River Valley residents face Oct. 30 deadline

Some are leaving, some are staying, no matter what.

Residents of River Valley Park, a mobile home complex in Aweres, north of Sault Ste. Marie, have been instructed, in a letter from park owner Jasbir Dusanjh, to leave their homes in River Valley Park by Oct. 30.

The notice comes after a long saga in which Dusanjh has failed to provide a new sewage system for the park.

Many residents have arranged for other housing in Sault Ste. Marie or at other Algoma mobile home parks, not able to sell their homes at River Valley, while others are prepared to dig in for the winter.  

There are approximately 30 families still living at River Valley, about 15 to 20 homeowners involved in a lawsuit against Dusanjh, insisting the eviction notice is not a legal document.

Dusanjh was unavailable for comment.

“This has gone on for three years. The owners idea of handling it is turn their back on the whole situation. When the power went out recently, the tenants had to take up a collection to pay for hydro to come in and do the electrical work. The owners weren’t bothered with it,” River Valley resident Gary Primeau told SooToday.

“There’s no more sewage, which they’ve already stopped a month and a half ago, no septic trucks have come in to pump out the system, no garbage pickups, no water (Primeau and other residents having to purchase cases of bottled water).”

Primeau, who has lived at River Valley for six years, said he is dismantling and saving as many bits of his property as possible, having found accommodation in the Sault.

“The Algoma Legal Aid Clinic emphatically told us ‘look for housing.’”

“We’re being forced to abandon our homes. We get absolutely nothing from the owners, and we can’t take our homes with us,” said Primeau, who plans to be out of River Valley by the end of this month.

Primeau added he feels the province has been neglectful and is equally to blame, saying park residents have gone through various environmental issues for two decades with previous park owners.

“I’m thinking about going to geared to income housing in the Sault. The owners have done nothing here...some people plan on sticking it out but it won’t be plowed this winter,” said Robert Hamilton, who has lived at River Valley for 24 years.

“If I had to move from here I was hoping it would have been my choice as to when,” said resident Harold ‘Red’ Harrison.

“(But) I haven’t made any plans to move, in fact I’ve filled my oil tank. I don’t plan on going anywhere this winter. I’ll be here for 12 months, until I get a legal eviction notice. Until then, I’ll do whatever it takes and keep my feet planted.”

“I think it’s horrible, it really is, to live in limbo every day...we had a storm and the power went out and we as residents had to come together to fix it. The landlord hangs up on you when you call to ask for resolution.”

“It is uneasy living, but I’ve had a garden and watched my vegetables grow here, and I try to not think about it every day because if you did it would make you mad, it would make you crazy,” Harrison said.  

Another resident, who asked not to be identified, estimates it will cost him approximately $7,000 to move his trailer to a North Shore location.

“I give up on them (the park ownership),” he said.

“The park owner has not provided the ministry with any information regarding his intentions for the site. The property owner remains responsible for ensuring there are no off-site environmental impacts,” replied Lindsay Davidson, a spokesperson with the Ministry of the Environment’s Conservation and Parks office, in an email to SooToday.

Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (MOECC) has worked with Dusanjh for the past three years in an effort to fix the sewage problem.

Algoma Public Health (APH) has had concerns for the health of the park’s residents because of sewage leaks stemming from the site’s failed sewage system.

Leo Vecchio, APH manager of communications, declined comment, stating “this is currently in the court system” in an email.

Algoma-Manitoulin MPP Michael Mantha could not be reached for comment.

Mantha previously indicated support for the park’s residents, hopeful of finding a solution to the sewage problem.