VICTORIA -- A government-commissioned environmental report says harmful chemicals from two suspected drug labs and gasoline and other fuels have contaminated the former site of a homeless camp at Victoria's courthouse.
The report says clean-up efforts will involve removing nine trees and scraping away almost half a metre of contaminated soil to make way for a children's playground.
Amrik Virk, British Columbia's minister responsible for site, says the cleanup is expected to cost $350,000 and involves removing more than 75 dump truck loads of contaminated soil.
The environmental report says soil samples found levels of benzene, zinc, and hydrocarbons above standards along with detectable concentrations of methamphetimines and traces of heroin, cocaine, acid or LSD, and MDMA.
The camp saw more than 100 homeless people build a village of tents and lean-tos on courthouse property in the middle of an affluent, tree-lined downtown neighbourhood.
Area resident Sue Mackenzie says the months-long camp turned her neighbourhood into a war zone, and now she's pleased the area will become a park and those who were camping have found homes.
