The residents of an unhoused encampment at Penticton’s Fairview Road can breathe a little easier after the provincial government’s application for an injunction was put over.
March 23 was scheduled to be the start of an estimated three-day hearing over the Ministry of Transportation and Transit’s application, which claims that the residents of the encampment are trespassing on the road dedication next to Highway 97, and that by occupying the land continuously and not simply camping overnight, they are violating the Transportation Act.
READ MORE: Province taking Penticton encampment to court
According to court records and the Penticton Court Registry, however, the case was adjourned in advance of the hearing on March 13.
That adjournment comes just two days after a response to the original application and its claims was filed on behalf of Jane Doe, John Doe, and the other unnamed 21 residents of the encampment.
The province was seeking an injunction that would force out all of the residents of the camp, as well as force the removal of all the structures that had been erected on the road dedication where the encampment is located.
In support of their application, the province raised issues of public safety on top of simple trespassing, citing the number of calls received by the Penticton Fire Department to the encampment, alleged tampering of the junction box for the intersection’s traffic signals, and other risks to safety through their presence near the intersection and roadway.
The public safety claims were directly challenged in the March 11 response, which argued that the residents of the encampment had worked with the fire department to make their living situation safer such as changing the warming structure’s heat source from propane to electric, that there is no evidence it was a resident of the encampment who had attempted to tamper with the junction box and that the intersection of Fairview and the Channel Parkway was already known as a highly dangerous intersection long before the encampment’s presence.
“To insinuate accidents are being caused by [the] encampment is inflammatory and not based in historical accuracy,” reads the March 11 response.
The response also raised previous court rulings that found unhoused individuals have a constitutional right to shelter outdoors when there is a lack of housing for them, and further raised the city council’s rejection of a BC Housing project for 50 tiny homes as
“Our community recently turned down a 50-unit housing project that would have met the need established in Penticton’s Point in Time Count done in 2025,” reads the response.
The Ministry of Transportation and Transit, as the named party on the application, was contacted with questions as to why the application was adjourned and when it might return. The questions were instead directed to the Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs.
“As this matter remains before the courts, we are unable to comment,” said the Ministry’s spokesperson.
The application was adjourned generally, which means that there is not a scheduled date for it to return.