Anti-poverty protest mars event
 
Provincial gov't officially launches 'Downtown Eastside Connect'
kiosk
 
Suzanne Fournier, The Province
Published: Tuesday, February 02, 2010
 
Wendy Pedersen, a member of a coalition of anti-poverty groups,
calling themselves the Downtown East Side Justice For All Network,
protest Monday at the site of Downtown East Side Connect, a
government-sponsored pavilion promoting progress made for the
homeless in Vancouver.
 
The official launch of the "Downtown Eastside Connect" kiosk Monday
was quickly followed by an antipoverty protest dubbing it a
"government spin-doctoring centre."
 
B.C. Housing Minister Rich Coleman confirmed the pavilion, housed at
142 West Cordova Street in the new Woodward's complex, was created
to showcase progress made on housing and other issues of the
"challenging" area.
 
"We know the world's coming, there's a buzz in the city with
visitors, national and international media -- they'll either make up
their own stories or we can tell the truth about what we've done to
help change people's lives," said Coleman.
 
Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson agreed: "There's a lot of interest
. . . in Canada's poorest neighbourhood and we say, 'Come on down,'
there's plenty of room for discussion, debate and disagreement.'"
 
Then Wendy Pedersen of the Carnegie Community Action Project and
members of a dozen groups spoke out about persistent poverty in a
city with the "highest housing costs and lowest minimum wage in
Canada."
 
Pedersen briskly signed up media members for "reality walking
tours."
 
"The Olympics are being used as an excuse for gentrification, for
police to give more tickets to low-income residents who can't afford
to pay and to force people into temporary shelters," said Pedersen.
 
Gladys Radek, co-founder of the Walk 4 Justice from B.C. to Ottawa
to commemorate 3,000 missing and murdered women across Canada, said
a "few changes" before the Olympics will not make women safer.
 
"Poverty makes women vulnerable to predators down here," said Radek,
noting that the annual Feb. 14 march to commemorate missing women
will go ahead, despite the Olympics, as planned at noon.
 
Media from Germany, the Netherlands, Japan, the U.S. and Britain
appeared to listen intently to both sides.
 
Thomas Roth, a German TV reporter who said he has been to Vancouver
before, said: "It is a very beautiful and gifted city and, yes,
there are problems that have no quick fix.
 
"We see both sides of the coin, like any reporter, and we don't just
believe him because he is a minister or the mayor or the police
chief."
 
Meanwhile, Sports Illustrated and the U.K. Guardian have both inked
somewhat jaundiced reports, with British reporter Douglas Haddow
noting the "Bailout Games" will cost $6 billion, "with little chance
of return."
 
Frank Aischmann, a German radio reporter, said he is "aware of spin,
just like when they call it the "Green Games" and all the VANOC
people drive big SUVs.
 
"European cities have dealt with drugs and other problems but, here
in Vancouver, it is all concentrated in one area.
 
"It is our job to see through the facade. We will cover that story."
 
And Liz Evans of the Portland Hotel Society, who has spent 20 years
living and working in the Downtown Eastside, said: "This [area] is
our best understood shame and worst understood pride, because too
little has been done to relieve the suffering of so many people for
so long.
 
"It is our pride because it is the place where those who are so
seldom accepted, due to challenges [like] poverty, mental illness,
abuse, addictions . . . can find love, and community."
 
sfournier@the province.com

Suzanne Fournier, The Province