Photo: CTV

Goldstream Provincial Park

Homeless campers who had hoped to settle for two weeks at a provincial park near Victoria say they have been told to leave, less than a day after setting up their tents.

The group was ousted from a provincially owned green space in nearby Saanich earlier this week, just days after a court order forced them out of another park that some of the campers had occupied since the spring.

A spokesman with the Environment Ministry confirms it is aware that Goldstream Provincial Park is being closed at 11 a.m., adding the ministry is preparing a statement on the issue.

Chrissy Brett, a spokeswoman for the campers, says RCMP officers, park rangers and other officials visited the campsite on Wednesday to announce the park closure.

Brett says the decision was a surprise because the group believed it was abiding by campground rules and had just completed the paperwork required for passes granting disabled people a free stay for up to two weeks at the park.

In July, North Thompson Provincial Park near Clearwater, B.C., was suddenly closed and all campers were ordered to leave as RCMP evicted a protest by an Indigenous group opposed to the Trans Mountain pipeline.