Dave Thompson Comes to Stadacona Park

As some of you may know, I’ve been hounding Victoria’s city councillors on Twitter for several weeks, constantly flirting with the line without getting blocked, hoping to get them to build shelter space instead of displacing homeless people from one park to the next. Believe it or not, I managed to get one, Dave Thompson, to actually come to Stadacona Park, witness the mess firsthand, and talk to an unhoused person, something he admitted he hadn’t done in a while.

I won’t take too much credit for it; I honestly didn’t think he’d actually come, but since he took the invitation I decided to give diplomacy a chance. To his credit, he did come. Even better, he came on bike, wearing jeans, without bringing an armed escort.

I’ve written unflattering things about him, and I still mean them. But after meeting him I have to give him credit for a few more things. For one, he’s not as clueless as he looks like on Twitter. He can hold a conversation on the topic, and it’s not like we had any major differences in relevant areas. He’s also a listener, once you manage to grab his attention—which is notoriously hard, as for all politicians. But I hadn’t come to do the talking; I wanted him to hear it from the mouth of people who camped there while trying to circumnavigate the bylaws he voted for, instead of governing with Excel spreadsheets.

I started by showing him the designated sheltering area, and the main problem with it: it’s just too small, and putting homeless people in such close proximity makes it volatile. It looks like he hadn’t realised this was the only area where sheltering was allowed, which is the problem with voting on motions from the comfort of City Hall while drawing areas on maps.

Then we went to engage with people outside the designated sheltering area. One of them was actually a longtime advocate, whom we interrupted as he was about to cook his dinner, but he welcomed us nonetheless. He too was vastly knowledgeable on the topic and eager to share what he experienced. I won’t say too much much about what we discussed, as much was personal experience and falls outside the scope of this article, while some may be scoop material I’ll write about later. I’m glad we stumbled upon him instead of someone unstable, by the way.

Councillor Thompson didn’t just stand there pretending to listen and offering perfunctory platitudes; he asked questions and took notes, looking genuinely interested. We both exchanged contact information with the unhoused man, promising to stay in touch. I don’t know how far he’s willing to go in support of our agenda (I told him my priority is shelter space, preferably 24/7) but it looks after tonight he at least understands the deficiencies of the city’s nonplan.

Another thing he asked about though is activists. I didn’t tell him anything on the topic (if only he knew); I may have shaken his hand but I don’t trust him any far with that kind of information. This is the flip side of diplomacy: one day diplomats may dine together at either’s embassy, the next they poison each other’s drinks. There can be no question we advocates and activists have grabbed his attention indeed, which has good and bad sides: on one hand we won’t be ignored anymore, but on the other hand we’ll fall under more scrutiny. In any case expect more action in the fall as some advocates resume activity, deadlines aren’t met, and cold weather approaches.