Port Coquitlam bylaw manager Dan Scoones is apologizing after staff in his department dumped peat moss in an area where a homeless man was known to camp.
Scoones apologized "to anyone that was distressed by this" and said actions are being taken to ensure a similar incident does not happen again. "It is not something we are going to do again," he said. "It is not the right strategy and it is not sustainable."
In May, after bylaw officials asked a homeless man several times to vacate the area under the Lougheed Highway bridge, staff spread fertilizer in the area.
Scoones said there was no sign of the camp at the time the peat moss was spread and staff was attempting to make the area less desirable for camping in case the man returned.
Being so close to Our Lady of the Assumption elementary school and the PoCo Trail, he added, it is important that camps in the area are broken up quickly.
"They get going in a place and they take root," he said. "The next thing you know, you have more people and it starts to get a bit out of control."
The man who was living in the area has since moved to another location in PoCo, Scoones added.
A similar incident in Abbotsford, when a city crew dumped chicken manure at a homeless camp on June 4, drew a great deal of criticism.
