Calls to Action
- Basic needs like water, food, bathrooms, showers, and safe shelter must be prioritized and sustained for those living in encampments.
- Increased transparency and oversight of municipal bylaws is needed to prevent discriminatory or arbitrary evictions.
- Culturally grounded, Indigenous-led services are essential to truly support Indigenous encampment residents. Onsite access to health, mental health, substance use, and cultural supports must be available.
- Coordination between services should be improved so residents do not have to navigate fractured systems.
- Any encampment response should be done in consultation and relationship with encampment residents, ensuring responses build relationships, trust, and meet residents’ needs.
- Municipalities must engage Indigenous governments and service providers from the start in accordance with the principles of meaningful consultation set out by DRIPA and the MMIWG Calls for Justice. Indigenous service providers must receive adequate resources to participate.
- Address fire safety concerns through harm reduction approaches and resident-led fire mitigation measures rather than through evictions.
- Municipalities and the Province should report outcomes and key metrics. Intersectional data and Indigenous-led analysis will be essential.
- Robust housing retention and wrap-around services across the housing continuum are needed to prevent homelessness.
- All encampment responses must align with Indigenous rights as affirmed by UNDRIP and BC’s Declaration Act, a standard which current practices routinely fail to meet.
Encampment Scan Themes
The following themes begin to capture the lessons from communities across BC and are intended to guide both immediate advocacy and long-term systemic change.
Public Safety & Fire Hazard as Default Narrative
This framing leaves little room for residents’ perspectives and harm reduction approaches.
Minimal Indigenous Involvement in Decision-Making
AHMA’s scan found few municipalities where Indigenous organizations or First Nations played a significant role.
Displacement as a Harmful Cycle
Residents often reported moving to another encampment or into homelessness shortly after encampment removals.
Violation of Rights
Basic rights to shelter, sanitation, consultation, and culturally safe services are not fully upheld in most encampments.
Need for Meaningful Consultation and Participation
This absence of consultation undermines respect for self-determination and community leadership.
Selective & Politically Influenced Enforcement
Some encampments remain for years; others are cleared within days, often correlating with political pressure.
Media Reporting Emphasizes Hazards
There is limited media coverage of residents’ lived experiences, the role of poverty and systemic racism, or Indigenous perspectives.
Underlying Systemic Issues Driving Need
For Encampments
Including the lack of affordable housing and inadequate income supports.
Lack of Consistent, Culturally Safe Supports Onsite
Indigenous cultural safety and trauma-informed care were rarely mentioned or integrated.
Insufficient Mental Health & Substance Use Services
Encampments often have residents with complex needs, but services were either not offered or inaccessible due to eligibility or capacity issues.
Housing Retention & Eviction Prevention Supports Needed
Offers provided to encampment residents are often shelter, supportive or temporary housing.
Emergency Response
vs Long-term Supports
Many encampment removals focus on short-term outcomes rather than long-term or holistic support.
List of Municipalities Included in the Scan:
The following municipalities are included in the Encampment Scan. To view the full details of each municipality, read the scan.