In less than 24 hours, the City of Penticton has issued an official response to statements made by Penticton-Summerland MLA Amelia Boultbee.
Boultebee took to her Facebook Sunday night regarding the city’s response to the homeless encampment off Fairview Road.
Boultbee said she met with the city on Jan. 28, which is when members of the encampment cleaned up the site, to discuss the ongoing concerns about the encampment.
Two weeks before Boutlbee’s meeting with the mayor and two of his staff, the city said it was working with the snpink’tn Indian Band to address the growing concerns.
It is a complex issue because the chunk of land the encampment sits on falls outside both the city and band’s jurisdiction and the responsibility lies with the province.
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Boultebee claims she has been invited to zero meetings, received zero correspondence and essentially had no interaction or response from the city regarding the encampment since that January meeting.
“In short, the city of Penticton cut out their elected MLA for six whole months and in that time what happened,” she said. “The encampment quadrupled in size and is now “too dangerous” for PIB guardians to go there.”
That changed last week.
The MLA, who is serving her first term, said she was asked to attend a meeting with the city on Friday, which she claimed was termed “an emergency” and the word “crisis" was used.
In her Facebook statement, Boultebee claimed there were no elected officials in attendance, only her and city staff. She said she was told the situation was now “extremely dire” and the province has not offered to help with clean up, rehab of a nearby creek and other safety measures.
“Well, when this situation was far smaller I could have been able to get some of those things to mitigate the situation had this city council and their staff actually taken me up on my offers to help,” she wrote. “Now here we are, the situation spiralled out of control with one week left in the spring session.”
Boultebee claimed the mayor declined to take a meeting with her, however, she has asked Conservative leader John Rustad to address the issue directly with David Eby on Wednesday.
In response to the claims made by the MLA, the City of Penticton sent out their own statement, in which the city said they were disappointed with the comments.
“I was surprised to see MLA Boultbee disclose details from a confidential briefing, not an emergency meeting. I was in attendance at an RDOS Board Meeting and unable to attend,” said mayor Julius Bloomfield.
“This briefing was intended to support ongoing efforts to bring resources and increased investment to Penticton.”
In the statement, the city said sharing the sensitive information and political commentary is “reckless” and “undermines trust and effective collaboration, potentially compromising provincial resources coming to Penticton through the Heart & Hearth program.”
The city said Boultbee has been kept informed as needed, but municipal operational decisions and confidential discussions fall outside the MLA’s scope.
In the statement, the city said the encampment sits on land under provincial authority and pointed out that Boultbee could have advocated on the issue in legislature at her own discretion.
“We’ve been steadfast in our commitment to action – even if it appears slow. Progress takes time and these are complex issues,” the city’s statement noted.
“This matter does not come with a simple solution. To dismantle the encampment without a lawful or strategic plan to support its vulnerable residents would only do more harm to its residents and cause negative impacts to our community.”
The city said it continues to work with the provincial government, BC Housing, ministry staff and snpink’tn Indian Band to address the complex matter.
