Tent activists passionately defend people on the street

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A press conference in the tented city of Hastings on Tuesday was well designed and well written by the activists who organized it.

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They chose the perfect location outside of the Balmoral Hotel, a famous one-bedroom squat building that was closed by the city and is scheduled to be demolished.

The front of the Balmoral was decorated with black and yellow banners reading, “Where are we supposed to go?” and “We all know: housing in BC is corrupt. When will the Province and City fix unbelievable conditions in SRO and supportive housing?”

Organizers even went after the NDP’s David Eby, who is generally considered one of the party’s most progressive leaders and was until recently in charge of creating affordable housing in the province. A banner labeled Eby as “Former Housing Minister. Future Premier of Evictor-in-Chief of BC Vancouver.”

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There were about a dozen speakers, both activists and tent residents. However, the most moving speech did not come from the official press conference, but from a woman who began to passionately shout her opinion on how society has failed people living on the streets.

Maggy Gisle said those people weren’t given “the skills and tools, they don’t know how to live on life’s terms.”

“I want to talk, because I was here for 17 years and no one cared about these people,” he said. “It was the city of Vancouver that created the Downtown Eastside. It wasn’t the people. The city of Vancouver created this. There was no 24 hour drug dealing. We all had other jobs and lives.

“But our public education system doesn’t give us the tools to face life, on life’s terms. And that’s how we ended up here.”

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Gisle said she was able to break out of the cycle of poverty in the Downtown Eastside “because I had the support of a community that cared about me.”

“Now we have to worry about these people, because they are the most vulnerable,” he said. “They are our children. They are our brothers and sisters. They are our people. They hurt. They are broken. And they need the supports, because nobody wants to be down here. No one.”

He ended up condemning those who ignore the plight of the people on the street.

“Don’t walk on them and kick them like a dog you don’t want anymore,” he said. “Because they don’t want to live like this either.”

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She was followed by a speaker seething with anger.

“We should have shot and killed, cooked and smoked the first settlers who came to our land,” said Robert, who said he was from the Kwakwaka’wakw Nation.

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“Maybe we wouldn’t be in this situation, hungry and homeless in our own land. Being pushed, kicked, judged, criticized, ridiculed, humiliated. Displaced. Robbed of our dignity and respect. That’s a fucking shame.

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Another man, Aero, told the crowd that he had been arrested during a disturbance outside Carnegie Center last week.

“They said I assaulted a peace officer and allegedly bit him,” he said later. “But with what teeth? I have no teeth”, then he opened his mouth to show that he did indeed have no teeth.

The tent city is supposed to be dismantled because Vancouver’s fire chief said it poses a fire risk. The disassembly has been delayed and it seems that few tents have been disassembled.

The City of Vancouver released a statement that said: “City staff have been encouraging and supporting the voluntary removal of tents and belongings, and sharing information regularly in person with those sheltering outdoors and will continue to do so at this time. ”.

Regarding fire risk, Matthew Trudeau of the Vancouver Fire Department said, “Fire prevention staff are actively working with (city) engineering teams to identify key areas of concern, as far as to high-risk areas and areas with higher amounts of fuels.

“These high-risk areas include entry and exit routes, proper access routes to buildings, access to fire department connections in buildings, and storage around fire hydrants. Progress is slow, but we continue to provide safety information and assist the (city) engineering staff.”

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