Unhoused and Advocates Confront Victoria City Council

120 members of the unhoused community and advocates gathered at Centennial Square in Victoria, ahead of a city council meeting, to denounce the mounting human rights violations bylaw officers routinely commit against the most vulnerable residents of this city.

The event had been called by Niki Ottosen of the Backpack Project, with the full backing of Neighbourhood Solidarity with Unhoused Neighbours (NSUN), an advocacy group both she and I belong to; we all together had spend months planning how we would take on a city council meeting as the next logical step in the escalation process.

The rally outside was an open mic event. The first speaker was Tammilyn Cardinal, a homeless and disabled resident of Vic West Park who had spoken once before city council and would speak again tonight. She depicted a pattern of outright predation and plunder by city officials, especially bylaw officers who seemed to enjoy themselves testing the limits of just how zealously they could enforce the rules and how much abuse they could get away with. According to her, not only do they outright aim to drive the likes of her to suicide, they very nearly succeeded.

Over a hundred in attendance would then attend the evening city council session. We had lined up six speakers to address the council, all reiterating this same message in their own fashion: displacement kills. Both Niki and Tammilyn spoke, just like in January (since under city rules one cannot address the council twice in a period of three months) down to their choice of words. Others followed, Helen Smith and Bernice Kamano expressing their outrage that a city as wealthy as Victoria cares not to afford the strict minimum for the unhoused, Susan Martin pressing a proposal for a sanctioned encampment, whereas Diana Smardon lamented that the city was approving housing projects courting the rich at the expense of affordable housing.

Each speech was punctuated by a standing ovation, which uncharacteristically Mayor Alto chose not to suppress. Obviously the council had anticipated some disruption and had decided ahead of time that anything goes. We actually put it to the test after the last speech, Niki stepping forward and holding a banner with a volunteer reading “Displacement Kills” right before the mayor while I recorded the stunt in the middle of the place. Once again the council did not react, allowing us to have our moment before unceremoniously closing the meeting. I have to admit this isn’t at all what I had expected from them, instead anticipating being rushed by cops and security. But I’m certain after reading their faces that they didn’t see this much coming and didn’t like it one bit either.

Meanwhile the fight on the ground keeps escalating behind the scenes, and is bound to get worse as shelter beds close at the end of the EWR season, thus driving even more people to parks and sidewalks. I’ll keep you posted!