DTES

A row of tents with people sitting under them. Behind the tents are a couple of high rise buildings.

Union Gospel Mission prepares for dramatic rise of unhoused attending its their annual event

May 31, 2024 by Bernadine Fox

With the homeless count rising dramatically in the Lower Mainland, United Gospel Mission in the DTES is gearing up for 3,000 people to attend their Summer Connect Fair in a few weeks. This is a 50% increase from just last year.

This one-day, low-barrier fair brings together about 30 different services on Princess Street between Cordova and Hastings. Summer Connect has run annually since 2011. It offers participants access to employment, free legal aid, tax assistance, opportunities for housing or recovery programs, bike repairs, haircuts, along with free entertainment, raffle prizes, and food.

Summer Connect is just one of the variety of services the UGM has offered in the DTES for that past 80 years.

Three old fashioned hotels, one with 7 stories, another with 8 stories flank a smaller building of three stories.

BC Government steps in to protect Single Room Occupancy inventory

May 21, 2024 by Bernadine Fox

On May 15th, the Province put into effect amendments to Municipalities Enabling and Validating Act (MEVA) that will allow the city to regulate SRO (Single Residency Occupancy) through vacancy control and restrict rent increases vacancies protecting Vancouver’s low-income rental inventory.

This has been a tremendous victory for those fighting to protect DTES low-income housing including those at DTES SRO Collaborative. The victory has been hard won — in December 2021, Vancouver passed bylaws that enacted vacancy control for SRO units in the Downtown Eastside. In 2022, those bylaws were struck down and then appealed. In February of this year, the city lost that appeal whereupon the Ministry of Housing stepped in to ensure vacancy control.

Ezra Bloom, from the Collaborative, talks with CFRO News about their May 15 trip to Victoria to support the enacting of this new bylaw (MEVA) and the impact it will have in the DTES.

A white tent with the words Crab Park spraypainted in black paint on the side with paint dripping down. There is a chair, a waste bucket and a rake at the front of the tent. It is night time and city lights and silhouettes of trees can be seen behind the tent.

CRAB Park Human Rights complaint could have implications for encampments in the future

May 14, 2024 by Bernadine Fox

The residents of Crab Park have opted to withdraw from mediation for their human rights complaint, filed in December 2023. It was fast-tracked in recognition of the urgency of their situation, and the complainants have opted to go directly to a hearing. The date for the hearing is yet to be announced.

The human rights complaint is based on alleged discrimination by the City of Vancouver and Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation for “failing to provide proper sanitation, electricity, protection from extreme heat, and good-faith consultation”. It alleges discrimination on the basis of protected classes including age, sex, disability, place of origin (and in this case this means homelessness), and Indigenous identity.

In April, the city cleared some of the residents in what some call a “decampment”. The city is calling it “cleanup and compliance work”. (From City of Vancouver press release March 18, 2024).

In a conversation with Community Legal Assistance Society (CLAS), CFRO News explores the impact the city’s ongoing “decampment” of Crab Park will have on the Human Rights complaint and the importance of this case to others across Canada.

Dusk looking out over water with city in background.

Crab Park residents return from BC Legislature where they demanded change

May 13, 2024 by Bernadine Fox

On May 8, after experiencing what Crab Park residents defined as a lack of meaningful consultation on the City of Vancouver’s part, a 10-12 person delegation consisting of advocate Fiona York, other volunteers, and residents packed up their fight and took it to the provincial BC government.

The City of Vancouver, Vancouver Park Board and the residents of Crab Park are locked into a Human Rights complaint which alleges that the City has discriminated against the residents by failing to provide services at the encampment. It cites several distinctive categories and a dispute arising out of the City’s Clean Up Plan in March which saw a majority of the residents unable to return to the daytime sheltering area.

Three MLAs, Brenda Bailey (NDP), Joan Philip (NDP), Adam Olsen (Green) along with Grand Chief Stewart Philip from the Union of BC Indian Chiefs and First Nations Leadership Council did listen.

CFRO News talked to members of the delegation before leaving and again upon their return.

Bright colourful stylized graffitti stack on top of each other.

Documentary about noted graffiti artist on its way to Australia

May 6, 2024 by Bernadine Fox

Next month, a documentary about DTES legend Smokey D which premiered just last summer to a standing ovation, is on its way for a screening in Australia. The documentary is called Smokey Devil – Underworld Street Reporter, produced and directed by Nathaniel Canuel.

CFRO News joins Smokey D on Main St. just north of E. Hastings as he puts the finishing touches on his current mural. Against the backdrop of busy, noisy Downtown Eastside streets, it is an informal chat with the artist and activist about who he is, and who raised him. And they also talk about why he spends his time painting graffiti in the DTES, reporting on important events and news and memorializing those who have passed either from toxic drugs or who were/are Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women.

They also talk to producer/director Nathaniel Canuel about his documentary.

A white walled exhibit space with art works, graphics and text on the walls.

VANDU celebrates 25th anniversary as Premier Eby re-criminalizes drug use in public

May 6, 2024 by Bernadine Fox

The history and role of Vancouver Area Network Drug Users (VANDU) is the subject of an exhibition taking place all month.

Olumoroti George, Directing Curator at Gallery Gachet talks with CFRO about VANDU’s recently installed 25^th Anniversary Exhibition called To Be Belligerent//To Commit To Memory//To Live Without Fear.

Delilah Gregg, Vice-President of VANDU, also talks with CFRO about the organization’s history, the services they have provided since 1998, to “improve the lives of drug users, their families, and our communities” while increasing “the capacity of people who use illicit drugs to live healthy and productive lives.” VANDU promotes harm reduction and the drug user’s agency in participating in the creation of policies that impact on their lives.

They also talk about the BC Government’s recently announced a re-criminalization the use of drugs in public places, highlighting the role of VANDU in the Downtown Eastside on this issue and many others.

A close up of a cell phone screen with the words "Rescue plan" and an address. The purpose of the app is to enable people to get help in a safe and confidential way.

New technology based devices aim to save lives in the DTES

April 23, 2024 by Bernadine Fox

A not for profit organization called Brave Technology in Vancouver BC has created three products to increase safety for drug users. These include an app for cellphones, a safety button that can be installed in residences for vulnerable individuals to alert staff help is needed, and a sensor for washrooms that detects when a person has entered the space but has stopped moving.

For those who are drug users, these three products address the need for anonymity while working to reduce the isolation that too often leads to a fatal overdose.

Brave Technology, in their own words “make tools that detect overdoses and activate life-saving community response, whenever and wherever people use drugs. … building a world where every overdose is detected and reversed.” Vancouver Coop Radio talked with those behind these inventions and explores why it’s vital to expand accessible and free WiFi into the DTES.

DTES and Vancouver Co-op Radio say goodbye to local activist and artist Jay Hamburger

April 16, 2024 by Bernadine Fox

The Downtown Eastside and Vancouver Co-op Radio have lost a friend and a passionate advocate for art and social change.

Jay Hamburger was born on July 18, 1947 in NY. He died on Mar 26, 2024 in Vancouver BC. In those 76 years on this earth, as his son, Sylvan Hamburger, said, “… he worked passionately to foster community support unheard number of artists and protect the environment. Jay was a poet and activist and a teacher.

Over the last 30 years, he directed and produced dozens of plays, notably as Artistic Director of Vancouver’s Theatre in the Raw as well as work to broadcast hundreds of unique interviews for Vancouver’s Co-Op Radio CFRO 100.5FM.”

CFRO sought out reflections on Jay’s life from people who had a professional and personal relationship with him.

A group of people stand outside in Vancouver on a sunny day. They hold a large red flag.

Housing advocate says BC Budget doesn’t address desperate need for DTES housing

March 4, 2024 by Bernadine Fox

The recent 2024 BC Budget (Feb. 22) caused concern for some in the unhoused and precariously housed in the DTES, including Devin O’Leary of the Carnegie Housing Project .

The Project has released a report estimating the number of unhoused will double by 2030 if the provincial and federal governments don’t act now to preserve low-income housing.

O’Leary told CFRO News that the budget’s focus was on increasing or coordinating services to house people but that the housing is nonexistent. They have sent a letter to Premier David Eby and Minister of Housing Ravi Kahlon outlining eight essential actions. Among the actions requested are the funding of DTES Community Land Trust, increasing the amount of shelter for the unhoused and re-establishing housing modules being dismantled and put into storage.

Two photos side by side -- one of them is an empty wheelchair in the snow. The other is a man lying on the sidewalk in the snow.

Communicating with the unhoused during extreme weather — lessons learned from the Jan 8 snowstorm

February 21, 2024 by Bernadine Fox

Spring is around the corner here in Vancouver and there have been many weather changes since the severe snowfall, January 8^th, when temperatures plummeted and a record setting 27 cm of snow blanketed the city.

In the DTES during that record setting snowfall, several of those unhoused were left out in the cold, unable to access shelters or warming centres. Though that extreme weather event has now passed, the community supporting the unhoused still talk about what went wrong and what needs to be done to ensure that the city’s most vulnerable are better protected next time.

CFRO News took a look at what the problems were during this dangerous weather event and talked to people who work with the unhoused to see what the city needs to do to take care of these vulnerable citizens when extreme weather happens again.

(Update: This story was originally published on February 21, 2024. A new audio version was published on March 6, 2024 to correct the name of Vancouver councillor Christine Boyle, which had originally been published as Cynthia.)

People stand on the street holding flags primarily dressed in red.

After 33 years, the Women’s Memorial March remains vital

February 16, 2024 by Bernadine Fox

Thousands gathered and marched on February 14 to remember indigenous women, girls, two spirited and trans people who have lost their lives or gone missing.

Sheridan Martin’s sister Cindy disappeared in northern BC in 2018. Her body was found in 2022. In her sister’s honour, Sheridan returns each year. She was one of many families here, at the 33^rd annual march, to talk about their loved ones who have gone missed or found murdered.

CFRO also spoke with Randy Tait, an Elder from the Nisga’a / Gitksan Nation. He came to bless the families, the Elders, and the organizers with eagle down. Research has shown that indigenous women are 4 times more likely to be murdered or go missing than other Canadians.

According to the MMIWG Inquiry, “persistent and deliberate human and Indigenous rights violations and abuses are the root cause behind Canada’s staggering rates of violence against Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA people.”

"Free WiFi Zone" printed on a turquoise background

Advocate pushes to establish free public WiFi in the Downtown Eastside

January 20, 2024 by Bernadine Fox

Sarah Blyth, Executive Director of the Overdose Prevention Society, and other advocates are pushing City Councillors Christine Boyle and Lenny Zhou for infrastructure that would enable free Wi-Fi across the Downtown Eastside (DTES).

In the DTES, internet access would provide critical services to those who experience homelessness or poverty: medical assistance and appointments, contact with family and friends, or the ability to apply for housing or employment. WiFi could also provide access to emergency help through 911 or apps like Lifeguard. The city is aware of the life-saving measures that Wi-Fi provides.

The City of Vancouver states that it is “one of the largest free public WiFi providers in North America,” with 521 free public wifi spots across the city.

CFRO reached out to the City of Vancouver regarding the #VanWiFi expansion and received a response indicating that the city remains committed to exploring additional avenues to support the availability of free WiFi.