What: Emergency rally
When: 5PM, Tuesday, June 27th
Where: 950 Main Street (Access to site via Station Street), unceded coast salish territories
The courts will not support us but the people will!
On Monday June 26th the Ten Year Tent City goes to court again. Unlike the previous notice in May which was issued by the City of Vancouver, the owner of the empty lot at 950 Main St., the new injunction notice was filed by the new landlord, Lu’ma Native BC Housing Society. The injunction was filed one day after the Lu’ma signed a lease for the lot at 950 Main Street for a term of 60 years starting on June 15th, 2017.
The lease to Lu’ma means that the lot at 950 Main Street is no longer considered public property, and means that the injunction will most likely be granted with a short timeline to evacuate the site. Almost 50 people are currently staying at the site and they will have nowhere to go if the camp is displaced.
Moreover, the City’s sudden move to lease it out to a non-profit organization and the subsequent injunction notice dodges responsibility for the dire housing needs of camp residents as well as the 2,200 people counted as homeless people in Vancouver. The City is determined to circumvent the court ruling, recruiting a non-profit organization who can present as a property owner less beholden to the public good.
Join the Ten Year tent city residents on Tuesday as they protest the City of Vancouver’s homeless hate laws. In the midst of an unprecedented housing crisis, tent cities are a necessary low-income community survival space! We want homes not shelters! And we want an end to all anti-homeless hate laws!
Background
Ten Year Tent City was served with a new injunction notice on June 16th. The hearing was initially scheduled for Wednesday, June 21st, but tent city residents were able to get an adjournment until Monday, June 26th. The hearing is now scheduled for 9.45am, Monday, June 26th, at the Supreme Court House.
The leasing of this property to Lu’ma follows a court ruling on May 17th which turned down the City’s request for an injunction to remove the camp from the publicly owned lot. The ruling by Judge Sharma supported homeless people’s access to safety and security over the City’s use of its private property.
The City of Vancouver is maneuvering to protect its property rights from homeless people who only seek a safe place to survive the dangers of homelessness. This is a hateful and irresponsible act from a civic government; the new trespass order and injunction violates the human rights of the residents of the camp and the recent ruling of the Supreme Court of BC. We call on the City of Vancouver to take responsibility for the housing crisis they have created, and house all 2,200 homeless people in Vancouver.