Naloxone, meds, and memorials all trashed by bylaw, Victoria residents allege

Naloxone kits pulled off Pandora Ave’s fences and discarded. 

Memorials for deceased loved ones dismantled. 

And a person’s death 48 hours after a bylaw sweep trashed rescue medication for their lungs.

In this second part of our investigative series, we heard from unhoused people, advocates, and researchers about the devastating impacts of increasingly aggressive bylaw enforcement.

We spoke to residents of Pandora about the fallout from officers throwing away possessions that are physically and emotionally important to them. 

Multiple also allege that officers threw out mobility aids — preventing them from following what the city wants them to do to avoid losing more possessions.

This after our first article proved — by tracking items with Apple AirTags — that tents end up in the landfill within days of a bylaw sweep, despite the City of Victoria’s insistence that no such thing happens to new or otherwise functional items. 

Victoria bylaw officers trashed newly donated tents within days — contrary to city claims

The city has disputed years of claims that it discards unhoused people's belongings. De Facto reporters tracked new tents and carts to see where they ended up.

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Video evidence from unhoused folks like Mar Hamel also shows how the process of retrieving impounded items is not always as straightforward as the city claims. 

Nor are bylaw officers always impartial in how they treat individuals on the street, per witness testimony. 

With three days til votes open for BC’s municipal elections, the issue of homelessness and “public safety” pervades candidate debates. 

But the city’s current enforcement is jeopardizing the safety of most at-risk members of its public, experts argue, costing them money and opportunities to get housing.

Victoria’s incumbent mayor also responded to our investigation with some defences for increased bylaw enforcement, and a few ideas for the future if she were re-elected.

Meanwhile researchers point to a growing conflation of bylaw and policing in municipalities across Canada, in contrast with what they say is sorely needed: funding for more housing and support services from all levels of government. 

Read Part 2 of our investigation here:

'All I have left’: As election cycle spotlights homeless crisis, bylaw seizures ‘devastating’ for Victoria’s unhoused

Many cities are seeing bylaw enforcement ramp up. BC’s capital is a case study — and it’s hurting those already most vulnerable

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