At the end of January I wrote a post concerning the Pivot Legal Society’s red tent campaign and how I thought it was a sham designed to raise money as much as it was to raise awareness.
There was also the tent village at 58 Hastings (complete with its own website) that remained for the duration of the Olympics and which on the surface seemed like a non-evasive way to bring attention to the plight of the homeless in Vancouver, and particularly within the downtown eastside.
But with news like this that emerge about those who resided in the tent village, I am only infuriated by the individuals who casually protest, often to supplement their income, no matter what the issue.
Though they may be social activists to some, they are nothing more than the real poverty pimps that feed off of the plight of others in my eyes.
Now don’t get me wrong – I am all for fighting for a cause, particularly when it comes to housing the homeless.
Though, I am far more inclined to be in support the City of Vancouver’s homeless count that began this morning and will run for the next 24 hours.
The utility in this kind of exercise trumps the efforts of those who choose to pervert a cause for their own selfish interests.
The Metro Vancouver Homeless Count was a revolutionary step forward towards understanding the problem of homelessness in the region.
However, it only takes place once every three years, and resources are always spread thin because of the expanse of the count, which encompasses several municipalities.
If Gregor Robertson is serious about making a dent in homelessness in Vancouver and eventually securing shelter for everyone who sleeps on the streets by 2015, then he is going to need a better gauge than statistics that come about so infrequently.
Meanwhile in the land of professional protesting, those who have moved out of the tent village are seeking out the next cause that they can attach themselves to.
Now I realize the violence that occurred on the second day of the Olympics does not by any means represent all of those that really believed in the harm that the Olympics were doing to the city, and who were looking for a peaceful outlet to demonstrate that to the world.
That being said, I am positive that there is great crossover between that march of destruction and those who thought that they would go on a mini vacation away from their residence and their government cheques to camp out in the downtown eastside for three weeks.
These are the kinds of stunts that take all credibility away from the activists like Am Johal who are making a huge difference in agenda setting and poignant commentary and criticism on the housing file.
It is time for those that really care about the cause of homeless to be a little more selective with the people they choose to associate themselves with. It is also time for organizations like the Pivot Legal Society to get a grip and realize that red tent campaigns are not the way to retrieve the funding that they just recently had pulled by the BC Law Society.
What a load of crap. What difference does it make whether or not the people in tent city were homeless? I am a home OWNER in Vancouver and I am deeply concerned about the homelessness crisis. I commend anyone who supported the tent city, not just by sitting on the couch, but by actually going down and sleeping there. This was a public and effective campaign to raise awareness about homelessness – and it worked. There is no disputing the number of people living on the streets is staggering – I was a part of the homeless count this morning. And finally, Pivot has done more for this city than any other legal advocacy group. They are entitled to raise awareness and funding like any other organization or corporation.