West End Residents Association

WERA director Christine Ackermann, IOCC Chair Am Johal and Wendy Pedersen CCAP

This article first appeared in the West Ender and is reposed here with the permission of the author.

homelessness, Olympics
Posted By: Jackie Wong
11/19/2009 12:00 AM

Housing, homelessness, and the 2010 Olympics will be the focus of a public forum on Monday (November 23) at SFU Harbour Centre’s Fletcher Challenge Theatre. The forum is part of the Right to the City lecture series organized by the Impact on Communities Coalition, an Olympic watchdog group.

The forum features speakers with a wide range of expertise on Vancouver housing and homelessness, including Martha Lewis of the Tenant Resource and Advisory Centre; Wendy Pedersen of the Downtown Eastside’s Carnegie Community Action Project; and Reverend Ric Matthews of First United Church, the site of one of the first homeless shelters to open last winter under Mayor Gregor Robertson’s Homeless Emergency Action Team (HEAT).

While preparations for the 2010 Games have drawn criticism from housing and civil-liberties advocates, attributing all of the city’s housing issues to the Olympics is too simple, says Nathan Edelson, a former senior planner for the City of Vancouver and a speaker at the Right to the City forum. continue reading…

Monday, September 28th,7-9pm,

Fletcher Challenge Theater,
SFU Harbour Centre

A panel discussion on civil liberties and the 2010 Olympics

David Eby, Executive Director, BCCLA
Matt Hern, Writer
Stefanie Ratjen, Board Member, IOCC
Harsha Walia, Social Activist
Alissa Westergarde-Thorpe, Olympic Resistance Network
Jeff Derksen, SFU professor

Moderated by Am Johal, Chair, Impact on Communities Coalition

As the 2010 Olympics approach, the possibility of civil liberties violations have been cited by a number of community organizations as a major concern despite assurances from VANOC, government partners and the Integrated Security Unit that rights would be protected.

With 16,500 security personnel scheduled to be part of the largest peacetime operation in Canadian history, impacts are already being felt.

Ticketing of residents in the inner-city, home and workplace visits of social activists by members of the Integrated Security Unit and a new bylaw passed by the City of Vancouver which places the rights of corporate sponsors ahead of the rights of citizens are only a few of the immediate impacts.

This discussion will take a critical view of the policies and framework which have been established and contextualize these processes as part of broader urban development schemes in the inner-city and methods of criminalizing dissent.

For more information contact Am Johal: am_johal@yahoo.ca, 778 895 5640