The roaming homeless campers have moved to Cattle Point.
They moved in on Wednesday night and plan on staying until they are forced to leave.
28 campers are staying on the gravel parking lot at Cattle Point, and police showed up this morning to enforce a bylaw. Tents are not allowed to be set up after 9 am, and the campers have removed the poles from their tents, but their belongings remain spread out around the site.
Along with the police, a member of staff from the District of Oak Bay visited the campers to deliver a bill to the leader, Chrissy Brett.
The bill is from last November, when Brett and her campers stayed in Cattle Point. After they left, the District had to perform a Biohazard Sweep of Camp Sites. The bill amounts to $1,882.65 and includes a $740 charge for a biohazard sweep of the Oak Bay Cenotaph, $493 for a sharps sweep of Willows Beach Park, and a $517.75 charge for a sharps sweep and pick up and disposal of sharps containers of Municipal Hall Park.
When Brett was asked if she would pay the bill, she replied "I don't know, I was thinking I might give them a bill for providing the only shelter in Oak Bay for three weeks last year, and we'll see how many days we're here, so they may get a bill back from me." She adds that were no shelters in Saanich, until the Victoria Native Friendship Centre opened it's doors to the campers when they were forced out of Goldstream Park, but there still are no shelters in Oak Bay
Brett says they plan on staying at Cattle Point for as long as possible, but says they have some backup plans if they are forced to leave. She says they've hit Oak Bay but "John Horgan's area was a bit too far, and it was a bit too cold last night and this seemed like a lot quicker... We still have some issues with Saanich, so we might try this somewhere, probably not Rudd Park. Maybe one without a playground or a soccer field."
She says they are still waiting for the city, the province, and Canada to provide them with something other than a shelter bed, she says they need access to programs and services, and those should be supplied to the homeless as well.