2 years after Whiskey Creek homicides, community leaders say dozens still living in dangerous bush camps

Two years ago, three bodies were found in an off-roading area called Whiskey Creek on Vancouver Island.

Community leaders say if people living in the bush don't get housing and mental health support soon, it could happen again.

"Instantly, it can happen again," said peer support worker Kelly Morris.  "It probably is. We're just not hearing about it."

The community has been on edge, Morris says, ever since the three bodies were found on Nov. 1, 2020, in the Whiskey Creek off-roading area off Melrose Forest Service Road in rural Qualicum Beach.

Two of the bodies were inside a burned-out travel trailer. A fourth person was also injured.

The RCMP has not provided any updates on its investigation or the names of the victims in two years. According to Sgt. Chris Manseau, the homicides are still being investigated by the Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crimes Unit.

At the time of the homicides, Oceanside RCMP had stated in a news release that investigators believed the crime was "an isolated incident between parties well known to one another" and that there was no ongoing risk to the public.

Leanne Salter is the director of Electoral Area F within the Nanaimo Regional District, which includes the off-roading area where the bodies were found.

She estimates there are still close to 40 people living in bush camps in the Parksville-Qualicum area.

"We do have folks living rough in several areas and certainly in my area," she said.

Morris, who works out of Ocean Place in Parksville, says those camps are rampant with crime and violence.

"Out there, all bets are off," she told CBC News. "It gives predators a way in because you're out in the bush area, or nobody hears or sees what goes on."

Morris and Salter both say there is a desperate need for housing and mental health supports, but nothing is available in the area.

Land designated for agriculture

Salter has a solution that she believes could reduce the number of people living out of sight in the bush: allowing RVs to be camped on former agricultural land plots.

"How many RVs can you put on this land so that you have somewhere to live and you're not living in the bush?"

Approximately 20 per cent of land within Electoral Area F is designated as Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR), meaning it is a provincial zone where farming is encouraged, and non-agricultural uses are restricted.

Salter says these days, much of that land is sitting empty.

CBC News reached out to the provincial Ministry of Agriculture to ask whether it would consider allowing ALR land to be used for non-agricultural uses, such as RVs. The ministry did not respond in time for publication.

According to Salter, some landowners have allowed RVs on their property for years, including a property near where the Whiskey Creek homicides happened that was home to six or seven RVs.

"They had their own septic field set up. They had clean water," she said.

But the RV tenants were forced to leave after the improper use of the ALR was noticed.

"Where do they go? Because there is nowhere for them to go. Maybe the bush," said Salter. "That's the cycle that we're in here."

She says if RVs were allowed to park on that land, it would increase safety because the regional district would be aware of who was living where as part of the rezoning process in order to provide utilities to the RVs.