MARCH TO STOP THE ‘OLYMPIC KIDNAPPING ACT’
SUNDAY DECEMBER 13 @ 3:30 PM-5:00PM,
POLICE STATION (312 MAIN, AT CORDOVA)
A coalition of DTES community groups are hosting a march against the “Olympic Kidnapping Act,” a province-wide law that allows police to detain and use force on individuals in order to compel them off public streets against their will.
Despite unified community opposition to the Act, the Provincial Government continues to defend this well-timed effort to “clean” the streets before and during the Olympic Games. In response, the community will be marching on December 13th with the clearest message: the Kidnapping Act is fundamentally undemocratic, unjust, and unconstitutional.
The Government claims that the aim of the Act is to “assist” people in the low-income community, but those affected know the situation well: shelters are already full, with the added hypocrisy of two Vancouver emergency shelters having been closed in recent months. Such closures would be unthinkable for a government hoping to lend assistance to the community.
While it is well known that shelters themselves could never be an adequate solution to the affordable housing crisis, even the low standards of a basic shelter support system have not been met. In addition to a lack of overall beds, existing shelters continue to refuse people who travel with their pets and possessions; shelters are often unsafe and stressful environments for both guests and providers; and for many individuals, shelter life represents an intolerable institutional reminder of time spent in the colonial residential school system. People across BC who – for reasons such as these – refuse to “report” to a shelter can now be met with police force and coercive displacement. The BC Government is knowingly directing police to violate Section 9 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which ensures that people “not be arbitrarily detained or imprisoned”.
In addition to community organizations and individuals, shelter providers themselves have publicly expressed significant and grave concerns with the Act, including Atira Women’s Resource Society, First United Church, Lookout Emergency Aid Society, PHS Community Service Society, as well as the Canadian Mental Health Association.
Only by joining together can we stop the Olympic Kidnapping Act and build our active community.
Come one, come all!
Meet for the rally and march:
SUNDAY DECEMBER 13 @ 3:30 PM-5:00PM,
POLICE STATION (312 MAIN, AT CORDOVA)
Organized by:
Power of Women (POW)
Vancouver Action (VanAct)
Carnegie Community Action Project (CCAP)
Streams of Justice
Impact on Communities Coalition (IOCC)
VAN.ACT! 