Smoke bellows skyward near an overpass on the outskirts of this Pacific Northwest city.
Flames become evident as you get closer, as do the fire trucks and the firefighters putting out the blaze at the centre of a homeless encampment that is affixed, favela style, to the under-shoulder of the crossing.
A good article on Seattle, it bodes ill for Toronto and elsewhere in Canada as does the following Star report on the Homeless camp clear-outs, one of the things Tory got right.
Forces are at work to make Toronto’s homeless camps as big and ugly as they are in the US.
The goal? Millions of dollars will flow to the hucksters who promise to deal with the very “crisis” they perpetuate.
Process behind 2021 encampment clearings ‘unacceptable’, finds ombudsman report
The clearings of three large Toronto homeless encampments in the summer of 2021 prioritized speed over the well-being of homeless people, Toronto’s ombudsman has found.
In the report, which comes nearly two years after the city-led, police-and-security-enforced operations, ombudsman Kwame Addo found the process by which city hall displaced people from Trinity Bellwoods, Alexandra Park, and Lamport Stadium was “unacceptable” — pointing to “unclear, confusing” and insufficiently transparent communication. It noted the city’s operational plans made no mention of the mental health of displaced people.
The camps were cleared quickly and efficiently with a minimum of activist triggered violence. This is why Toronto can’t have nice things.
Because it’s better to have drug addicted mentally-ill people wandering your streets. They add colour!
Legal group in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside cautions B.C. against involuntary care
A legal group representing marginalized people on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside has issued a stern rebuke of the provincial government’s plans to force mental-health and addictions treatment on people who present a danger to themselves and others.
Pivot Legal Society released a report Thursday calling on British Columbia to halt its proposed expansion of “involuntary care” beds, arguing such treatment is an outdated approach that is harmful, degrading and often discriminatory.
