City and police officers clear encampment in Nanaimo, B.C.

As city officers clear out an encampment in Nanaimo, B.C., one local outreach organization says they should've been given more notice to help ensure things were done in a "trauma-informed way."

The camp is located along the banks of the Millstone River, down a steep slope next to Terminal Avenue, on property owned by the B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure.

In a statement, the ministry said it has committed funds for the three-day cleanup, with the city, bylaw and local contractors, and the RCMP coming up with the plan and providing boots on the ground. 

According to the city's community service officer (CSO) program, the encampment has been abandoned in the last two weeks, enabling them to get started on the cleanup.

"We come in and give them lots of notice of what we're going to be doing," said senior officer Barry Hornby.

"When we came in here last week, there was no one on-site and it was free for the crews to work safely and do this huge cleanup."

But the executive director of Nanaimo-based non-profit Risebridge said they were not notified ahead of time, and did not know the operation was happening until it had already begun.

"As advocates and outreach workers, we had no idea that that was happening," Jovonne Johnson told CBC News.

"If there was people's personal belongings there, knowing ahead of time meant we could have been doing it in a more trauma-informed way to support that community members that are relying on that area."

Johnson said the organization frequented the area, supporting up to a dozen or more people at the encampment at times, and that it was never a large group due to its location on the embankment.

According to Hornby, community service officers and police visited the encampment twice a week in the the last two weeks to confirm people had left, and that no one was at the encampment when clearing started on Aug. 1.

When CBC News visited the site just after 12 p.m. on Aug. 1, the encampment was empty except for the CSOs and cleanup crew. 

Hornby said encampment residents have moved to other areas, such as Bowen Park or Caledonia Park, and that some have left the city or found housing. 

Hornby also said items of value retrieved from the encampment will be kept in storage for 30 days until they are claimed, and that stolen property will be returned where possible. 

The encampment was the site of two high-profile shootings this year, including one in March when a local auto shop owner went to the encampment to retrieve stolen property and was shot, requiring multiple surgeries.

Johnson said the organization has asked in the past to be involved in efforts such as this.

"We can help keep resources, store items here, make connections with the people that are calling those places home at that time," she said. 

"We do our best to support that situation instead of coming in, you know, with a very enforcement attitude."

She said there should be more focus on establishing resources and services for the unhoused community. 

CBC News has reached out to the transportation ministry for comment on the cleanup efforts.