The latest 鈥渢ent city鈥� atrocity in Nanaimo should have signalled the end of soft, uninformed support by politicians and media for the professional organizers of urban B.C.鈥檚 neighbourhood-invading squatter camps.
In case you missed it, self-styled anarchist-communist-whatever 鈥渉ousing activists鈥� broke into an elementary school and trashed it. This went beyond the usual squatter filth and scattering of government-supplied needles amid the garbage. The destruction was systematic, smashing doors and windows and tossing desks around to make some kind of deluded political statement. The school district is facing a six-figure security and repair bill.
The invaders had time to do this because police didn鈥檛 know if they were armed, so they called in the emergency response team for an armoured entry. If this sounds like a response to low-grade terrorism, that鈥檚 because it was.
Nanaimo鈥檚 notorious tent camp and its associated crime is the latest project of an outfit calling itself Alliance Against Displacement. I started tracing its activities three years ago, when green space next to Victoria鈥檚 courthouse was taken over by squatters.
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In 2016, organizer Ivan Drury bused in 鈥渟upporters鈥� from the Lower Mainland to the Victoria camp, where among other incidents, a CTV camera operator was assaulted. Drury and company boast of establishing squats in Maple Ridge, Abbotsford, the notorious Whalley 鈥渟trip鈥� in Surrey and now Nanaimo.
Island organizer Chrissy Brett burst on the scene at the Victoria squat, going on to stage a series of tent camps around the baker鈥檚 dozen of municipalities that make up the Capital Regional District. It鈥檚 apparently quite easy to round up drifters who have been kicked out of the region鈥檚 many shelters, and gather them where they can vent their anger against the system that tries to help them.
Brett constantly plays the Indigenous 鈥渟tolen land鈥� card. She says she鈥檚 from Bella Coola, and as CFAX radio host Adam Stirling revealed in the only critical interview I鈥檝e found with her, she asserts aboriginal rights without any effort to contact the Songhees, Esquimalt or other communities recognized as the actual holders of those rights.
Alliance Against Displacement鈥檚 claims B.C.鈥檚 housing crisis is caused by 鈥渃olonialism and capitalism.鈥� The website gives no hint of how it finances its buses, lawyers, and full-time organizers. It merely appeals for donations from those keen to help smash capitalism and disrupt private property rights.
A couple of weeks ago, an Alliance squad invaded B.C. Housing Minister Selina Robinson鈥檚 constituency office, yelling slogans until they were arrested. Apparently Robinson鈥檚 efforts to rush out temporary housing and catered meals for residents of their squatter camps aren鈥檛 sufficient.
I asked Premier John Horgan about this. He acknowledged that some of these squatters aren鈥檛 homeless, and said his priority is to deal with the many 鈥渉ard to house鈥� people in B.C.
I agree, helping people who demonstrate they can鈥檛 provide for themselves is an urgent problem. But that鈥檚 not what the B.C. government is doing. Instead, they鈥檙e rushing to these staged squats with resources, most recently with 鈥渨orkforce housing鈥� to appease the mob in Nanaimo.
The housing ministry advises me that as of the end of September, there were 7,050 people on its supportive housing waiting list. Why would the squatters bother to sign up?
Municipal governments are key to this mess. Your only chance for four years to elect councillors who will stand up to the bullies is the Oct. 20 election. Candidates either get that or they don鈥檛.
Tom Fletcher is B.C. legislature reporter and columnist for Black Press. Email: tfletcher@blackpress.ca
tfletcher@blackpress.ca
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