‘It’s very upsetting’: Residents of Lac du Bonnet campground being forced to leave following court order

A group of people who have trailers in the Lac du Bonnet area are being told to remove them immediately. Jon Hendricks reports.

A group of people in the Lac du Bonnet area are facing an uncertain future as they have been told they need to remove their trailers immediately.

There are 13 residents who live along the shores of the Lee River, but now they have been told they are no longer allowed to stay on the property, with some already starting to leave.

“Two have been, what I call, forcibly removed, and two have left on their own, not that they were in favour of leaving,” said Darren Sarapu, the owner of Leeside Park Marina.

The area goes back generations in Sarapu’s family, as his grandfather began renting the space in the late 1940s for friends to camp on his property.

As the years have passed, people have made the seasonal campground area their permanent summer home – people like Dave Brownrigg.

“This isn’t pull in Friday night, pull out Sunday afternoon. Everybody has taken pride in all the work they’ve done here,” said Brownrigg.

Sarapu doesn’t want them to leave either, however, the property is in violation of municipal bylaws.

Back in 2015, the RM of Lac du Bonnet obtained a court order requiring them to remove the 13 trailers from the property as they were not located within 19 approved spaces.

The court order was upheld in 2025.

“The landowner was advised to bring the property into compliance and that wasn’t done. So, we’re in a position where we are following the law and we are removing some of the structures,” said Loren Schinkel, the reeve of the RM of Lac du Bonnet.

It’s a move that is disappointing for the residents like Brownrigg.

“When I think of what has happened in the last 20 years to make it look like this, it’s very upsetting,” he said.

Sarapu isn’t giving up hope and has filed an appeal.

“My goal is to try my best to get them back here and back to some sort of normalcy, that maybe we can get past this,” said Sarapu.

The appeal is scheduled to be heard in September.