Rabid Reporter Hasiuk Again Takes Aim at Libby Davies

Oldtown News
Vancouver, BC

Rabid Reporter Hasiuk Takes Aim at Libby Davies

Opinion by Jamie Lee Hamilton


Rabid ultra Conservative Vancouver Courier columnist Mark Hasiuk once again attacks MP Libby Davies because she has opposed a recent bill introduced by the Conservatives with drafting assistance by Benjamin Perrin which will target multi-cultural sex workers. Mr Hasiuk is making a career for himself by falsely claiming as are the Salvation Army, Benjamin Perrin and Prostitution Abolitionists that human sex trafficking is a major problem in Vancouver. These people are exploiting an issue and targetting migrant sex workers claiming them to be victims of sex traffickers. Many of these sex workers are Asian and have been unfairly targeted by Hasiuk and his supporters which is due to overt racism. There is no reliable data to back up these wild claims by Hasiuk, Perrin, Sally Ann and others although in the case of the Salvation Army and researcher Benjamin Perrin who receive funds based on their sensationalism, it doesn't hurt to have a friend like Hasiuk in the press. Hasiuk et al claim that the Olympics will bring many trafficked sex workers into Vancouver which is untrue. In fact, many sex workers actively involved in the trade who I speak with regularly are planning on traveling out of country during the two week Olympics to make better money abroad. Many of my friends cite the increased security zones and customers not being able to easily reach them so they decided to travel to Asia and Europe during this period.

Prostitution is here to stay so let's make it safe for sex workers. We don't need any more murders in this City. Please reject false claims that are being made by the moral right which include the Conservative party, the local chapter of the moral right which include lobbyists like Mark Hasiuk, Benjamin Perrin, Salvation Army, Prostitution Abolitionists like Rape Relief and others.

Jamie Lee Hamilton
tricia_foxx@yahoo.com

ANOTHER SEX TRADE WORKER MURDERED

Oldtown News
Vancouver,BC


VANCOUVER (CBC) - Vancouver police have identified the city's 15th homicide of the year as a sex-trade worker who lived in the Downtown Eastside.


Lisa Arlene Francis, also known as Lisa Arlene Kireche, 41, was found dead Thursday in the Fraser River, near the 9100 block of Bentley Street.


Homicide investigators are asking the public to share any information they might have about Francis, who was last seen July 10.


Francis was reported missing July 17 by someone who worked in the building she lived in, Const. Jana McGuinness said.


"They were concerned and called our missing persons unit," McGuinness said. "A report was filed and attempts to locate the woman since July 17 were unsuccessful; and then, sadly, the link was made that she, in fact, is the [deceased] person."


Anyone with information is asked to contact Vancouver police at 604-717-2500.

SHAWN ATLEO WIN HAS PROBLEMS

Oldtown News
Vancouver, BC

SHAWN ATLEO WIN HAS PROBLEMS

The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) is a National group of Indian Chiefs who every three years elects a Chief to represent with one voice First Nations across the country.

Yesterday at the annual convention held in Calgary, Alberta, Chiefs gathered to elect a National Chief and because the winner has to achieve 60 percent of the vote, the election went twenty four hours and eight ballots and even then the 60% was not achieved.

The ultimate win came after the second place candidate, Perry Bellegarde conceded being just 34 votes behind Mr Shawn Atleo. At the seventh ballot, the eventual winner, Shawn Atleo from BC and Mr Bellegarde from Saskatchewan had been tied from the 3 ballot on.

Through 24 hours and at 7:30 am this morning after the eighth ballot, Mr Bellegarde conceded defeat probably due to his desire for many elderly Chiefs to get some rest.

Chief Shawn Atleo though because of the split in the AFN membership can not lay claim to a decisive win and his leadership unless he announces a prominent role within the AFN for Perry Bellegarde will be fraught with problems. Moreover, his win as National Chief came through as some voting Chiefs have said a process of exhaustion.

One wonders why the Chief electoral officer for the convention did not postpone until today the remainder of the balloting so the Chiefs could get some rest and return ready to do the necessary arm-twisting and battle it out for the remainder of the voting?

Already, many urban Aboriginals claim the AFN does not really represent them since only about 600 Chiefs are given the right to vote. Urban Indians claim that voting for their band Chiefs is already problematic as many bands are controlled by family clans and if you live off-reserve as most Aboriginals do your voting rights are not enshrined.

With only 265 Chiefs selecting Mr Atleo, his election as national chief is hardly conclusive. As of the 2006 Canadian Census there were over 1,172,790 Aboriginal people in Canada and how Chief Atleo he will proceed in being the unifying leader of Canada's First Nations is going to be very interesting to watch.

Jamie Lee Hamilton
tricia_foxx@yahoo.com

IS MICHAEL GELLER RUNNING for VANCOUVER MAYOR?

Oldtown News
Vanncouver, BC

IS MICHAEL GELLER RUNNING for VANCOUVER MAYOR?

Well according to Carnegie Centre's chief Organizer, Wendy Pedersen, she thinks so.

Ms Pedersen chatted with me on Thursday at the Carnegie Centre Cafeteria exclaiming she feels that Michael Geller, probably the most popular Developer in the City, plans on seeking the Mayor's seat come November 2011.

I was just at Heritage Vancouver's annual garden party hosted by uber-socialite City Councillor Suzanne Anton and Mr Geller was there schmoozing, as was Malcolm Parry of the Sun's Town Talk but I didn't get the sense that Geller was planning anything imminent although Wendy believes due to his frequent appearances at Council meetings that something is up.

There is something up. Mr Geller is heavily promoting his no social housing at Olympic Village and portable housing vision. His idea of no social housing on the Village site is gaining traction and not only with the westside creme de la creme set.

Jim Deva, co-owner of Little Sisters Bookstore who is a local legend in Vancouver and an ardent NDP supporter likes Mr Geller's ideas. The Deva said that it would be hard on lower-income kids living in subsidized units at Olympic Village watching their rich kid neighbours go off to school in limousines while they waited for the bus.

This idea though flies in the face of mixed housing ideals. That is where you have different income-level people living together hopefully in harmony.

This concept of mixed concept housing works good in theory but not sure if it would work realistically.

Because Olympic Village is considered prime real estate, including pristine views of the water, the public may not desire to have affordable housing on the site.

It seems we are really heading for a place where our beautiful City is really divided into two cities. One city for the rich and one City for the poor and that is in my opinion not good. Perhaps we are already there and just need to make it official. Is it time as Nathaniel Christopher, a writer for XtraWest states that Vancouver has become two cities so why not make the eastside its own municipality.

I think Mr Geller would make a great Mayor of Vancouver even though he is promoting this idea of no social housing at Olympic Village. So is Suzanne Anton of the Southlands (wealthy enclave of the City with bigger lots than Shaughnessy) who many speculate will also run for Mayor in 2011.

If the race settles between two people with equally fabulous gardens, Councillor Anton may have an edge although I haven't yet seen Mr Geller's garden but he lives very close to Ms Anton.

Hopefully Geller will have a summer Garden party and invite me so I can compare.

Jamie Lee Hamilton
tricia_foxx@yahoo.com

PICKTON APPEAL VERDICT TODAY

Oldtown News
Vancouver, BC

PICKTON APPEAL VERDICT TODAY

The Robert Pickton appeal verdict comes down today. We all need to brace ourselves since it is quite possible and very likely that the Court will grant a new trial.

Grounds for appeal include the trial judge Justice James Williams making an error in law. Unfortunately Justice Williams acknowledged this error in his charge to the jury.

Both the Crown and Defence have appealed so this does not look good.

Jamie Lee Hamilton
tricia_foxx@yahoo.com

GREGOR'S SHELTERS RAISING HEAT

Oldtown News
Vancouver, BC

GREGOR'S SHELTERS RAISING HEAT

Back in December 2008 when Vancouver's new Mayor embarked on a hastily put together plan to open 3 temporary shelters which were actually run-down shacks. I took it upon myself to visit these places and wrote about the potential problems within them.

Mayor Robertson called them low-barrier shelters which is a code word for flophouse. The guests of the shelters were given free reign to do as they wished. There was no rules or regulations. There were no structures put in place and I suspected quite shortly that Gregor's shelters would become problematic.

According to the neighbors residing around the Shelters located in the 1400 block of Howe, these problems have become intolerable.

The neighbours complain of open drug dealing and this isn't surprising considering when you create a ready-made-market the parasitic drug pushers will quickly move in. You only need to observe the Downtown Eastside to see this in action. Just look at the United We Can Bottle Depot where traffickers congregate to relieve the drug addicted of their small change from returning bottles. Or look at the Money Mart store on a welfare day and you will see the same problems.

The reasoning behind the opening of Gregor's shelters was that people were homeless and dying on the street. According to the Mayor there wasn't enough stock of affordable housing to properly assist the homeless. The reality though was that these unfortunate souls had major mental health problems including drug addiction and warehousing them would not address these other concerns.

In fact when I was doing my tour of the shelters I found many of the guests had previous homes but due to their circumstances were not able to maintain them.

Councillor Kerry Jang who is the point person for the City on his Worship's shelters articulates that the shelters must remain open because there is not enough affordable housing being built.

The problem here which Mr Jang and his Mayor do not appear to grasp is that many of those taking up residence in Gregor's shelters are former residents of affordable housing. These residents created many problems including drug trafficking or allowing other drug addicts to take over their apartments and turning them into crack shacks and flophouses.

In the last month alone, DERA, a housing provider in the Downtown Eastside has evicted four tenants from one of its buildings for the above mentioned repeated behaviors. These people are now taking up floor space in Gregor's shelters.

Just opening shelters and warehousing people with severe untreated mental health or drug addiction will not solve the problem. Plus it is not humane.

So until the Mayor and his council get a handle on the real issues at play here they will continue spinning their wheels. They will engage in the blame game with other levels of government as they are doing and while this game is played out the affected law abiding residents complaining of unbearable noise and drug trafficking near their homes will receive no relief. In fact both the Mayor and Councillor Jang have gone on record stating this. And the sheltered folks will continue on with their cycle of despair.

Mayor Robertson is caught in a political conundrum. He has to govern on behalf of all the City's residents and this appears to be proving somewhat difficult for him. It is quite a bit different from representing a small rather affluent district like Vancouver-Fairview and lobbying for Cambie Street merchants who had been financially impacted by construction of the new Skytrain line.

The harsh reality is Mayor Robertson is governing in a City with 500,000 residents and we have this huge white elephant in our midst. This white elephant is creating untold hardship and grief for thousands and thousands of citizens including many youth and children.

What ever will Mayor Robertson do?

Jamie Lee Hamilton
tricia_foxx@yahoo.com

IS IT AS SIMPLE AS TAKING A MEDICAL LEAVE?

Oldtown News
Vancouver, BC

IS IT AS SIMPLE AS TAKING A MEDICAL LEAVE?

When Park Commissioner Constance Barnes announced yesterday that she was taking a medical leave to deal with her criminal charges related to driving while impaired, I wondered what the process was regarding going on leave.

My understanding is that other Commissioners would need to approve such a leave and since Commissioners haven't met in session since this event unfolded, I contacted a couple of the longer serving elected Park Board officials for further clarification.

Commissioner Ian Robertson who has served as both Chair and Vice-Chair of the Park board states, " I don't know what the process is and I'll be asking for a full explanation regarding her actions". Commissioner Robertson also states that "elected officials should be held to a higher standard" and he is correct in that assessment.

Vice-Chair Loretta Woodcock, when asked by this blogger regarding Commissioner Robertson's assertion states, " Constance was not on official business and this needs to be treated as a personal issue and not political since she was not on official business ".

The public though are making their voices heard as they should regarding this very troubling issue and I suspect our elected officials will be watching closely since ultimately they will be asked to approve their colleague's request for leave.

Already coming from the public is that Commissioner Barnes should resign her position on Park Board.

Areas that need to be explored regarding the drunk driving of Ms Barnes include concerns that there is no public drinking allowed in Vancouver public parks or beaches and yet Commissioner Barnes readily admits that she was drinking at a public beach in Richmond. Here is a Park Commissioner telling the public they can't drink in public places yet she ignores this policy herself.

The public will no doubt pounce on Ms Barnes action of public drinking and they will rightfully say that she shouldn't get away with something that the public wouldn't be able to and they would assert that because she is a public official, she shouldn't be treated favorably. One would be hard pressed to dismiss the public's sentiment on this.

Another matter which readers of mine are sending emails concern the fact that Commissioner Barnes destroyed property while intoxicated and this is irresponsible behavior for a public official and her alcoholism aside, this issue can not just be overlooked or forgiven due to alcoholism. In fact Commissioner Barnes still faces repercussions from this criminal activity and the public is not sympathetic to drunk driving . Most likely the judge will consider this when sentencing Ms Barnes.

To the issue at hand which other Park Commissioners will be looking at in granting a leave for Ms Barnes is their own political capital.

If Commissioners decide to grant leave to Commissioner Barnes and the public believes Commissioner Barnes should resign, this will have the effect of or at least the public perception will be that Commissioners treated one of their own more favourably and this could create a political firestorm for the other six Commissioners.

There is no question that Commissioner Barnes should be treated with respect and accorded dignity during this really difficult time, moreover, there is no doubt the public is somewhat sympathetic to her announced alcoholism but the public are equally stating that a medical leave may not be suitable in these circumstances especially considering the harm that was created due to the reckless actions of Commissioner Barnes.

Already the public are on record saying resolve of this issue may not be as simple as Commissioner Barnes going on leave.

The Chair of the Park Board, Raj Hundal, unfortunately, hasn't yet spoken on this issue and the Vice-Chair, Loretta Woodcock further states, " Commissioner Barnes has fulfilled her obligation to be held to a higher standard because she made this information public".

While the Vice-Chair states that Commissioner Barnes has fulfilled her obligation as a Park Commissioner, ultimately the judge of Commissioner Barnes actions will be the judge of public opinion.

If the public determines that medical leave is not suitable given the severity of the three charges Ms Barnes is facing, the other Commissioners could very well risk their own political capital by agreeing on a course of action which the public finds extremely distasteful.

This story isn't going away and there will no doubt be other announcements regarding it in the days and weeks ahead.


Jamie Lee Hamilton
tricia_foxx@yahoo.com