SUPPORT TENT CITIES!

To all of our donors,

Thank you so much for your support during this fundraising period. 10-Year-Tent-City and Anita Place continue to operate and will need more donations in the future.

At this time, we've decided to end our campaign as the residents have established both tent cities and there are no more initial set up costs.

We will continue to update via @stopdisplacemnt, on our Facebook page "Alliance Against Displacement", and on our website http://www.stopdisplacement.ca

Thank you for sharing with and supporting these tent cities.

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This campaign has been expanded to include Anita Place tent city in Maple Ridge as well as continuing to support 10-Year-Tent-City in Vancouver. 

VANCOUVER:

UPDATE: 10-Year-Tent-City won in court against The City of Vancouver!

On May 17th, a group of residents from the Ten Year Tent City trekked to the Supreme Court to defend their charter rights against the City’s pending emergency injunction.  At the trial, the City argued that the tent city at 950 Main Street stalled the development of social housing on the city owned lot, which has been vacant and owned by the City since 1998.

Without legal counsel tent City residents challenged the City’s sudden urgency to develop the site, spoke to the benefits and importance of maintaining the tent city and how displacing the tent city without providing residents with alternatives  would significantly compromise the health, wellbeing, and safety of tent city residents by pushing them back into the streets, back alleys, and parks where they are less safe and more vulnerable to violence, theft, and fatal overdoses.

Judge Neena Sharma sided with the homeless campers, agreed that injunction jeopardized homeless people’s charter right to life, liberty and security, and said the City of Vancouver had failed to prove how the tent city would cause irreparable harm to the public good. The supreme court decision affirms the lives and struggles of homeless people, and is a much needed victory in the midst of an ever worsening homelessness crisis

MAPLE RIDGE:

UPDATE: Anita Place tent city has been granted our request to adjourn Maple Ridge's injunction hearing until June 20th! Maple Ridge council opposed our request for a 2 week adjournment but the judge found our access to legal council is more important.

Anita Place has rebuilt, reorganized, and is buoyed by the Court victory of 10 Year Tent City -- the feeling around camp is that we're in it for the long haul: we're not going to abandon Anita Place except for new social housing that takes all Maple Ridge homeless off the streets.

One week after the camp started, the acting Mayor deployed Bylaw officers to try to break up the camp without an order from Council or the Courts. The City stole tents and belongings, took the fence that was keeping the camp safe from vigiliantes, and ripped out tarps and wrecked the kitchen and common meeting space. Moments after the attack, Tana and Meryl responded to how it felt to be attacked by the City. See their videos here:

Tana: https://twitter.com/stopdisplacemnt/status/862722040075141120
Meryl: https://twitter.com/stopdisplacemnt/status/862722765102530560

The City's siege on Anita Place encouraged Ridgeilantes to step up their harassment of homeless people. For days after the Bylaw sacking of the camp, we suffered more hostile visits from Ridgeilante-types, who regularly cruise by, shout slurs, glare, and take photographs of the camp. One driver in a white hatchback lobbed a stone at the camp in the middle of the night, striking a camper in the head.

But Anita Place has also mobilized supporters. On Saturday May 13th, in response to the Bylaw and vigilante attacks on the camp, a new group of housed Maple Ridge residents organized a demonstration in support of Anita Place and demanding social housing, not displacement.

There are currently about 35 people staying at Anita Place each night, and we are preparing for a population boom. At the end of May, the Rain City shelter (Maple Ridge's only low-barrier shelter) is scheduled to close and many of the 40 people there will have nowhere to go except Anita Place. We are calling for donations to maintain the camp, and for the resources we need to support the coming residents. Anita Place is carving out space for low-income people's survival in the belly of the beast!

-------Last year BC alone lost over 900 people to drug overdoses--another epidemic killing our neighbours. Tent cities bring people together who watch out for each other and, if need be, can save each other from dying of overdose. 

And while cities, the province, and the federal government stand by refusing to act in the best interest of homeless people, this camp needs resources to survive.

Your donation will pay for food, tents, blankets, warm clothes, banners for handmade signs, tarps, first aid supplies and other miscellaneous supplies needed to keep these tent cities running.

Please donate what you can. Support tent cities.

BUILD HOMES NOT SHELTERS. BUILD HOMES NOT JAILS.

Other ways to support the tent cities: 

-Can you share this campaign on twitter, facebook, or through e-mali?
-Can you speak to your friends, neighbours, and coworkers about these tent cities to spread the word?
-Can you organizing your own fundraising event? IE: 50/50 draw, house party, bbq...
-Can you volunteer at the tent city and help with cooking, cleaning, watching the gate?  Sign up here: https://signup.com/client/invitation/6775657374/1884910/false#!1884910/false/false

*should cops, park rangers, city staff take over the tent city (displacing people yet again) all remaining funds will be used only for future tent city organizing supported by Alliance Against Displacement
**This campaign was originally named "Keep 10-year-tent-city-alive!". This campaign was changed Sunday May 7th to include fundraising support for "Anita Place"-the tent city in Maple Ridge that began earlier this week.
***If you want your donation to go to a specific tent city, please note either "Maple Ridge" or "Vancouver" in the comment section of your donation., otherwise it will go to whichever tent city is most in need.
****Donations are managed by Alliance Against Displacement. Supplies for the tent cities are purchased as needed at the request of the residents of tent cities.
*****For any large donations or for those who don't want to donate online, we can accept cheques.

Please make out the cheque to: "Alliance Against Displacement" and mail to:
CCEC
2248 Commercial Drive
Vancouver BC
V5N 4B5