New tent encampment grows near Victoria, as Maple Ridge tent city hit by flood

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Police have asked the B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure to allow officers to enforce the Trespass Act after campers evicted from a Victoria-area tent city moved to provincially owned land.

As many as 75 people moved to the new site in Saanich on Friday, after a court injunction forced them out of Regina Park, roughly 500 metres away.

Police say the ministry has not authorized removal of the encampment from its property although officers have warned it is growing quickly and is now home to about 25 tents, with furniture and materials delivered to the site over the weekend.

The tent encampment at Regina Park was dismantled last week, more than five months after it was set up.

Meanwhile, residents of a separate tent encampment in Maple Ridge, east of Vancouver, say they will speak out after a severe hailstorm and flood tore through the Anita Place tent city Friday, affecting about 100 people.

Residents say they were promised resources to replace tents, tarps and bedding but most campers are still dealing with torn and broken tents, and soaked mattresses and blankets, days after the storm. (CFAX, The Canadian Press)