The province is telling people living in a homeless encampment at the former Whatcom Road park and ride in Abbotsford to leave by Oct. 6. It comes following a shooting at the camp in March that left 69-year-old Wayne Versfelt dead. “I really don’t know where I’m going to end up or what’s really going to happen,” said Darren Heath, a man on disability benefits who has been living in his car at the encampment in recent months. “Since 2021, I’ve been living in and out of vehicles. Bus, motorhome, now this.” Heath is among the small group of people still living at the encampment who received letters from the Transportation Ministry telling them to move on—and it’s still sinking in. “(I’m) stressed, depressed; my anxiety’s through the roof,” Heath said. “There’s nothing for me.” CTV News spoke with another man who has been living at the camp—Randy Rosteski—who was more relaxed about the letter, saying he knew the day would come when he’d have to leave. “It’s not really a nice place to settle down and live,” Rosteski told CTV News at the camp. “It’s off the highway, there’s lot of traffic here, you know, and there’s all sorts of walks of life moving through here. It’s Whatcom, and it’s to be expected, eh?” The City of Abbotsford and Mayor Ross Siemens have been pressing the province to shut down the encampment, meeting earlier this year with Premier David Eby and Transportation Minister Mike Farnworth and urging them to close the camp and provide supports for those who have been living there. But despite its problems, the camp has been home for Heath, who says his disability payments are insufficient to cover rent. “What we really need is actual housing that’s affordable,” Heath said. “I even told the B.C. government when they were here. I said, ‘If you guys would actually stand up for people on disability and advocate for them, maybe the disability rates would be higher, and maybe so many people like me wouldn’t be on the street.’” Heath said he was offered a form of housing by a government employee, but said he had concerns as a former drug user. He doesn’t want to be placed in housing that could cause him to relapse after years of sobriety. B.C.’s Transportation Ministry declined an interview, citing the freshly called provincial election.
