Advocates Denounce Bylaw Sweeps at Victoria City Hall

The city of Victoria's bylaw services have been very prolific as of late, way too much for local activists' liking.

Thirty advocates rallied on very short notice tonight at Centennial Square in reaction to recent sweeps on homeless encampments across the city.

The crowd was scrambled together by Niki Ottosen of the Backpack Project, while Kim of LLEOHN rushed in with PA equipment and assumed the role of emcee. Multiple rallies in support of the unhoused community of Victoria have been improvised in this fashion lately, such as one last month which disrupted a city council meeting.

The event was prompted by a decampment operation this morning on Pandora Avenue, right by Our Place’s community centre, perpetrated by the city’s bylaw services, which was covered by CHEK News, the Times Colonist, and Capital Daily (like last year on Princess Avenue), suggesting an informant at city hall is tipping the media on upcoming bylaw raids. Participants were also still reeling from a bylaw raid on Irving Park last week which took advantage of residents attending a nearby soup kitchen.

Well, someone has been tipping CHEK News tonight, that’s for sure.

I was ushered before the mic tonight—my turn has to come from time to time—to discuss what I had witnessed as an independent legal observer this morning when I rushed over there following a tip myself. While I missed the sweep on the green, I arrived in time to document a tent being taken away right by Our Place’s front gate. The owner had just been gone a few minutes and would gladly have moved their belongings had the area not been cordoned during their short absence. It took some haggling under threat of arrest—and of course the watchful eye of a legal observer—to even recover a mobility aid. In my own words, this is bullying and predation, plain and simple.

Others took the microphone to air their grievances. One of them, a prominent LGBTQ advocate, passionately swore she would not sit with Victoria city officials for the upcoming Pride Month unless unhoused people were invited at the table to engage in honest dialogue.

No pride in bylaw sweeps!

We decided on a whim to walk into City Hall to disrupt the council meeting, but the council wasn’t in session tonight. We did not expect to be allowed in anyway even if the council had been in session.

This is what happens when you call a rally with only 90-minute notice.
We’ll be back.

Victoria isn’t the only city to complain about bylaw sweeps of encampments. Just last week, a delegation of homeless people and advocates from CRAB Park in Vancouver came over to the BC Legislature to take their grievances to their elected representatives. The residents have recently made a human rights complaint against the city of Vancouver, only to be met by a draconian cleanup with heavy machinery in reprisal.

Recent Posts

Calling Sick, On Break Until Further Notice

Once again I've reached my breaking point, and I'm forced to take some time off for my own survival.

2 days ago

Advocates Rally for Shea Smith on National Homeless Persons Memorial Day

I'd been itching to organise a celebration of life for Shea Smith, because I think no one in town was…

3 days ago

Cool Ideas for Next Victoria Homeless Encampment

You know where would be cooler than by City Hall for the unhoused to set up their next encampment? On…

1 week ago

Come Smoke the Psychedelic Mushroom Cloud: Insider Peek into Street Legal Advocacy

In the past several months my life has started looking like a TV show scripted by a screenwriter on an…

2 weeks ago

We Are Entering DEFCON 2

So far I've been holding back in my fight against the City of Victoria's Alto administration. You're about to see…

2 weeks ago

Advocates Rally at Grace Lore’s Office Demanding Government Raise Disability Benefits

No rally is too small to be worth media coverage, especially when the cause is good and underreported. Let's talk…

3 weeks ago

Are you protesting social injustice?

Whether you're denouncing police brutality or government overreach, clamouring for a safe drug supply or affordable housing, defending homeless encampments or fighting off the colonial invader, advocating for the disabled or racial minorities, pursuing either legal or extralegal means of retaliation, you'll find plenty of interest within these pages by a fellow insurrectionist butting heads with a callous society and a corrupt system. Come misbehave with the rest of us!

Subscribe on wordpress.com (click the "Subscribe" button for email notifications)

Recent Posts