Contaminated soil trucked away from former Victoria tent city site

Several truckloads of contaminated soil have been trucked away from the site of Victoria's former tent city as part of remediation and restoration efforts.

At its peak, the so-called "tent city" located across from the Victoria court house housed around 100 people who camped on the lawns for close to 10 months. The encampment was the subject of months-long court battle until the B.C. government received a court injunction to remove the camp in August 2016.

Many of the camp's residents were moved into supportive housing facilities, but the transition has not always been smooth.

Plans were put forward to re-grade and landscape the space into a playground.

Soil testing at the site revealed low levels of fuel and methamphetamines which made the soil removal necessary.

The Ministry of Technology and Innovation estimates about one tonne of dirt has been trucked away from the site and more is expected to be removed by the end of this week.

It is being processed at a facility just outside of Victoria.

The ministry says in a statement that the remediation is estimated to cost around $350,000.

The completed playground is expected to be ready for use in spring.

With files from Liz McArthur