Tom Green is leaving the mess of the last year at the Riverside Trailer Park behind him, literally.
Green was one of the 19 tenants who were given until Saturday, Sept. 30 to move out of the Squamish Nation park.
The tenants were all gone as of the Saturday deadline.
On Sept. 8, 2016, the Nation announced it was closing a portion of the park on its Seaichem Reserve by Saturday, Sept. 30, 2017, due to the cost of replacing outdated water and sewer infrastructure.
“The Squamish Nation has dedicated itself to treating all tenants fairly during the one-year, rent-free notice and relocation period,” said Squamish Nation spokesperson and Coun. Chris Lewis in a news release Friday.
“We wish to thank our former tenants for their understanding. We looked for ways to keep the park open, but in the end, closing the park was the only option left for us.”
Several of the tenants could not afford to move their trailers and so left them for the Nation to demolish.
The Squamish Nation has hired a contractor to demolish trailers and other structures that have been left behind, along with another contractor to clean up the individual pads and dispose of material, according to Lewis.
Green said while others destroyed their trailers in spite, he chose not to. Perhaps some Nation members can make use of it, he said.
For Green, Saturday marked the end of a year long emotional roller coaster as he, and the other tenants, tried to figure out where they would go and what they would do once the year was up.
Green was in his car driving to Ontario by 10 a.m. Saturday. Though he has two sons in the area, he is leaving Squamish to build a home in Ontario. He resigned his job at the District earlier this month.
“I am done crying,” he told The Chief. “For now anyway.”
Green moved to Squamish in 1995 with the goal of eventually selling his trailer and retiring. To have it end with his trailer abandoned, his investment gone and his future outside the district is “pretty heart wrenching and disappointing,” he said.
Six of the other Riverside families are being accommodated nearby at the Spiral Mobile Home Park.
One trailer is in place and the rest are being stored until they can be placed at Spiral.
The park is expanding to accommodate the newcomers. A resident of Spiral who did not want to give her name for fear of reprisals told The Chief accommodating the new residents is causing significant disruption for existing Spiral tenants. The one trailer in place now was moved onto the site as late as 3 a.m. last Thursday night, she said.
The others moving to Spiral have to find a place to stay while they wait.
Riverside’s Wendy Linton is staying with her boyfriend until her trailer is placed at Spiral and other tenants are staying with friends and family for the time being.
The expansion is also on previous green space that was used by the Spiral tenants.
“We have also had to put up with a month of our trailer shaking due to the diggers and operations going-on on the other side of our fence. I want these people to have a home but not at the expense of my sleep and my own home,” the Spiral resident told The Chief on Friday.
A fellow Spiral resident, however, said the disruption has to be put into perspective.
“Yes, we were woken up early Friday morning but a petition went around months ago and the majority signed in favour of letting those trailers in. So we lost sleep, these people were about to lose their homes,” said Coline Stefiuk on The Chief’s Facebook page.
The Nation previously launched litigation against two Riverside residents, including Linton, who had not signed an agreement to leave by the deadline. With the residents all moved off the park, Lewis said the Nation leadership has not yet decided if it is going to move forward with the lawsuits.
