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

Am Johal (IOCC), Christine Ackermann (WERA) Janine Fuller (R@RC) and David Eby (BCCL)

WERA Director Christine Ackermann is quoted in an article by West Ender reporter Jackie Wong in regard to a history of evictions of tenants in the West End

Olympic human-rights complaints taken to Switzerland
By Jackie Wong continue reading…

The BC Civil Liberties Association has released maps showing proposed street closures during the 2010 Winter Olympics. (The City of Vancouver’s more extensive maps can be found here.

Full details can be found on the Association’s website.

TRAC to handle olympic-related tenant disputes

By Jackie Wong

As part of its efforts to prevent unfair evictions during the lead-up to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, the City of Vancouver has hired the Tenant Resource and Advisory Centre (TRAC) to help renters deal with Olympic-related tenancy issues. The City had originally set aside $40,000 for a tenant-assistance worker to start work this past spring, with the position remaining active through Games time. The position will now be shared among TRAC staff, who will hire additional part-time workers to help run a drop-in office at an as-yet-undetermined location. continue reading…