Outraged Community Members Protest
Anti-Camping Bylaw Amendment: Residents defy streets and traffic bylaw amendment on Pandora
Green
by VCAP
(Coast Salish Territories, Victoria,
BC) Over 50 Victoria
residents gathered on Pandora Green to protest the impact that the City’s
streets and traffic bylaw amendment will have on the homeless community that
lives in the area.
The amendment, which was approved by Council today,
prohibits kneeling, sitting or laying down on boulevards and medians from 7:00
pm to 7:00 am.
Members of four
local anti-poverty groups sat on Pandora Green to show their opposition to the
bylaw that they say will further marginalize the city’s most vulnerable
population. Although Victoria
Police were observed hassling members of the street community who were sitting
on the sidewalk directly on Pandora, none approached the anti-poverty groups on
the boulevard.
“Homelessness and
poverty rates have reached crisis levels in the city of Victoria,” said Victoria Coalition Against
Poverty spokesperson Nick Montgomery. “Authorizing police to chase people out
of well-lit areas where they feel safe, into invisible corners and dark alleys,
is only going to make the situation worse.”
In 2009, a Supreme
Court decision recognized homeless peoples’ right to camp on public land.
Since that time, a community of people has been sleeping on the boulevard in
front of Our Place, a popular
daytime drop-in centre. Under pressure from local businesses and home-owners,
the City passed the bylaw by suggesting that the tenters create traffic safety
problems.
“This decision has
nothing to do with traffic safety. It is an obvious attempt to sweep
homeless people into less visible locations” said Montgomery. “Common sense and best practices
from every other city in North America
demonstrate that you can’t end poverty by using police to chase people out of
sight.”
The Victoria
Coalition Against Poverty (VCAP) conducted research in the area, interviewing
almost 100 members of the street community about their ideas and visions for
the neighbourhood. When asked about actions that the city could take to solve
the homelessness problem people consistently mentioned the need for supported
housing, harm reduction services and an end to police violence. VCAP has
posted the preliminary results of this survey (
http://vcapvictoria.wordpress.com/83-2/)
and will be facilitating discussions with the street community to draft a
Peoples’ Plan for Pandora Green in the coming weeks.
