By Sam Cooper and John Bermingham, The Province
Officials have started an aggressive campaign to sweep citizens from Vancouver streets and parks for the 2010 Games, according to some homeless people. On Tuesday in the Downtown Eastside a man named John Johansen claimed he and five fellow tent-dwellers in Stanley Park were recently “thrown up against a police van,” with flashlights in their faces and told to clear out of town. “They’re already doing sweeps for the Olympics, they’re going to arrest everyone,” Johansen said. “[Police said] ‘pick up your s--t and get out of here, or get out of town,’ and they didn’t say anything about going to a shelter.”Al Larson, 47, said for the past few weeks police and parks officials have been asking tent dwellers in his camp near Jericho Beach in Kitsilano to push off. “They want to get us out for the Olympics,” he said. “I moved deeper into the bush.”
A Downtown Eastside shelter resident who asked not to be named said he has recently witnessed a number of homeless living on East Hastings having their sleeping bags and gear confiscated by officials citing public health concerns. “They’re moving a lot of crack-heads off Hastings into other neighborhoods,” he said. But city officials deny that anyone is being moved against their will from public property.
Raj Hundal, chair of the Vancouver Park Board, said park staff and police ticketed a homeless man who had set up camp in Vanier Park at the foot of Burrard Bridge, but “they are not systematically moving people out of the Burrard Bridge or any other bridge for that matter.” City of Vancouver staff have met with VANOC this month to agree on a process of dealing with homeless people prior to the Olympics, according to Judy Graves, co-ordinator of the city’s tenant assistance program, who’s penning an internal memo for councillors on the subject. The memo was not available.
Vision Vancouver Coun. Kerry Jang said he doesn’t know of any displacement activity. “We’re certainly not forcing people to go to shelters,” Jang said. Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu has said there will be no sweep of the homeless for the Olympics. But last week, city manager Penny Ballem said homeless people sleeping under the Georgia Viaduct will be evicted on Feb. 5 next year, or face arrest. Security officials have warned of arrests if homeless people don’t vacate the area around B.C. Place, G.M. Place and the Dunsmuir and Georgia viaducts. The Province inspected the Georgia viaduct area Tuesday where only a single bed and a parked police vehicle were apparent.David Eby, executive director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, said he’s worried that hundreds of the city’s homeless could be rousted from their outdoor bunks only to find the shelters are full.“People are going to hide themselves, even further away,” said Eby.
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