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Loony Mayor Wants To Throw Homeless People In Jail

by dfred | December 22, 2008 at 10:15 am

227 views | 5 Recommendations | 8 comments

Gregor Robertson promised to fix Vancouver homelessness problem during his recent campaign. What he did not tell Vancouverites is that it may include arbitrar detention.

Taking political advantage of the death of a homeless person who caught on fire friday morning, Mayor Robertson discussed measures with Police Chief Chu suspending the right of habeas corpus to homeless persons determined by the Police to be at risk in “extreme weather”. In his declaration to the press Robertson fails to specifically designate what in the city of Vancouver would be the definition of “extreme weather” and who is and who is not at risk.

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poor oligarch (not verified)

at 11:10 on December 22nd, 2008

Not unlike what they did in Atlanta for the Olympics.

London mayor Boris Johnson is also promising to end street homelessnessness in time for the London Olympics

mtippett

at 13:38 on December 22nd, 2008

I think Robertson's intentions here are good and I don't think this is just a pretext to begin rounding people up. The authorities do in some cases have the right to prevent people from harming themselves and this is what Robertson is trying to do. Gregor Robertson is not Sam Sullivan.

poor oligarch (not verified)

at 14:00 on December 22nd, 2008

doesn't the Host City Contract with the IOC require the politicos to make these gestures?

(or perhaps your Host City Contract is a secret document, not in the public domain?)

car1edb

at 13:35 on December 22nd, 2008

Guess they just need to sweep them out of sight for those few weeks...thought a riverview re-opening was still an option? to use as the carpet.

mtippett

at 13:40 on December 22nd, 2008

Opening Riverview would be a Provincial prerogative and isn't within the mandate of the City (unfortunately). If it was I'm sure Robertson would advocate for it. Most Vancouverites are in support of it.

timbarton

at 15:01 on December 22nd, 2008

I walk under the West Georgia Street underpass at Stanley Park every morning on my way to work. Last week, during the REALLY cold spell, I was surprised that there was still someone sleeping under there. I was actually worried for them and glad when there was some movement. You almost want to disturb them to make sure they're ok, but I didn't think they'd appreciate it.

eastvanray

at 20:23 on December 24th, 2008

Funny how no one has made a big deal of this. If Sam Sulivan, Gordon Campbell or Steven Harper even though out loud these thoughts they would be called fascists and the APC would be roiting in the streets of the DTES. I guess it is Ok in our PC world to want to take people's liberties and free will away if you happen to be a left-winger. If legally sane people want to risk dying in the cold.....we must let them. Preservation of and respect for individual liberties must be society's paramount concern and not the potential self-inflicted harm resulting from the choices of it's free citizens.