I and my family have camped for years, sometimes in provincial campsites, sometimes in minimal forest-service campsites and sometimes just in the bush.
One rule we followed without exception was that before we left, we cleaned up after ourselves: no garbage, campfires extinguished and a 鈥渙nce around鈥� the camp to ensure it was left exactly as we would like to find it when we arrived. Nobody had to 鈥渞emediate鈥� our campsite at taxpayers鈥� expense.
Yes, I am empathetic to homelessness and as a foster parent, I have opened my home to many kids in need of a safe place to live. However, I鈥檓 getting tired of hearing all the rhetoric about 鈥渄iscrimination鈥� from people who think it is their God-given right to squat and leave a mess for other people to clean up, without regard to the rights of everybody else in the community.
Adding insult to injury, some of the tent-city residents even defended the 鈥渇ootprint鈥� (mess) they leave behind. You want my vote to allocate my tax dollars for more social housing? Then clean up after yourself.
Peter M. Clarke
Victoria
