Victoria BC Wants to Move Homeless Along Every 6 Hours

A letter I sent to Victoria Mayor and Council:

The proposed change which would force people to move 100 meters every 6 hours is disgusting, and more of the same "walking torture" we impose on our most vulnerable citizens.  Not only will you find many street folk don't care about your rule (I suppose you'll have to jail them at taxpayer expense), you will also find they will be further pushed to the limit.  Expect more blowups and meltdowns when police poke and prod them.  Expect a higher risk of suicide, because some out there are looking for a scrap of compassion, and will see this as more exclusion.  Expect rebellion and defiance, and don't be too surprised when the progressive voters drop you on your butts next election.

We need bold compassion and action, not more technicalities. When I saw you were making this change, I said to myself "So, looks like they know they are failing to address housing issues, and are digging in for a long period of increasing homelessness"

The real people you are supporting here are the complainers, the business community, the NIMBYS.  This is appeasement, nothing more.

Those of you who are corporate minded, this is a good time to check your email, I realize you couldn't give a rat's donkey about homelessness.

Those of you who are progressive, realize that right now, your biggest obstacle to action on homelessness is a lack of political will, and all of these little appeasements justify and support that lack of will. By allowing the NIMBYS to shoo homeless people away like garbage, you are enabling them.

Nobody in this region deserves to have a green park to eat lunch in while some have been without a home for years. 

And please, don't tell me about ecological sensitivity.  Last time I checked, you can roll grass out in sheets-- it's not exactly on the endangered species list.

I do have a question though, since you seem determined to make this rule: I guess the pavement at Centennial Square is fine to have people sleeping on it for longer than 6 hours? It's a park, isn't it?

Of Course Sir John A MacDonald Should be Forgotten, He's Dead!

Of course we should take down the statues of Sir John A MacDonald and move them to a museum.  The guy is dead.  We will take them down to honour the indigenous people who live among us today.  John A doesn't deserve any more recognition than the Voyageurs who mapped out the land.  Yes we care about democracy, and we should honour the Constitution that gives us freedoms, but not merely the handful of privileged white guys who happened to be in control when it was drafted. 

Some of my ancestors were humiliated and their families destroyed in the process of creating what we call Canada, if anyone should be remembered, it is those people.

Is it Bigotry?

We've all experienced it.  You are posting something on social media about the disenfranchised, those in poverty, indigenous, LGBTQ, people of colour, and the "bigot" comes along, telling you that your ideas are daft and radical. 

At a first glance, they look like a typical hate-filled racist, sexist, or homophobe, but as you look closer you see evidence that the person does not actually believe what they are saying. They are simply endorsing the oligarchy, and discriminatory policies are seen as "necessary evils." This is the person who says things like "you can't help those Aboriginal folks, they have to help themselves," or "women have the same chance anybody has to make a good living."

They are the "fiscal conservatives," and it seems more difficult than ever to separate the hate from the fiscal prudence. 

I've heard many people say that we've made no progress on race issues, and while that seems true, I could have sworn we were getting somewhere until the neo-con alt-right folks started to show up. 

Now it seems like half the people are still fighting to include everybody, and the other half seems to hate everybody, but for different reasons.  The fiscal conservative wants to "drill baby drill" not because he hates the planet.  The neo-con wants to prevent inner city people of colour from accessing education because she thinks it's not financially possible, not because she hates diversity.

It occurs to me that if there are two types of bigotry, there should be two types of anti-bigotry.

Just some quick thoughts, have a great day!