The Squamish Nation doesn’t have development plans for the property it is evicting trailer park tenants from, a Nation spokesperson told The Squamish Chief.
“At this stage we don’t have any plans for the future use of these lands,” said Squamish Nation Coun. Chris Lewis.
Homeowners of 19 trailers at the Riverside Trailer Park in Brackendale, on the Squamish Nation Seaichem Reserve, were told at a meeting on Sept. 7 that they have one year to find somewhere else to live.
Tenants are being asked to leave the park by the end of September 2017 because the park is no longer financially viable, Lewis said.
“We looked at all of the options available to keep the park open. The cost to replace [and] repair the infrastructure system to create a long-term safe and healthy environment is not economically viable.”
To upgrade the park, which opened in the 1960s, and connect it to District of Squamish water and sewer infrastructure, would cost upward of $500,000, a Nation release stated. The park operates at a loss, Lewis said.
Park resident Mark Taylor said the eviction leaves his family in a devastating situation. His three-year-old son, Kyle, has stage four cancer and Taylor now worries where his already overwhelmed family will live.
“They don’t know the impact or devastation they have done,” Taylor said of the Squamish Nation. “I can’t afford rent in Squamish. I’ll be in the streets now with a mortgage [and] no home.”
The family still owes close to $50,000 in mortgage on his trailer, Taylor said, adding he can’t pursue bankruptcy because he needs credit for medical bills.
“I’m scared and lost. What am I going to do financially? My son’s health is impacted with no home to go to.”
For the next year, owners will not have to pay their $400-a-month pad fees, according to the Squamish Nation, and they are eligible to each receive a payment of $9,600 if they move by Dec. 31, and $4,800 if they leave before March 31, 2017. The residents have until Sept. 30 to inform the Nation of which option they are choosing.
Provincial laws for mobile home parks do not apply to this park on Indian Reserve No. 16, according to the Squamish Nation.
The trailer park has been embroiled in controversy in recent years after tenants received a letter in 2012 from the Squamish Nation claiming their landlord, Bill Williams, who had run the park for decades, had no right to operate on a portion of the park and homeowners were essentially trespassing on the land.
Since then, the homeowners have been unable to sell their trailers.
The Squamish Nation “has no documentation regarding the arrangements made between these tenants and the Williams family,” the Nation news release states.
The Squamish Nation took over operation of Lots 6 and 7 in the park in January of 2013.
“This land always belonged to the Nation,” Lewis said.
The rest of the park is under the control of the Williams.
“The Williams Family was granted a Certificate of Possession (CP) under the Indian Act for Lots 1 and 2 on June 4, 1998,” Lewis said.
Tom Green, who bought his Riverside trailer in 2009, and is now facing eviction, said he plans to look into the cost of relocating his trailer onto another piece of land.
“I don’t see how there is any way of forcing Squamish Nation’s hand to keep that park open,” he said. “They want to close it, it is that simple.”
Julie Gamache and her boyfriend bought their home about four years ago for close to $100,000 and have done extensive renovations, she said.
“No one is happy,” said Gamache, a Squamish Chief employee, after the meeting. “It is like they threw a bomb on us.”
Gamache said she doesn’t know what she is going to do next.
“There’s nowhere in Squamish to take an older trailer like this,” she said.
Green and Gamache said since the meeting some residents have talked about hiring a lawyer to represent them in a class action lawsuit.
Lewis said he couldn’t comment on such a case as no action had been filed.
“What we can say is, the land is federal lands; the provincial act does not apply. But we are still trying to adhere to the spirit of the legislation,” he said. “This boils down to a year of notice. But we are giving a year’s notice, rent free, plus more, being the incentive is up to $9,600. The tenants are residing in the park on a month-to-month basis.”
