“There is something not right in Canada”

My friend Maggie has been working to make a difference on the issue of homelessness for the last couple of years. Recently, she and dozens of other activists spent a night sleeping on the street to help raise awareness of this truly important issue. What follows is some thoughts she wrote after the fact and e-mailed to people she knew. I’ve asked if I can post them here and she was happy to oblige.

Before you vote next week, please take a few minutes to consider this issue. There are about twice as many homeless persons in Vancouver today than there were 5 years ago.

10:30 am Tuesday, October 7, 2008

I am at home, it is warm and dry inside; I have a hot cup of tea to drink. Yesterday at 4 pm I arrived at the corner of Georgia & Thurlow with sleeping mat, sleeping bag, tarp, thermos of tea, wool long johns, two pairs of socks, waterproof pants, waterproof bootees, down jacket and waterproof jacket and of course, gloves. After all, I am a cycling commuter so am prepared for Vancouver’s famous rain. I was prepared for a typical Vancouver October day and also night. Why?

There is a federal election on October 14th. There isn’t a national housing strategy in Canada. There are a lot of homeless people. There is something not right in Canada. So there I was, with a group of likeminded others, camping out for one night on a city sidewalk in downtown Vancouver. We are drawing awareness to the problem of homelessness and that to be successful in the polls, the political parties have to address this issue by having a federal housing program to build affordable homes for low and middle income earners.

There were 30 of us who stayed overnight, our ranks were joined in the evening by friends and supporters and our numbers swelled to around 50. We were brought food, hot drinks, music and inspirational moments.

I arrived at the corner with trepidation, it was raining; potentially the police would come and issue tickets if not arrest us. Also, what would I do if/when I needed to use the washroom in the middle of the night? Being prepared to stay outside for one night was something I could do because it is only one night in my life. For others this is the reality they face everyday.

The building management was not happy at all that we were on building property sheltered from the rain. We did see a police officer across the street and, after taking a look at what was (not) going on, he left. At 10 pm or so, the management advised that if we didn’t move they would call the cops. This time the police did come and talk to us. They were very considerate and we agreed that we would move to the edge of the private property on the wide sidewalk and by this time the rain had stopped – which meant being on the sidewalk was not as challenging as it might have been. They were also concerned about the traffic being so close to our tents so arranged for the City Engineering department to come and put up a barricade closing off the lane of traffic nearest to the tents. We felt it was a real endorsement of what we were trying to do.

I had been prepared to sleep out in the open, but fortunately was able to share a tent. The nearby Tim Horton’s and McDonalds were open 24 hours, thus solving the middle of the night washroom dilemma. I had to lie down at 12:30 am. My feet ached from standing virtually all evening. I was warm and dry and cosy. It took at least an hour for my feet to stop aching.

I drifted in and out of consciousness rather than sleeping. At 6 am I got up. It was dark, there were some people about and we started handing out flyers. When it’s quieter people feel they can stop and talk a bit more. As it became lighter and the numbers of people walking by increased so did the number of blank and vacant faces. Every now and again, someone would say “we saw you yesterday, did you stay the night?” Yes, it is important enough that we stayed the night.

Around 8 am we were gradually beginning to pack up our things and the police visited us again in the morning and wished us well. By 10 am our event was over.

Now I am feeling light-headed, I have managed to write a few thoughts but feel I must have a nap in my own bed. I feel I cannot be productive or effective without it. I was out only one night; it didn’t rain. I was not cold or hungry. I am not homeless.

UPDATE:

I forgot a link to the Citywide Housing Coalition.  Please take a look.  also,  I’d commend to you these thoughts from a pastor in Seattle by the name of Eugene Cho.