A motion to prohibit overnight sheltering in certain Powell River, B.C., parks and public spaces and allow it in others was defeated on Tuesday night.
“Since we had a shelter that closed in May of last year, 2025, the number of homeless people sheltering in parks has increased, mostly in forested areas,” acting Mayor George Doubt told Global News.
“We have a new building called the Driftwood Shelter that houses 40, but it’s not big enough to house everybody that’s living rough right now.”
LIFT ran the shelter that closed in May 2025, but they lost the lease on their property and had to close down, Doubt explained.
“So from May 2025 until they opened the Driftwood Shelter, there was really no shelter in Powell River.”
The Driftwood Shelter opened in late April this year.
Pat Martin organized a gathering of residents ahead of the council meeting so people could have their say.
“I want to have a safe community and we do not have a safe community anymore. We used to have a safe community. I was born and raised here in Powell River. I went away, I did a lot of work in third-world countries. I’ve come back, I’ve made this my home and I have a lot of compassion for people, but what’s happening is not working,” she said.
Martin said the city council needs to put more thought into the plan for the unhoused in the community.
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Mark Scott with the Westview Ratepayers Society, which advocates for local residents, spoke at the rally on Tuesday.
“We believe there is a better way,” he said.
“And the better way is hearing from you and working together on solutions. We don’t have all the answers, but we’re very confident that we’ve got a better way that’ll move us forward with your voice — not in isolation, not seven guys on council making a decision, but all of our community.”
Scott said they sent a letter to the acting mayor and council a few weeks ago outlining what he said is a plan to address homelessness in the community.
Resident Nichole Strickland spoke at the council meeting, saying she, like many residents, feels frustrated that their voices are not being heard.
“This is not about lack of compassion; I think every person deserves dignity, support and a community to rebuild their life, but compassion also means creating solutions that actually help people, not simply relocating a complex issue into one of our city parks,” she said.
An unhoused person, identified only as Robert, spoke at the meeting, saying people are not looking for a handout, but a hand up.
“A lot of us try to just make it through the day and do the best we can and try to live a better life,” he said.
“We struggle, we have our issues, we understand that, but we don’t want to harm people, we don’t want to hurt children, nothing like that.”
Ultimately, no one was in favour of changing the bylaw, with Doubt saying he thinks they need to pause and rethink how they move forward with this plan.
He said everyone in the community, including those living in the forested areas and parks, should be involved in formulating a plan.
Coun. Jim Palm said this is not an easy subject to talk about.
“It just puts you in another space as to what’s going on out there because I walked the encampments this morning and saw first hand — actually, that’s the first time I’ve done it; I should have been there previous — but what I saw was certainly not healthy,” he said.
Palm said that what he saw was unsanitary and that he did not feel safe walking the trails.
“There are two-storey structures with windows; it’s just mind-boggling what’s out there,” he added.
Coun. Trina Isakson agreed that the issue is a complex one.
“There’s concerns about supporting the dignity of people living in encampments,” she said.
Great reporting, I like how you filmed homeless people without their consent and didn’t interview a single one. Did you get footage of all the trash the protestors left behind at city hall? I suppose littering is fine as long as you have four walls and a roof waiting for you somewhere. The best part of this high-quality news coverage is where you point out that the amendment being defeated simply preserves the status quo, which is that folks can camp anywhere because it’s unconstitutional to evict them. This amendment was supposed to designate certain parks, that aren’t full of children, for those encampments THAT ALREADY EXIST. But you trusted all the info that the professional Karen who organized that rally told you, and did absolutely zero investigation. Top notch reporting, love it.
It’s not a homeless problem…it’s a drug problem…rehabilitate drug addicts and the homeless encampments will go away…stop pampering drug addicts…
One facet of the homeless problem in B.C…. .especially the Island and LML……is that many of them have moved here to enjoy the mild climate, sometimes with the help and encouragement of their home province. The costs to BC are immense! Send them back to their home province!
So concerning for people that actually own their homes and contribute to society. Where I live, there has been an area of private property cleared out to access a massive tree that needed to come down. Our crescent is now freaking out that homeless are going to set up in there even though there is Private Property and No Trespassing signs. It doesn’t matter who you vote for Federally or Municipally, their words mean nothing.
This is happening to many small towns everywhere in canada. It is not just a provincial issue. Our local NDP and federal Liberals have turned our once beautiful small towns into a free for all hellscape.
This right here is the problem with Canada; this country gives way too many rights to people that contribute nothing to their community except property theft, violence and open-air dr*g use. And the people who work and want a safe community, get to live in a hood because it’s not about what contributing members of society want, we just go to work everyday and pay our taxes but that’s where the “benefits” of living here end. They need to clean up the streets and stop waking these add**ts up after they croak out.
Elections, October, 2026
We ALL need to do our research on each and every candidate.
Pay close attention to those running for a second term, and have done nothing.
Global, come on, help us out with candidates.
Surrey for example has an actual career lobbyist, that worked for Starchuk, but is running on the phone the Chief, Annis slate.
Clearly each and every City needs more journalist digging into candidates.
To help us find who will represent us. Obviously this group in Powell River has failed the residents.
Sound to me like the council needs a change. Elections in October. You were elected to serve your community not disregard their concerns and not work together for a solution. They feel unsafe and its not sanitary. Listen to the taxpayers that support the community. Trina Isakson is more concerned about the “dignity” of the homeless not about what this does to the “whole” community. Seems no one on the council is willing to do something about it, pause and reflect for what exactly? So you can enjoy your paid summer vacation? Get busy and work with your community and taxpayers, there are solutions.
So the city needs to arrange safe dorms for the people looking for shelter. Bring in drilling rig camps is 1 simple option. There are some that are not suitable for paying workers, but would be just the thing for those in tents or shacks. If they can afford to build 2 story shacks, then can afford rents.
We need to quit thinking of providing everyone with a house, or even separate bachelor suits. Anything should be better than living in the woods, with no sanitation or protection.