The reality of state brutality

NOTE: This post includes descriptions of state violence experienced by homeless people living at Topaz and Pandora. People asked us to share what happened to them, to break through the deceptive stories about how the province's decision to hastily clear three tent cities is a good news story. While some people obtained temporary shelter in …

City of Victoria’s Parks Bylaw is Violent and Cruel

On Thursday May 14, City staff posted at MEEGAN (aka ‘beaconhill park’) a document titled “Important Notice COVID-19 Response - Parks”. At the top of the document, the City says: “The Parks Regulations Bylaw governing sheltering in City Parks remains in effect. However, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and in an effort to allow …

Pivot open letter: harms of camp evictions

We worked with Pivot Legal Society to document service providers' perspectives on the ways the provincial government's enforcement order is harming people living in Pandora & Topaz tent cities. The most important perspectives, the people who should most be listened to and believed, are the people living at Topaz and Pandora. But we hope these …

Action: Write City Council – Align with United Nations Directives

On April 30, the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing released a National Protocol for Homeless Encampments in Canada. This document identifies municipalities' obligations, under international human rights law, regarding treatment of people sheltering outside in tent cities. The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing also recently set out …

New eviction deadline, same old fuckery

In colonial capitalist land, Friday is fun times. For people at tent cities, Friday is the time when you get extra-fucked over by bureaucrats who set things up to happen just before they take the weekend off to go pursue work-life-balance. THE NEW DEADLINE IS MAY 20... On April 25th the provincial government, aka Nastily …

7 weeks in: update

On Tuesday March 17, the provincial government declared a public health emergency due to COVID-19 and shelters and other survival services started closing down or reducing spaces. The following day, a provincial state of emergency was declared, giving the government power to remove or restrict people from anywhere in ‘bc’ and do other things. On …

When government is the public health emergency

On September 23, 1997, after pressure from street community activists, the Vancouver/Richmond Health Board declared a public health emergency in the Downtown Eastside. HIV rates had skyrocketed as a result of insufficient access to clean needles and more than 1,000 people had died of drug overdoses. On April 14, 2016, BC’s provincial health officer declared …

Reality check: situation on the ground

Two days ago the provincial government announced their plans to close down tent cities at Topaz Park and Pandora Avenue here, and Oppenheimer Park in the Downtown Eastside, by May 9. The headline of the accompanying BC Housing release is "Province secures safe shelter, supports for people living in major encampments". People have been told …

Imagining alternatives

When the pandemic first started, given what was known at that time about its spread the solutions seemed pretty obvious -- provide info about COVID and work with people living outside to find out what would work from their perspective. Instead the colonial government has done what it always does: tried to impose strategies of …

No water in a health crisis

In colonial government, public health departments have two mandates: to provide/oversee public health services, and to enforce social control. The combination of the two is deadly for people living outside. Years ago when we were working with people living at another tent city, access to drinking water was a major issue. Naively, we approached public …