A Peterborough, Ont., homeless family has found a new campground to live at after being ordered to leave their paid site in the city this week.
Shanna Miller says it has been a whirlwind few days for her family since they packed up their belongings at Beavermead Campground and shifted to Red Setter campground, about 40 kilometres east near the village of Havelock.
The family had been staying at Beavermead since May 10, living in a tent while paying for a campground site. Miller claims they can’t find affordable housing or shelter spaces for her family, which includes her husband, three children and her mother. Miller and her husband Ryan have medical conditions that prevent them from doing regular work. Miller says she has a degree in network administration.
On June 18 the family was issued a trespass notice. Otonabee Conservation, which operates the park through a deal with the city, first asked that the family leave by June 21, but then extended the deadline to June 27. Among the provisions was that campsite payments could no longer be paid in cash. No reasons are outlined for the eviction notice.
Otonabee Conservation does not list any length of stay regulations on its website.
To date, Miller claims she still doesn’t know why her family was asked to leave, saying her family was quiet and kept their campsite clean. Miller says she was willing to resolve any identified issues.
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“I don’t know what I did and I just want to know,” Miller said Thursday. “Because if I did something wrong, I’ll face that. I will accept the onus. And I’ll apologize if there was a real issue, such as if my dogs barked. I’m sorry if my tent was an eyesore, I’m sorry if we left litter somewhere. I would have gone and done volunteer work to make up for it. Because that’s the way I was raised. I was raised to respect your community and you give back to it.”
Letters to the family were from Otonabee Conservation chief administrative officer Janette Loveys Smith. She has not responded to Global News’s multiple requests for comment on the eviction notice.
Miller says she wants an explanation for their eviction, noting she and onsite staff had a great relationship during the one-month stay at Beavermead.
“I don’t want to drop this. I don’t think it’s right, and I don’t think they should have the authority to do that to people,” she said. “Your site says you have these rules. If you don’t follow these rules, then you’re kicked out.
“Why is being homeless a rule? It’s not even a rule…. If you’re homeless, you can’t stay there?”
Miller says the family remains on several wait-lists for social housing and continues to search for their own housing in the city but paying for transportation remains a challenge. She’s also concerned about the distance for medical services for her mother.
For now, they’ve ditched their life in a tent after recently purchasing a camper, providing a better feeling of “security” for her family.
“Being in a tent was OK, but to have four solid walls around you is such a sense of normalcy — I cried, I’m not gonna lie,” she said.
“The first night we all slept in the trailer, that was definitely a huge sense of relief for everybody,” she continued. “Because it was like, this is ours. This is safe. And it’s dry. We’re not cold. We’re not wet. the wind is not blowing the tent around. You don’t feel it. And it’s so heartwarming to have that security.”
Peterborough city councillor Keith Riel, co-chair of the city’s housing and homeless portfolio, has stated “his main concern” is helping the family try to secure housing.
Miller says while she adjusts to her new settings, she hopes her story shares the message that not every individual who is homeless is “an alcoholic or drug addict” or doesn’t want to “contribute to society.”
She says she has spoken to legal aid about her impasse with Beavermead.
“You’re paying for a service, you should be allowed to have that service,” she said. “Right now it feels like because I’m considered the dredge of society, my money’s not good enough for you.
“I’m not asking for handouts. I’m not asking for it to be free. I’m asking to pay for your service. I should be allowed to do that.”
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