Everyone...felt

nity care going after the initial emergency subsides are increasingly being organized through social media. Distro Disco and Lerat, whose Instagram account is @okimawiskwew, are part of a network of organizers that have co-ordinated both immediate and ongoing responses to the decampments.

Lynn-Marie Angus, who runs Indigenous self-care business Sisters Sage, similarly uses her account to encourage her 35,000 followers to participate in mutual aid, by sharing how she distributes hot meals and survival gear.

“The point for me is I have such a huge following that, for me, sharing about it is more of a catalyst and a kickstarter for other people to be like, ‘Oh, I can do that, too,’” said Angus, who has Nisga’a, Gitxaała, Cree, and Métis ancestry.

But mutual aid can only do so much to help, when the systemic issues causing poverty and homelessness remain.

High rents, soaring inflation, and a lack of affordable housing can force people onto the streets. Low income assistance rates, and a lack of safe, secure shelters and permanent affordable housing make it difficult for anyone who becomes homeless to find a permanent place to live. And the physical and mental trauma of homelessness, along with the disabilities that can come from never getting warm or dry, can feed into using unregulated toxic drugs to cope.

“That impacts so many things, when you don’t have safe housing, when you don’t have anywhere safe you can store your medication, when you don’t have anywhere reliable to just exist,” Taylor said.

According to the city’s own data, Indigenous people are disproportionately likely to be unhoused: in 2020, they represented about two per cent of residents, but 39 per cent of people experiencing homelessness. Lerat, who themself has experienced homelessness, said that “the messaging that Vancouver sends out is that there’s support here,” which is at odds with the reality.

“It’s not just people from this territory, it’s people from all over Turtle Island,” Lerat said. “I have family members out here… People come out here, and they’re fucking left to rot.”

Activists agree that continuing to provide community care, even once emergencies are over, helps to tackle the ongoing systemic issues that cause acute homelessness in the first place. But it’s also crucial to lobby politicians to do better. The recent decampment seemed to break the city’s own promises: CBC News reported that Sim’s former chief of staff had promised they “would not be sending in the police to decamp Hastings.”

“We need to be putting pressure on governments, letting them know that what they’re doing is unjust, it’s inhumane, and we can give them ideas on how they can do better and support people experiencing poverty,” said Angus. “We don’t want people to be in tents either. We want people living in safe homes. But if all we can do in the meantime is provide a tent until it gets taken away again, that’s what we’re going to do.” GS

Wake Up From Winter

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