The B.C. government has ordered the closure of the Cole Road rest stop in Abbotsford.
The rest stop, just off Highway 1, has become an encampment for people, with RVs, vans, cars and a school bus making a permanent home there.
But now, they have been ordered to move.
Joseph Sikora, director of Ground Zero Ministries in Abbotsford, said this notice from the government came with no warning and services to the rest stop have been cut off.
“These individuals, they don’t have any water, they have no power, they do not have anywhere to dump their refuse of the trailers and something else to highlight is that they have also removed the garbage bins from there, so there is no more garbage cleanup,” he told Global News.
“And the residents that are there, they use those services, you know.”
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Sikora said the people who live there do not pose a significant threat to the community.
“There’s mainly seniors that are living there that can’t afford a spot to park their trailer somewhere else. You know, they’re on their pension, you know, or disability and that doesn’t pay anything, right? They’re just scraping by just enough to afford fuel for their trailers, just to keep warm or food or whatever it is,” he said.
Sikora added these people are not in communities causing issues or committing crimes.
He said there is one resident with multiple sclerosis who needs water and access to the bathroom and now they don’t know where the people are going to go.
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Some have been living there for years, including a person in their 70s.
“All of a sudden, they just had their services cut off with zero warning, nothing whatsoever,” Sikora said.
“All of a sudden, one day they look outside and there’s … a bunch of people putting up signs and locks in the bathrooms and, you know putting big blocks in and cutting off the dumping for their trailers and stuff. And it gets… it isn’t right.”
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B.C. government to shut down two rest stop encampments
Mike Farnworth, B.C.’s minister of transportation and transit, told Global News that there are a number of reasons the site was closed.
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“One was the number of complaints that we are getting from police of issues around that particular site,” he said.
“The significant amount of vandalism that has been taking place there. It was intended for public use. It has not been that for some time. And so that’s why the services have been shut down. And then we will be working with the housing ministry to find accommodations for the individuals who are camping there.”
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Farnworth said the B.C. government will work with people living at the site and BC Housing to find appropriate housing placements for the residents.
Sikora said this issue just speaks to the need for more affordable housing for people and while there has been a lot of talk, there hasn’t been any concrete action.
“When we talk about affordable housing, well, to me, it’s all false because none of it is affordable for these folks,” he said.
“And then you get the SROs or the supportive housing, whatever you want to call it. And I’ve experienced for myself, going into those places all the time, is that 95 per cent of those people, that or even higher, that live in there, struggle with mental health and addictions. You know, and there’s drug dealers and criminal activity going on in those buildings more than what’s going on in this encampment.”
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Sikora said there are no solutions at this point, there are just people trying to survive.
“Nobody has gotten anything moving,” he added.
“And there’s all this talk about supportive housing and this and that and shelters. Well, all of the shelters are full. There’s nowhere for anybody to go.
“Some of these individuals that are staying in this encampment, even if there was a shelter bed for some of these people, they wouldn’t take them anyways because they’re above their level of care.”
Sikora said it sends the worst message to the province’s vulnerable citizens.
“They’re already feeling pretty vulnerable, like they have no value, no self-worth, no nothing, and this just sends the message even further, it’s like, we don’t care about you… I’m watching people die all over the place on waiting lists and it’s backwards,” he said.
“And the community, just like they don’t have any idea how hard it is for these individuals to actually get some help that they actually need.”
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
