The rumours in BC from 16 years ago are ramping up again, taking a new form: Vancouver is sending homeless people to your community on busses.

But local officials seeking the proof have turned up with nothing yet again.

There are suggestions in communities across the province that homeless people are being put on busses in the lead-up to the FIFA World Cup games in Vancouver, like when the city hosted the 2010 Olympics.

The rumours are turning up in places like Kamloops, Merritt, Prince George, Williams Lake and Duncan. At least they are on community social media pages.

“Apparently they get 2,000 dollars each to come and further our problem here and to other cities,” one post about Kamloops reads.

A Merritt business owner, whose video has around 40,000 views, said “the FIFA bums” are in the Nicola Valley town and heading to other communities. In the Cariboo, a Prince George city councillor’s attempt to quell the rumours on social media was shot down with dozens of commenters claiming he was wrong or complicit.

In Kamloops and Merritt, they weren’t just nameless suggestions on social media. City officials grew concerned about it and sought to verify whether there has been an influx unhoused people.

The mayor of Merritt acknowledged an increase in homeless people in April, while police in Kamloops have actively sought to confirm whether it’s happening.

“They have not received any confirmation with respect to what’s come up online… Again, it’s very challenging to get confirmation from individuals, as well as agencies, whether or not this is truly happening,” Kamloops RCMP municipal services manager Alisha Beday said at a recent council meeting.

Although she said it’s difficult to prove, the rumours have floated in the city for weeks. Police have attempted to confirm whether it’s happening, and non-profit staff who spoke with iNFOnews.ca said there’s so far been no evidence.

“It’s around and around and around, with no definitive (proof) that anyone’s being bused,” Kamloops Coun. Mike O’Reilly said at the meeting. “In my seven-and-a-half years here we’ve been hearing that, and no evidence has ever been shown.”

The city of Vancouver has denied the claim, which is strikingly similar to the persistent urban myth that people were shipped to other BC cities as the Winter Olympics approached in 2010.

Despite criticism of the way Vancouver dealt with its local homeless population, there was no evidence they were being sent elsewhere.

So far, there’s no evidence it’s happening in 2026 either.