A tragic death happened this weekend.
Occupy Vancouver protesters say they will not be peacefully removed from the lawn of the city's art gallery following the death of a demonstrator.
An official cause of death of the woman in her 20s has not been released, but a worker with the tent city says it was a drug overdose, the second in three days, although the first was not fatal.
The woman, whose name has not been released, was found unresponsive in her tent at around 5 p.m. PT on Saturday and taken to hospital, where she was later pronounced dead. There was nothing to indicate her death was suspicious, police said.
No matter that Vancouver has had a very bad track record dealing with those with addictions. No matter that the average month in Vancouver sees many overdose deaths. The city wants the occupiers to leave, and this is going to be the excuse they will use.
On the one hand it illuminates a massive problem. On the other, it provides "cover" to the authoritays and their own agenda.
Like the occupy movement in the US, the homeless and other souls who are on the streets are going to stay in the encampments. There is food and camaraderie. It probably feels much safer than wandering places like the DES.
If the city succeeds in moving the occupiers out, it will only mean that the next OD may just be somewhere else. Out of sight. Out of mind.
The occupation medics, may have in fact been responsible for one life that was saved last Thursday.
(Chris Shaw, a 61-year-old former Army medic)
Shaw said he, along with two other Occupy medics, performed CPR on the woman for 10 minutes while they awaited the arrival of an ambulance.
"We did what we could. As a first responder you start CPR regardless and carry on until you are told by a higher medical authority to cease," Shaw said. "We saved one person, unfortunately we were unable to save this other one."
Shaw could not confirm whether the woman died of a drug overdose, but did say in some ways the situation mimicked last Thursday's medical emergency where a man overdosed, but was saved by Occupy medics.
"I don't want to see the media portray this as a reason to shut down the camp because of safety issues. You had medics on the scene as fast as possible," Shaw said. "People overdose in the city all the time, we were arguably there faster than EMT would have been there.
Victoria, is also looking at ways to get the occupiers out of public view.
Again, the city is citing "criminal activity".
Campers have movedmore than a dozen tents from the back of the McPherson Playhouse to make way for the city's skating rink. The tents have been placed alongside the Capital Regional District building.
Police report an increase in criminal activity at the encampment and even occupiers say there are people who are not wanted because of their behaviour.
Fortin had said people will not be forced out of Centennial Square at the deadline, but the city will file for a B.C. Supreme court order to remove the tents and other structures. The city can also issue tickets to protesters should they not leave.
Here on the West coast of Canada, we experience very mild weather. Homeless people live out of doors almost year round. There have been many reports, anecdotal, that there is a migration here when the colder weather comes.
Right wing social policies, gentrification...etc. They all play a part in the rising numbers of homeless in BC.
An article on the face of homelessness in BC.
A few years ago the Government in BC also cut back on services to the mentally ill. Shutting down the "warehouses" for the mentally ill was a good thing, but they never replaced that with services in communities. Sink or swim.
People with severe addictionsand/or mental illness can be found in all of the subgroups outlined above. People with severe addictions and/or mental illness make up anywhere from 33% to over 60% of the homeless population.2 About 11% of the homeless population has a diagnosis of schizophrenia.4 Approximately 136,000 adults in BC have a severe addiction and/or mental illness, and between 8,000 and 15,500 of these people are street homeless
Vancouver has what is also
North America's first and only safe injection site. It has been a success in many ways. Less Overdose deaths. Less crime in the immediate area. More addicts are successfully getting into treatment.
The Supreme court of Canada very recently supported InSite with a judgement.
The Supreme Court’s ruling on the Insite safe injection facility—a unanimous ruling in the facility’s favour—is here.
The Minister made a decision not to extend the exemption from the application of the federal drug laws to Insite. The effect of that decision, but for the trial judge’s interim order, would have been to prevent injection drug users from accessing the health services offered by Insite, threatening the health and indeed the lives of the potential clients. The Minister’s decision thus engages the claimants’ s. 7 interests and constitutes a limit on their s. 7 rights. Based on the information available to the Minister, this limit is not in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice. It is arbitrary, undermining the very purposes of the CDSA, which include public health and safety. It is also grossly disproportionate: the potential denial of health services and the correlative increase in the risk of death and disease to injection drug users outweigh any benefit that might be derived from maintaining an absolute prohibition on possession of illegal drugs on Insite’s premises.
We have a Conservative Government federally as well,
and they operate on the same ideological mythology as their US franchise, sans facts. The Harper cons have been viciously attempting to close InSite for years now.
The City Of Vancouver and Victoria, are both moving quickly to remove the occupations through court action.
In Quebec City, the rationale is also "health and safety".
A fire broke out at the protest site— in Place de l'Université du Québec — earlier this week.
City officials who inspected the grounds Thursday confiscated stoves and extension cords, citing the fire hazard, but didn't dismantle any tents or evict protesters.
The Occupy participants vow to stay put.
The tent dwellers are rallying in support of the same range of causes that inspired similar protests across Canada and around the world.
In Halifax, the occupiers have struck a deal with the city to move their tents for Remembrance day observations.
Eviction notices have been served in Victoria, Quebec City and Vancouver, while officials in Halifax have struck a deal with demonstrators to move their tents for Remembrance Day ceremonies to be held at their camp site.
Occupy Edmonton is experiencing winter already. The Mayor wants them out as well, and is making the same "safety" statements.
Solidarity. We shall see how this goes.
Last note. The Mayoral debates in Vancouver apparently have an occupy contingent present. Following on Twitter.
Link to original here.
#OccupyVancouver
#OccupyVictoria
#OccupyingCanada