Kitsilano resident questions if bias involved in recent removal of homeless camp
Global News
A Kitsilano resident is raising new questions about how quickly the city moved to remove a homeless camp from his neighbourhood.
Days after East Vancouver residents questioned why tents in a west side park were addressed so quickly, a Kitsilano resident is raising similar concerns about whether an income-related bias exists in terms of how encampments in public parks are dealt with.
Growing up on the west side, Alex Trottier said his financially stable family helped get him the care he needed to fight substance abuse and mental health issues.
Now sober and in recovery, Trottier wonders why two tents in Vanier Park near his home on the Arbutus Greenway, were met with swift action from the city following a local resident’s recent complaint.
“I generally think if it wasn’t for my parents, I would be living in one of those encampments right now,” Trottier told Global News in an interview Friday.
In a March 21 email sent to the city, mayor Ken Sim and the Vancouver Police Department, Trottier stated he was “extremely appalled” by the quick response to disband the Vanier Park tent encampment “simply because it exists in a part of the city that is inhabited by those of us who are materially wealthier than the rest of the citizens of Vancouver.”
Earlier that day, and six days after Elvira Lount shared concerns on social media about tents in Vanier Park, the Vancouver Park Board began taking action to clear the small camp.
“When the lives of people who are more affluent are impacted, the city is more willing to actually acknowledge there are issues with tent encampments,” Trottier told Global News.
A tent city in Strathcona Park lasted 10 months between June 2020 and April 2021, while an earlier entrenched encampment at Oppenheimer Park lingered for 18 months before the province finally moved in to clear the tents and offer people housing options.