Homeless Protestors Arrested at City Hall Tent City

Hey there,

I have not posted here in years, but decided to drop by and say hello.
Anyway, I'm also letting people know about some new videos we've made up here in BC (nothing commerical, don't worry) about an ongoing battle between some homeless activists and Victoria city hall.
I am an amateur editor with no money and access only to free software, so the quality could be better.
Anyway, here are some links, in chronological order:
Tent City Dismantled


No Justice at Victree City: City of Victoria Violates Human Rights


Can't Feel the Rain on Your Face in Jail


Homeless Activists Arrested at City Hall Tent City Part One


Homeless Activists Arrested at City Hall Tent City Part Two

 

Didn't Victoria allow the homeless to setup tents in city parks?

 

I think that was Vancouver, allowing them to set up in Stanley Park.

 

Well Vancouver or Victoria, I thought that was ridiculous

 

you think it is ridiculous

because you have never been homeless

 

I didn't say that something shouldn't be done...I just see no reason why a city should allow people to set up tents in a park.
Homeless people need to be taken in to shelters, and in these shelters the city needs to give assistance to them. If they don't want the help, then that no longer falls on the problem of the city.
But allowing tents set up in a park is still ridiculous.

Of course were talking about Vancouver and/or Victoria, where the majority of people are priced right out of the housing market. That's the main reason I never moved to BC, although I would have prefered it there. Although it seems everywhere West of Manitoba is far too expensive.

 

i like the tent idea

shelters are so institutional

west of manitoba is expensive, does that include saskatchewan?

that's two hours north of me [if i had a car] and it is cheap as hell down here...

 

A BC Supreme Court judge ruled on Oct.14 that certain sections of two city of victoria bylaws were in violation of section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Life, Liberty and Security of Person) and were of no force and effect insofar as they prohibit homeless people from erecting temporary shelter to protect themselves from the elements.
Much controversy has ensued, with the city interpreting the judges ruling to mean that the tents need to be down between 9pm and 7am. Many disagree, including the person who led the court case from the beginning. He and others decided to challenge the city's interpretation by not dismantling their tents at 7am. They have been arrested on three separate occasions since then. The charges were dismissed for the first arrest, and stayed for the second. The Crown spokesperson stated that the Crown would not prosecute the cases because the believed the city's new enforcement policy may not stand up to constitutional scrutiny. The Crown did however advise the city that if they continue to ticket people for this offense they can try to prosecute them in civil court for multiple unpaid fines, and slap them with a red zone order for the downtown area.
The police can continue arresting people for unconstitutional bylaws, and the charges will continue to be thrown out. The result of this is that people's tents are seized and they are effectively stopped from camping. This is a common scenario for police. It does not matter if your arrest is related to any specific law. If you never get to court, you never have a chance to challenge that, unless you can afford to launch a suit against them.
As it stands now, the city has claimed they will appeal the judges ruling, but as of an hour ago, word came from one of the camper's lawyers that the city wants to ask the judge to amend the ruling to make it clear that the ruling means tents can only be up overnight. This is due to the fact that not may people want to pay taxes for more court time.

GreenRyder: Spend a few nights in a homeless shelter and then see how ridiculous it is to want to tent in the park. The reality of the situation is that we have 1500 homeless people here, with 200 shelter mats.
Secondly, 'homeless people' are not a homegenous group requireing a one size fits all solution. Shelters are dangerous places, and no one 'belongs' there.
Even here in the warmest part of the country, we have at least two people a week die on the street. The reality is that people DO camp outside, and given that we can't just round people up and force them into shelters, we need to ask what we can do to mitigate the health effects. The judge ruled that tents at night do not restrict the enjoyment of the park by others at day.
I can understand people objecting to seeing the tents during the day, but to not want people to protect themselves at night is something that people need to think about what they are saying, implying and sentencing innocent people to.

 

That's terrible. Just awful.

I just watched a snipet from the National Film Board of Canada on homeless in BC:

http://www3.nfb.ca/webextension/carts-of-darkness/