Homeless advocates say Vancouver park board is utilizing harsh and inhumane ways to squeeze out tent dwellers in CRAB Park
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The ring of blue fencing that has been inexorably tightening round a small homeless encampment in CRAB Park is creating an intimidating and inhumane scenario for these residing in tents which have nowhere else to go, say observers.
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Advocate Fiona York mentioned the Vancouver park board is misusing a memorandum of understanding between the province, the town and the Park Board designed to forestall encampments, and utilizing drastic measures to intimidate some 30 or so weak homeless individuals who have been unable to be housed after the Board issued an order to vacate on September 9.
“It’s uncalled for to fence individuals in,” mentioned York.
York mentioned the Memorandum of Understanding drawn up in March 2021 through the Strathcona tent metropolis disaster overreached when it handed the Park Board the duty to implement the Parks Management By-Legislation aimed toward stopping tent cities, and that appropriate housing continues to be not accessible for all who want it.
York mentioned that on Sept. 9 when the Parks Board tried to filter out CRAB Park, there have been 45 to 50 individuals residing within the park. Some got open “taxi vouchers to nowhere” mentioned York, others merely dispersed and housing wasn’t accessible for all. York mentioned about half stayed within the encampment, and measures by Park Board rangers have turned extra “heavy handed.”
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“They added extra fencing, put a fence across the perimeter of the whole park, put fencing tightly across the tented space so it’s closed on all sides with checkpoints on two sides. It’s change into a prison-like maze. Emergency autos should undergo two locked gates, it’s stopping entry.”
Installations embody a gated fence on the western entrance to the park (along with the pre-existing locked gate), with ranger autos stationed on the gate 24/7; the jap entrance is chained and locked, with a ranger automobile stationed beside it, leaving one small opening into the camp.
York mentioned secure, safe housing is desperately wanted, and care and consideration is overdue for those who have nowhere else to remain within the interim. “They need to be capable of keep in a public house. A secure, authorized house, not a cattle pen.”
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Athena Pranteau, who’s of Cree Mohawk and Ojibway heritage, was homeless together with her 11-year-old son and two grown youngsters for 348 days earlier than discovering applicable housing final week. She mentioned Park Board workers put fences round her tent at Strathcona and locked her in by chaining it closed, mocked her Indigenous identify and customs, made snide remarks to her and left a canine chain on a peg exterior her tent. (Pranteau mentioned she filed a police report.)
After shifting to CRAB Park in June, extra fences went up, volunteers with meals and medical provides have been blocked from coming into or ticketed, and residents didn’t have entry to bogs or water, mentioned Pranteau, who has returned to the park every day to help those that don’t have housing but and take part in conventional ceremonies.
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“We’re going to maintain our house and stand out floor,” mentioned Pranteau.
In an announcement to Postmedia, the Vancouver park board mentioned: “For the previous a number of months, Park Board workers, together with our outreach companions, have been participating with people experiencing homelessness in CRAB Park in an effort to help them in shifting indoors. Our park rangers additionally play an integral function as they supply an added degree of security for each guests and folks sleeping within the park. Examples of this embody monitoring and performing routine wellness checks.
“As a signatory of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Metropolis of Vancouver and Province of B.C., the Vancouver park board has dedicated to stopping encampments in Vancouver Parks and is accountable for imposing the Parks Management By-laws, which precludes momentary shelters from being erected through the day in Vancouver parks, when appropriate indoor areas can be found for unsheltered individuals to maneuver indoors.”
dryan@postmedia.com
