Rally at Sussex Avenue to resist the ongoing cycle of evictions and displacement in Metrotown.
Where: 6525 Sussex Avenue, Burnaby (across from Metrotown Skytrain station)
When: Sunday July 1st @ 3:00PM
On Saturday, June 30th, the over 150 residents of 6525, 6559 and 6585 Sussex Avenue will face eviction. Most have already been intimidated, scared and pressured into leaving and the few who remain will be forced to finally pack up and leave their homes. We are trapped in an endless cycle of housing precarity – many Sussex tenants have no choice but to remain in the neighbourhood, moving into another building facing impending demoviction. Others will struggle with rents jumping several hundred dollars a month, or will become part of the exponentially increasing population of hidden homeless. Some elderly residents have lived in these buildings for up to 15 years, many units contain families of up to 4 or 5 people, and everyone has a story, past and connection to the neighbourhood.
But on Sunday, July 1st, tenants from these building and from across Metrotown will return to 6525 Sussex Avenue and continue to build collective neighbourhood power. Join us for a rally and BBQ against profit-driven displacement and the colonial system of private property which fuels the cycle of evictions.
On July 1st we refuse to celebrate “Canada Day” which glamorizes the founding of a country built on the genocide of Indigenous people and the ongoing occupation of Indigenous land. It is this capitalist and colonialist system of property that now threatens to displace so many tenants from their homes. Just as we will not let Canada’s colonial nature be ignored we will not let the evicted tenants of Sussex Avenue be erased. Rather than celebrate “Canada Day”, we will celebrate the ongoing resistance of the tenants of Metrotown, and our strength as a community in fighting displacement.
We’ll have paint, signs, banners, speakers, music and a BBQ. Bring yourself, your friends and anything you can contribute!