Temporary Shelter in Parks – Parks Board speaking notes

Without safe, governed spaces with basic services in which campers can stay for extended periods of time, without ensuring the safety of everyone in or near our parks, and without addressing dangerous behaviour, the  proposed Vancouver Parks Board bylaws intended to govern temporary shelters offers little that is new that we can believe Parks Board staff are in a position to enforce and imposes undue hardship on those whose conduct they are being deployed to address.

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Tolerating Police Brutality Against Defenseless People (for being who they are) Brings Predictable Consequences

The people governing the U.S. law-enforcement system allowed it to train and employ potentially lethal methods on defensess, handcuffed persons. The officers used these methods and killed George Floyd when they applied excessive and lethal force during his arrest, and there are strong indications his being a Black man was a factor in how he was treated.

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Six COVID-Related Questions to VSB

The Vancouver Board of Education closed down in-classroom instruction when the BC Government shut down all schools March 17, 2020. So far, no date has yet been announced for re-opening classrooms. It’s a good time to start talking about what public education will look like after the pandemic has passed. According to UNESCO monitoring, about…

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Vancouver Leads The Way: Public Funds Should Never Teach and Reinforce Transphobia.

I am mindful Vancouver City Council members must be facing quite a bit of push-back from Vancouver Rape Relief (VRR) and their supporters as a result of today’s finance committee vote on the staff recommendation to cancel funding of their outreach and education program. On February 26, the City of Vancouver’s Standing Committee on City…

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Vancouver Rape Relief failure to meet Vancouver criteria for program funding shows pressing need to update approach

In 2019, the City renewed their funding with the warning that the organization’s practices did not comply with eligibility criteria for program funding by the City of Vancouver. The city informed Vancouver Rape Relief that unless the organization took measures to meet the city’s inclusion criteria for funding, 2020 funding would be denied. Next week,…

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