Fraser Valley – Ross Aikenhead has been spearheading Chilliwack River Valley and homeless camp clean ups for 15 years and for the past 6 year, footing the bill on his own. That is a lot of time and effort. Aikenhead is not a spring chicken plus he has his own health issues to deal with. In a conversation with FVN last summer, he noted that , during the heat and drought, he had to watch himself as to not become exhausted.
In an open letter to the Ministry of Forest, Lands and Natural Resource Operations as well as the FVRD, he made it clear.
He has had enough.
The February 12 email went to Bruce Ralston Minister of FLNRO and Joyce Murray Federal Fisheries Minister among other people.
Dear Minister Ralston,
Allow me to introduce myself my name is Ross Aikenhead and I’ve been involved with cleanups around the Chilliwack area for over for 15 years. In the last 6 years I’ve been organizing cleanups on my own and since January 2019 my personal cleanups have removed 24,040kg or 53,000lbs of garbage and recyclables from the wilderness areas around Chilliwack. Most of what I’ve been doing for the last several years is up Chilliwack lake rd in the Chilliwack River Valley. Recently due to a cleanup just east of Allison Pool in the CRV Dec 29th funding for dump passes has been removed.
My landfill costs are roughly $600 per year, I supply my truck and trailer, my time, fuel, and miscellaneous expenses including maintenance, insurance and expendable items such as gloves and garbage bags at my own expense. I am not willing to add any additional costs to my already limited personal income.
Attached are some pictures from the Sweltzer creek camp at the confluence of the Chilliwack River and Sweltzer creek just before the Vedder bridge and Vedder River. The Cultus lake sockeye that are on the SARA list must pass right beside this area to get to Cultus lake never mind all the other species in this environmentally sensitive river system. I personally took it on myself to make contact with the people staying in this camp and arrange to clean up the area. We have removed 5,740kg from this difficult to access location so far and this area is on the riverbed in an area that floods frequently. There are still 2 people living in the camp so we can’t finish removing the remaining garbage until they get housing.
Several questions come to mind first and foremost is why is this even allowed to happen? The Sweltzer camp is one of many leaching toxic waste and sewage into the Chilliwack Vedder River corridor.
Why do volunteers have to deal with this type of situation that trained professionals should be dealing with?
From what I understand from the Tamihi bridge west to the Vedder bridge is a no camping zone on the Chilliwack River (section 58 I believe), who is supposed to be enforcing this?
I understand that many of these people have issues with mental health and addiction problems but that doesn’t give them any right to break the law or harm the environment.
The Chilliwack/Vedder River corridor is a very important and environmentally sensitive area that is used many people for fishing and many other outdoor activities it needs protecting by your Ministry and staff yet anytime I report an issue it gets ignored and anytime I have the opportunity to discuss issues with your staff I get told there is no funding available to do what they are supposed to be doing.
I have recently supplied the FVRD director for the Chilliwack River Valley with a up to date list of occupied camps and abandoned RV’s along with the coordinates for each one, as it currently stands I will no longer be able to help with any cleanups.
Thank you for your time.
Ross Aikenhead
