THE TROUBLE WITH TRANSIENTS

Once again that time of year has arrived, first a trickle, then a deluge of scruffy young people coming to town looking for a summer job and some fun.  With them comes the ongoing complaint of townspeople feeling unhappy about the collection of rather unsavoury looking characters hanging round our local park.

Dave and I moved to Oliver in May of 1990, just in time to discover the summer population of pickers, mainly from Quebec.

We bought the BelAir Cedar motel which, at that time, had a cherry orchard where people camped.  It was not a proper campground but had been zoned for that purpose.   Our intention was to put in a modern RV park, plus a tenting area.

The motel at that time was run down and in need of much TLC so we didn’t expect much custom in that first summer.  When the young pickers started to ask for camping, we were glad of the income and welcomed them to our property.

We found that the young people were mainly college students who were here to earn tuition fees for the fall semester, older people tended to be loners who were living on the edge of society, quite often with some sort of “baggage” that kept them from living, what we considered to be, a normal life.

The youngsters usually went off early in the morning then returned mid afternoon, dirty and tired.  After showering and resting up they would cook their meals and enjoy the pool.  Some of them were loud and silly others were fairly quiet.  After a few days, word got round that we allowed pickers and they descended on the BelAir in vast numbers.  We had to turn away many as the washroom facilities, at that time, consisted of one shower and toilet for each sex.

Problems came when the many people who could not find accommodation started to sneak in for showers and camping, after we had gone to bed for the night.  This became such a problem that, after a few years, we closed our campground to pickers.  The only exception being young couples, who kept to themselves and didn’t bring friends round.

We found that many orchardists let their workers tent in the orchard and told them to use the local campgrounds for bathroom facilities.  It was obvious that the pickers needed a cheap place to sleep, with basic facilities and we started campaigning local council to do something about providing a campground.

Our thought was for a facility near the packing house.  There was quite a bit of unused land there and it was close enough to walk to shops and the orchards while being away from housing, so any noise would not be a problem to sleeping neighbours.  A campaign of letter writing and turning up at council meetings got a few other people on the band wagon and Greg Norton’s voice carried a lot of weight.  Eventually, a rough camp was organized at the top of Seacrest Rd.  We contacted other campgrounds and between us we managed to donate several old picnic tables and firewood.

The problem with the camp was it’s location.  At the end of a long, hot day of picking cherries, the pickers had to hike back along the highway then slog a couple of miles up a steep hill.  Not a good thing to have to do when you are dirty and tired.  The facilities were very rough and showers were almost non existent in the first years.  A shower meant standing under a hose pipe of cold water.  Camping by the river was easier as the river provided washing water and the walk was so much less, after a long day’s cherry picking.

Collecting in the park is an obvious thing to do.  After a day’s work, everyone needs to hang out and relax and the park offers shade and room to lie around and enjoy some relaxation time.  Trouble is, young people are usually messy, unless a parent is there telling them to pick up the litter and clean up after the dog.  What is the answer to this problem?  Most orchardists will not provide decent accommodation, the “Loose Bay” camp is such a long way to walk, where else do we expect these young people to hang out?

We still need an area close to town, somewhere by the packing house still seems like a good idea, I’m sure they would gather there if it was offered.  The constant haranguing from by-laws officers, police and local residents has no effect except to antagonise the pickers.  They are not second class citizens, they are young people like any others and, apart from a few oddballs, they are just wanting to earn a living and enjoy summer.

How come Mexican workers are welcomed to the community, have health care and decent accommodation with kitchens and bathrooms, while our countrymen are shunned and unwelcome?  Sure, they look dirty and scruffy, we do not offer them a place to get clean.  They probably do not use any more drugs than the local kids but are just more open about it.  They collect in a gang because they feel safe that way however, I have never found any problem with these kids, if I am polite to them I get the same respect back.

When we were working on the Farmers’ Market, we would quite often give the groups of kids left over baking.  Their response was a look of delight and effusive thanks.  Any bad language would halt at my approach and they were always respectful.  They look messy and they are taking up our public spaces, if we don’t like it why do we not press our local council to give them another place that is not so far out of town.  They are a fact of life and will not be going away any time soon so, instead of us ganging up on them, let us look for a permanent solution.

Editor’s Note: This is but one side of a coin. Write your story of anything to do with this subject and it will be printed. It must be written with the same care and civility that Pat has put into this article.