This past summer I went camping in the Rocky Mountains. While there the conservation officers paid us a visit and told us about the bears in the area and how if we left food out in our campsite bears would be attracted and return again and again.
If a bear became accustomed to eating the food in the campground it would have to be trapped and hauled away so it would not become reliant on it and a danger to campers.
When bears did come into the campground, conservation officers shot rubber bullets at them or set off bear-bangers to scare them away. They did not want the bears to be comfortable in this location.
This made a lot of sense to me and I was sure to follow his advice as I definitely did not want to invite bears into our camp.
I’m wondering if the same logic should be used with the vagrants living in tents in various places in Abbotsford. We attract them by providing free food, clothing and everything else they need and then complain that they stay.
We are even talking about providing them housing on Valley Road where they will comfortably be able to do drugs and continue in other illegal activities.
Where are we going to draw the line?
Help is available for homeless people who want help. The people we see in these tent cities are vagrants.
They choose to live this way, and we make it easy for them. They do not want to go to the Salvation Army shelter because they could not continue to abuse drugs and alcohol. They do not want to live by any rules.
We need to quit enabling them in their present lifestyles and start protecting the rights, property and safety of hard-working, honest people.
Let’s stop inviting them into our community.
Vereena Fraser
Abbotsford
