On the same day as the Olympic torch was handed over to a Canadian delegation, Minister of Housing and Social Development Rich Coleman introduced the Assistance to Shelter Act in the BC legislature – a piece of legislation which would give police the power to bring homeless people off the streets when an extreme weather alert is in effect. Though it has a compassionate facade, this policy will be used as a blunt instrument to displace people.
As early as next month, police could forcibly move homeless people to shelters during extreme weather. ‘Extreme weather’ includes extended periods of rain which includes many days in February when the Olympic Games will be held in Vancouver. The timing of this legislation could not be worse – as global attention comes to Vancouver for the 2010 Games, the government is playing politics with peoples lives.
Last week, the government also announced that people with outstanding warrants would no longer be allowed to access social assistance – a move that will likely result in more petty crime due to the dire situation people will be placed in and increased rates of incarceration for minor offenses including failure to appear.
Earlier in the week, the government announced that BC Place would be given a new $450 million dollar roof. Olympic security alone will cost $900 million. The province has refused to bring in tenancy protections while the City has established an inadequate policy framework to protect tenants during the 2010 Olympics. If the federal, provincial and civic governments were serious about addressing homelessness, they would be willing to make significant investments in social housing and make the policy changes that are required.
Despite the fact that an Inner City Inclusive Commitment Statement was signed during the Olympic bid process and assurances around civil liberties were given, the provincial government is moving ahead with regressive policies that will do more harm than good.
This provincial government completely decimated the Homes BC program in 2002 – a program that was building 1,200 units annually. This government completely axed social programs in its first mandate to such a degree that homelessness has more than doubled since the Olympics were awarded to Vancouver. This government has a $250 million endowment for social housing that could be used immediately to build social housing.
A homeless person dies every 12 days in BC. This policy will do very little to affect this statistic. If anything, this policy will drive people further underground, placing them at greater risk.
Police are not social workers. They are not trained or equipped to deal with these types of situations adequately. By criminalizing homelessness and completely ignoring the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the government have made front-line police officers the decision-makers over peoples’ personal lives. At the same as funding for outreach workers is being cut, police will now carry out this work.
There is no civilian oversight body over this new policy regime. The police complaints process is currently being boycotted by the BC Civil Liberties Association, the Pivot Legal Society and VANDU.
The government has not moved on the recommendations of the Frank Paul Inquiry. Retired Justice William Davies delivered a comprehensive report that included the establishment of a civilian operated sobering centre.
By taking a draconian, heavy-handed and simplistic approach to dealing with complex public policy issues, the government has erred in a fundamental way and diminished its credibility substantially.
There will be many, many protests. The courts will strike this down. This is an attack on poor people.
Public policy interventions, if they are to be sustainable, must deal with root causes. The government, in its haste to sweep the homeless underground before the Olympics, should prepare themselves for a major blowback.
This is the same Minister who only months ago closed down two low barrier shelters in Downtown South – and now this?
The Olympic project is being advanced by violating the rights of citizens. This is fundamentally unacceptable.
Why is the media treating Minister Coleman with such kid gloves?
