People working to help B.C.'s homeless population concerned about growing vigilantism

B.C. advocates working with the homeless population say they're concerned about growing vigilantism after a man was shot while trying to reclaim stolen property from an encampment on Vancouver Island.

Nanaimo RCMP were called to the incident Sunday afternoon, after the owner of a local mechanic shop — one of six people who went into the encampment to recover stolen tools — was shot in the stomach. 

Mounties said they don't condone the group's actions.

"Risking your life or possible injury to yourself or others over stolen property is not worth it," Const. Gary O'Brien said Monday. "People taking justice into their own hands, it never ends well."

In response to the altercation, Nanaimo Mayor Leonard Krog said the city is facing a public safety crisis that goes beyond the scope of what cities can control.

"When government is no longer able to protect people and their property, we are in a dangerous place," he said, calling for help from the federal and provincial governments.

Fiona York, an advocate volunteering at the tent city in Vancouver's CRAB Park, says she has come across many cases where unhoused people endured violence from members of the public but never heard of a case where a person seeking vigilante justice got injured.

York argues that vigilantism is "always going to be problematic."

"It never would be a recourse for people to take matters into their own hands like this, except in terms of building communication or building a relationship or engaging on a different level," she said.

Over the last year, RCMP across the province have issued warnings about vigilantism, where people decide not to call police to help recover stolen items, instead confronting the alleged thieves themselves and trying to reclaim the stolen property.

Last July, in Penticton in B.C.'s South Okanagan, Mounties became aware of neighbours discussing ways to recover stolen items without police assistance on the private Facebook group Clean Streets Penticton and expressed their concern. 

"The provocation of violence may result in serious injuries or other crimes, which further limit our detachment's limited resources," the police detachment said in a written statement.

In Dawson Creek in northeastern B.C., a similar group named "Citizens Take Action" was established last November and, according to local media, wrote city council saying it had "lost confidence in our local RCMP detachment's ability to address the acute rise in crime." 

In January, the group even started patrolling the streets and tailing suspects.