministry of Transporation, who owns the land, to take action and remove the “dangerous, armed and entrenched” encampment.
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bailey.seymour@nanaimobulletin.com
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