Thursday 15 November 2012

DNC Board meeting minutes - November 15 2012

DNC Board meeting minutes
November 15 2012

Present: Richard, Tami, Jamie, Kelvin, Jenn, Herb, DJ, Harold, Ivan
Guests: Richard from West, Leanne, Jacek, Dave D

Agenda
Copwatch
LAPP
AGM
DT East
Finances and banking
Social Housing Coalition

COPWATCH
Jenn
Last week Copwatch was in Toronto for the Right to Resist conference. It went very well.
We have five new complaints going against cops who have attacked people in the DTES
Aiyanas is helping us create a strategy to get in the way of the Beat enforcement team
Kelvin
We have a new investigations group that is a civilian oversight group over police brutality. So we can refer things to the new office.
Jenn
We went to a forum about the new Independent Investigations Office (IIO) and heard the inspector, Richard Rosenthal, speak about the new process. It was bad because they won't investigate anything in the DTES. Only will investigate if someone dies
Ivan
There has been a long demand for an independent, civilian oversight body to deal with police brutality and harassment. The IIO comes from that demand.
But the mandate of the IIO is so narrow that it will only deal with the embarrassing cases that delegitimize the system. Won't affect the daily police brutality and harassment problems.
Harold
There has been intense criticism. First that they are coming at police complaints from the wrong end. If they dealt with small stuff it would help everything but it is dealing only with the most extreme. Also a terrible problem that rape and sexual assault is not covered in their mandate.
We were going to ask for an office in the DTES but the way it is there's no use.
Kelvin
This office is working under the existing laws and those laws are made to protect people not to protect the police, but they're not working.
A lot of the stuff you're talking about is very important but we're just one group and we need to get all our communities together with a bigger voice. We need new laws
Jenn
I want to move a motion that we flood the complaints process
Ivan
I agree we need a campaign to deal with the complaints process and
Richard
We should also include the security guards in a campaign
Jenn
Also Canadian Border Services Agency
Jacek
There is a complaints process and if we don't follow it then then don't know there's anything wrong
Richard
A major problem is that we don't follow up on our complaints.
AGREED: To set up a meeting with other groups to strategize a police complaints campaign.

Jenn
Information: if you have been strip searched in custody in the past 6 years then you might qualify for compensation. Go see Doug King at Pivot to seek such compensation
Also: Copwatch wants to organize a protest against Michelle Davey as inspector for the district because she won't meet with copwatch and she refuses to do anything about attacks on native men by BET squad
Harold
Could we put this problem in a bigger context and identify and address the systemic problems
Ivan
I agree. Need to deal with the police accountability crisis.
Tami
We should do more than replace figureheads, need systemic change.
Jenn
I'll withdraw the motion for now and bring it back when it's better worked out.

LAPP
Herb
We're trying to get ready for the round tables but there's not much to report on that yet. But Ivan drafted a letter to the city.
Ivan
Drafted a letter from DNC proper, as the group behind the co-chair.
(We read the letter)
Kelvin
This has happened because the city has its own agenda. The white government has really pushed us to the limit and they're really doing it to our people
This table has to come united with all its people and defend the community.
The rents in the SROs down by the 900 block of East Hastings are going to jump twice over.
We need to come united with all the communities down here. But we're fragmented. We're falling apart even after all this work.
In the LAPP I see the system not working. We make good contracts and they're not followed.
Harold
There's lots of good stuff in the letter that I agree with and people are feeling.
The question is who is it addressed to and what is its purpose. It can work to expose the role of city hall and show how the process is not working. But some of it is more addressed to our own community.
One is a criticism of what city hall is doing and the image of strike-one is okay but I'm not sure what it accomplishes exactly. We're not ready to come to a conclusion yet.
Herb
I also think we won't get the BIAs, or Alive to sign on to this but maybe we can get some more people to sign on to it.
For the conclusion: I have only been co-chair for a month but there are already bad signs like that the committee is starting to police itself.
Tami
I like the point that there's a vested interest in the LAPP of people who are seeking profits
Getting other members of the LAPP to sign on would be important.
Herb
Could get others on the LAPP committee to write a character reference letter.
Richard
I agree with getting more people to support this letter.
The DNC elected Ivan. As a member of DNC I won't tolerate Ivan being removed from the committee.
Kelvin
This committee should send a request to other organizations and get their views on what's happened since this LAPP has come together. Also the slanderous remarks towards the previous chair and the ousting of that chair need to be responded to.
It's not to say Herb's not doing a good job or that we want to go back to Ivan, but to look at what's happened and have the LAPP look at it again.
Go back and look at the policies of governance again.
We need to nip this in the bud or its going to be worse
Ivan
I think we should send this just as DNC and write a separate statement with the LAPP Committee
The purpose for the public letter I think is to expose what's going on in the LAPP and help mobilize our community to fight for a plan that works for the community
I agree with Harold that the “Strike One” metaphor doesn't quite work because it binds us to three strikes and also maybe is too severe
Herb
We could go deliver it to council ourselves in a delegation
Richard
We should demand a letter from council explaining why our co-chair was removed.

DT EAST
Harold
We have a financial committee working on fundraising and have a letter drafted looking for funds. We should read the letter here.
Jacek
Will DNC still not know what's going on in the DT East account?
Harold
The DT East asked me to report to the board regularly about DT East finances and there will be regular financial reports.
We decided that we were not as transparent as we should have been.
All the money is being spent on is the printing cost, which is $705 a month, or per issue
The board should know what's going on.
Jacek
So the DNC has two treasurers?
Herb
The DT East finances are only for the printing of the paper and it was decided that it be worked on in the past.
Jacek
It says here that the DT East is the newspaper of the DNC. Why is it not under the control of the treasurer.
MOTION: To accept and send out the DT East finance letter. Moved: Harold. Second: Richard. Passed, unanimous.

STREET MARKET
Jacek
Will be a vendors meeting on Saturday and we hope Jenn will come to talk to vendors about vending tickets

AGM
Herb
We're booked for a pre-AGM on December 1 and AGM December 8
Ivan
(Distributes package for AGM)
The question I think we have to answer is whether we will have honorariums at the AGM. We should put it on the poster so that people know.
Kelvin
The stipends have caused a lot of grief for us lately. There has been bad blood with the honorariums at this last meeting and the one before.
I think we should stop having honorariums
Harold
The thing that's bad is not knowing if it is available. Not everyone takes it but those who do need it.
Unless we know for certain that the money is available then we should not put it on the poster
Herb
We didn't find out until the day before that there was not going to be an honorarium at this last meeting and it was partly that reason that many people were pissed off.
Should put it on the poster one way or another. Need to find out how we can streamline the process before we bring it back
Tami
I feel that the honorarium's time has come and gone. Nothing more evident than how it has been mismanaged and abused. The dynamic of the last general meeting was different because of that.
I find it distasteful that our membership finds out through 3rd hand sources that there's no money for that meeting
The two main things are that I think the honorariums have been mismanaged and even abused. And also I think it has been a failure.
Richard
I made it clear that there would be no stipend to VANDU and Political Action Group
I think we had a good showing for a meeting without
MOTION: To use honorariums at the AGM if it is available. The co-presidents to approach Ann and seek the release of $300 for the AGM and have the money deposited to the DNC Bank account. If this is not possible then we will announce that we will not have honorariums available at the AGM. (Moved: Tami. Second: Harold. PASSED unanimous)

FINANCES AND BANKING
Harold
Tami, Ivan and I went to Van City and got the account activated finally. We sorted it out.
Ivan
We got some cheques and wrote and signed a cheque to Streams of Justice to pay for the Dodson Hall rental for the October meeting. Need to write a cheque to Dodson Hall when we get that invoice.
Tami has also written me a cheque for $55 for board meeting food for the past couple weeks but I have not cashed it because I worry about the process we're in.
Tami has tried to contact the treasurer  and has not been able to reach him and he is not coming to these meetings so we have no way to deal properly with our finances. But we need to deal with money. We have to spend money to do our work and it is not acceptable for us to just have individuals pay for things and keep receipts forever.
Tami
I would be willing to take over as treasurer for the time being.
Kelvin
We need to deal with these problems or we will hand over a sinking ship to the next board.
MOTION: To ask Tami Starlight to manage up to $1000 from the VanCity account for necessesary DNC expenses including board food, printing, and space rental until the AGM on December 10. (Moved: Herb. Second: Richard. PASSED unanimous)

STREET MARKET 2
Kelvin
Which are the organizations that are accountable for the street market? We are accountable to the community and right now it is not clear.
Richard
The Street Market is not VANDU's project, it is DNC's market.
Tami
It started as a protest. And it is DNC's project.
Jacek
We followed the motion just over a year ago from the DNC board for money for the market and to negotiate with the city about 62 E Hastings. Me and Roland did that not VANDU
Harold
There is a memorandum of understanding between DNC and VANDU about the way the market is to be run.
Roland is saying that the process now is that the money comes from VANDU even though the MoU says that it is a project of DNC, under the control of DNC.
The street market committee sometimes reports to us directly and a lot of times it seems like it is being run autonomously. We have not been setting the budget.
When Lynn was working as the coordinator and we ran low on money the market committee recommended and the board agreed that she be laid off.
Ivan
There is a crisis in the market because the way we are operating structurally is not consistent with the Memorandum of Understanding. We need to have a structure that is consistent with how we operate.
I don't think we can answer that here. We need to meet between the board and the street market committee and create an official structure that matches with our practice.
Richard
DJ and I are both on the street market committee and on this board and we can bring reports back each week.
Kelvin
I do not intend any disrespect to the people who are on the market committee they are doing great work and the market is running great.
Jacek
We have permits from the city and we have money from the city so it is not a protest.

MOTION to close (Passed, unanimous)



Thursday 1 November 2012

DNC Board meeting - November 1, 2012

DNC Board meeting and discussion on 2012 in review
November 1 2012

Present: Tami, Herb, Kelvin, Jamie, Ivan, Harold, DJ, Jenn
Guests: Daeshawna, Colleen, Victoria, James, Richard from the West, Jacek, Dave D

AGENDA
Opening and introductions
Urgent issues for decision
LAPP
Copwatch
General meeting / AGM
Discussion: Year 2012 in review

OPENING
Kelvin acknowledged Squamish, Musqueam, Tsleil Waututh territory
Round of introductions
Tami outlines agenda. Motion to approve agenda: Passed unanimous

LAPP
Herb
I presented at council for the first time a couple weeks ago, about the rezoning application for 955 E Hastings. The councilors cross examined me pretty harshly. Then at the next day of the public hearing Scott Clark came and undermined the co-chairs and presented different vote outcomes. Ivan said that was a lie, and then Scott yelled at Ivan.
At the
Ivan
We discussed this at the co-chairs meeting and have a suggestion about how to resolve it
I want DNC's support for Herb not to apologize because we never agreed to not protest
Kelvin
I had someone from LAPP call me this week and tell me that I should keep people beneath me in line. That was completely unreasonable.
I'm really pissed off that they called me, that someone gave them my number
I support what Herb did, I don't care what happens up at city hall.
I am under a lot of stress from family issues and getting that call was more stressful
I am speaking with a lawyer to see if I can get support to stop these calls.
I used to get calls about Ivan and the LAPP which I used to just ignore.
I'm hurting inside and I need support.
I am asking for support from the DNC board to send a letter to the LAPP and ask for them to not call me on my personal phone.
Tami
I responded to some of the emails going out criticizing Herb.
I spoke with Kathy from the Powell St Festival asking for her support of us through this conflict.
I replied with a fairly distinct email to everyone who received Joji's complaint letter, naming Joji's position of privilege
Colleen
I don't believe in engaging in these discussions over email
I think that Scott Clark is bullying the committee and especially Herb and Ivan, at the governance committee.
The city is not listening to us. I see some joining of forces and some bullying happening. I saw some real smugness between Wes and the city at the meeting today
Tami
I feel we're really losing our edginess. We're being too polite.
There's a danger of the DNC within the LAPP playing too much of their game and not pushing our own game.
Herb
- When I say I'm a sovereign Nisga'a and Nuu-Chah-Nulth man it's because
MOTIONS:
For DNC to send a letter to the LAPP asking that Kelvin not be harassed about the conduct of others on the LAPP committee and that no one call him on his cell phone without his permission, that his number has gotten out somehow. (Moved, Herb. Second, DJ. Passed unan)
For DNC board to support Herb in his decision to not apologize for protesting at city hall. (Moved, DJ. Second: Victoria and Kelvin. Passed, 1 abstention for conflict of interest)

COPWATCH
Jenn
It's been an emotional week for copwatch and me.
Rob Morgan, who we have been supporting in a complaint for police brutality, just got an email from the Office of the Police Complaints Commission saying that the officer he has launched a complaint against was not working that night. We are trying to verify that and to figure out what to do next.
Earlier this week I witnessed a heavy attack on a woman on the street; two cops handcuffed her too hard and she was crying, was forced to drop a tissue, and then they gave her a ticket for littering.
I called the staff sgt and he dismissed my complaint. He said that it was only my opinion that the person was assaulted and they he would not meet with me because even the district inspector Michelle Davie would not meet with me.
Jamie and I are discussing that we should not meet with the police any more. We need a special branch of the Independent Inspections Office (IIO) in the DTES to take complaints.
The sgt also said that if I don't like the way police function I should get my MLA and MP to change the police act. So I have approached Jenny Kwan and Libby Davies to work on this.
DJ
I made a report and filed a complaint against the cops for coming into my room with the Beat TV show and they are not saying they want me to drop the case because they can't substantiate the date.
I have a lawyer to work on it and I don't want to drop it
Jenn
Copwatch is in the Georgia Straight because Charlie Smith went along on a ride along with the BET team. His story glorifies the BET. We want to invite him to do a walk along.
Ivan
I agree that Jenn should not meet with the cops any more. I think there's a political opportunity here with the beginning of the Independent Investigations Office. They have to prove they're actually effective and that's a lot to prove.
I think we should arrange a meeting with the new Investigations Officer Rosenthal and Doug King and David Eby and push for a special investigations office in the DTES.
If they're not willing then we should organize a delegation to go to the forum they are organizing about policing on November 19 and deliver a statement.
Herb
We have to make this a human rights issue. All aspects of our condition in the DTES are human rights violations. We need to make it a bigger issue and to take it to the UN if we can.
The very constitution of Canada is racist against Native people. And now it's becoming more of a crime to be poor, to be a sex worker.
In the LAPP we're wasting a tremendous amount of energy spinning our wheels and we should be organizing.
Jamie
In the early summer I had a complaint that Cst Sean Shipper was harassing me and they dropped it.
Jacek
When I made my complaints, the only result I got from the police was that they received my complaint. That's all.
DECISION: To pursue the following actions
Jenn to contact Jenny Kwan and Libby Davies about the Police Act
Ivan to set up a meeting between Copwatch, Pivot, BCCLA, and the IIO to ask for a special complaints office in the DTES
To organize a delegation to the forum at WW about policing on November 19

GENERAL MEETING AND AGM
Herb
- The special committee requested that we push back the AGM one month, so we had a motion last week to reorganize the general and AGM meetings but didn’t have quorum. I contacted some other board members and they agreed. We had to move ahead.
CONSENSUS DECISION: To support the reorganizing of general meeting and AGM as follows:
- November general meeting: Saturday November 10, 2:30pm at Dodson Hall
- Pre-AGM: Saturday December 1, 3pm at Carnegie Theatre
- AGM and board elections: Saturday December 8, 2:30pm at Dodson Hall

DISCUSSION: 2012 IN REVIEW
(Recorded on flip chart. Ivan went through DNC’s actions month-by-month. Go-round of all present to state their “favorite actions” of the year.)
CONSENSUS DECISION: To have a “best of 2012” discussion at the November general meeting, with comparisons between our work in 2011 and in 2012 (under the pressure of the LAPP).

(Closing)



Thursday 25 October 2012

DNC Board Minutes - October 25 2012

DNC Board
October 25 2012

Present: Herb, Harold, Tami, Ivan, Kelvin
Guests: James, Jacek, Ludvik

*We don't have quorum but will discuss a couple issues to make recommendations

REQUEST TO MOVE AGM
Herb
  • The special committee of the general membership struck to resolve the conflict in the DNC is requesting that we push the AGM and board elections back one month so they have enough time to do their work.
Harold
  • Can we have a report on what the special committee has done so far.
Tami
  • The committee has had its first meeting and has started its work. It is contacting people concerned and getting going.
Harold
  • So the plan will be to have a report finished before the AGM in December?
Tami
  • Yes it is a slow process
Herb
  • Some of the things that some of the parties have demanded have been dealt with. Full financial reports have been submitted from the DT East and hotel organizing project.
  • Now that the structural stuff is out of the way
Ivan
  • Can you tell us who is on the committee?
Tami
  • The committee is made up of Beth Malena, Dave Diewert, Michelle Miller, Shurli Chan, and Aiyanas Ormond.
  • The first meeting was last Friday. The first thing the committee will do is contact the people involved and ensure that all people involved are comfortable with the composition of the committee.
Herb
  • So this committee is asking that the AGM be pushed back to Saturday December 8th, with pre-AGM on December 1st.
Ivan
  • I think we should set a more specific schedule and ask the committee for:
    • A progress report at the November general meeting including who is on the committee and an outline of the process they are following, and;
    • A final report delivered at the pre-AGM on December 1st. That could be the one agenda point besides preparing for elections.
Harold
  • I'd like the committee to circulate a timeline over email as soon as possible.
Jacek
  • Why should the report from the committee come before the AGM? It could look like a witchhunt where some people on the board want to get rid of other people on the board.
Harold
  • That's why the committee has to work transparently and straightforwardly so that everyone feels it is fair.
Ivan
  • We don't have quorum tonight so can we vote on a recommendation and then circulate it by email and Tami can check in with other board members.

MOTION: To move the AGM and pre-AGM back one month to December 1st and December 8th (Moved: Tami. Seconded: Kelvin. In favour: 4 Abstain: 1)

MOTION: To hold a regular general meeting Saturday November 10. (Moved: Ivan. Second: Kelvin. In favor: 4 Abstain: 1)

MOTION: To ask the special committee to give a progress report including who is on the committee and an outline of the process they are following at the November GM, and; To circulate a timeline for the committee's process and work by email as soon as possible, and; To present a final report and recommendations at the pre-AGM on December 1st.
(Moved: Herb. Seconded: Kelvin. In favor: 5 Abstain: 0 Against: 0)

DECISION: Herb and Tami to contact other board members to measure their votes before Friday 6pm.
  • Herb to contact: Ann, Roland, Jenn and Jamie
  • Tami to contact: Dave H, Dave M, DJ, Richard, Ann Marie

NOVEMBER GENERAL MEETING
Herb
  • We could do a focus on 955 E Hastings for the November general meeting.
Ivan
  • We could have a presentation from the social housing coalition
Herb
  • Or we could have a discussion about the HEAT shelters
Jacek
  • They announced Tuesday that they will open more HEAT shelter beds than last year, but because we lost 200 beds at First United there will be less beds than there was a year ago.
  • On top of that the homeless count shows that there are twice as many homeless people as there was a year ago.
  • At the Greater Vancouver Shelter group they talked about opening church basements
Herb
  • We could also talk about the new transit policies. I'd like to organize a one-day a month fare strike.
Ivan
  • That's a great idea. Could be the first day of each month, the day they're out checking everyone's tickets for new monthly passes.
Kelvin
  • The police on transit are under federal jurisdiction. They can cross over other jurisdictional boundaries.
Ivan
  • We could also do a discussion on 2012 in review. We will have an initial discussion at the board meeting next week and I'd like to take it forward to the membership.

ANNOUNCEMENTS
Kelvin
  • Tremblay, who killed my grand-niece will be going to trial at the Robson St courthouse Monday October 29 in the morning. He is looking for appeal and release. We need support from the community.

(Closing)

Thursday 11 October 2012

DNC Board Meeting - October 11, 2012

DNC Board Meeting
October 11, 2012

Present: Harold, Dave H, Jenn, Dave M, Jamie, Tami, Herb, Richard, Ivan
Guests: Jacek, James, Wendy Chu

IVAN'S BAD NEWS
Ivan
On top of all the condo projects already coming, there has been a major property combination of every property between the Chevron at Vernon and Clark Drive.
Our prediction that the gentrification spill over from 955 E Hastings has already happened.

955 E HASTINGS ORGANIZING
Harold
The condos at 955 E Hastings are going to public hearing on Tuesday and, although it has been late in the game, we have been organizing to try to pull the community together to stop it.
We are going to have a news conference rally on Tuesday evening to raise the issue up at city hall and want to get people out to speak against it.
Also held a meeting last night in partnership between the DTES Not for Developers coalition and ALIVE. We got a lot of people out and the meeting was interesting. We had good presentations from Jean Swanson, Karen Ward, and Stella August
Herb
The meeting was a bit strange. The people out there seemed very confused about what they might get out of the project.
Jen
It's very bad to get low-income people to build condos; getting us to build ourselves out of the community. It's like getting prisoners to build prisons.
Dave M
Will the projects there provide jobs?
Ivan
They won't because the whole community amenity package is wrapped up in the housing. So the retail and industrial spaces will all be market rate.
Harold
We'll get back to people about how the hearing goes. Might go more days.

HOTEL ORGANIZING FINANCES
Ivan
Last fall I organized a number of meetings in some hotels to organize with tenants

DNC FINANCES AND PETTY CASH
Ivan
We have had a number of motions for the treasurer to keep $200 petty cash and to administer $40 a week from that money for food for board meetings. Over the past few weeks there have been problems that Richard, who has volunteered to cook, has had a hard time tracking down the treasurer and then he has been given a cheque and had to run around and find signers and to get the cheque cashed.
I hope the two presidents can support with the treasurer to set up the Van City bank account and get access to the money there and to refresh the $200 petty cash. I don't think this requires a motion because I think it's established and expected practice.
DECISION: Herb will work next week with Roland, Jen, Tami, Harold and Ivan to set up that account and to get the petty cash going.

COPWATCH
Jen
There are eight points:
Assaults against native men have become more commonplace. I have been contacted by two different native men in the past week about assaults by police.
Copwatch has been contacted by Inspector Mike Seer to meet with us again and we're thinking about this. Not necessarily a good idea.
We have been contacted by a film maker in California who has been following Sandy Daviden's case and wants to do a story about us.
We want to do a behind-your-back campaign where we meet with the city and ask them to get rid of the Beat Enforcement Team
VANDU is thinking of starting a secret filming campaign to get members out with cameras to film cops in secret
Doug Kind from Pivot will be going to the Eidge meeting next week to get going with a campaign to stop police brutality against Aboriginal drinkers.
Copwatch has been contacted by people in Regina asking for help in setting up a Regina Copwatch. As soon as I had that exchange on Twitter I was contacted by the Regina police questioning my facts. I called them right away and explained it to them. I am planning on going to Regina in January to help them sort it out.
Herb
Make sure, for the documentary, that you get signatures of consent from anyone on film
Richard
Could we involve Sam Sullivan or Tim Louis to support Sandy?
Jen
What else could we do to support Sandy and get Taylor Robinson fired?
Harold
We could get as many organizations as possible together to monitor the case. Could get Tim Louis or someone else who is very dedicated to disabled peoples' rights.
It's not the same as a demonstration but we could do some work to prepare for another demonstration.
We need to document the cases of harassment of Aboriginal men. If we can get that information together then there's a human rights case.
Herb
As far as getting this man fired, as long as you have to appeal to police investigating police there's no hope.
Ivan
The approach Doug is taking with racist police harassment of Aboriginal men is to take on the rights of Aboriginal drinkers.
The UBCIC and Indigenous Action Movement have long pushed demands for police accountability and to implement the recommendations of the Frank Paul inquiry.
After we collect information about racist policing we could create a united front with these groups to call for an end to harassment of Aboriginal drinkers, and a drinker's lounge type sobering centre, as defined by Eidge.
About Sandy's assault. We could hold a news conference in response to Taylor Robinson's sentencing and then circulate a letter calling for him to be fired; get disabled rights organizations to sign on. Then do another news conference with them, get another media hit.

SHELTER COMMITTEE
Jacek
After First United was lessened we found out from VANDU that six people have died as result of the changes there.
We tried for months to get a meeting with BC Housing about this and finally got one. They refused to say anything meaningful.
We are trying to go through the MLA now.

DOWNTOWN EAST
Ivan
Financial report
Jacek
Needs to be approved by the treasurer. He says there is no motion for this to have a separate account.
Ivan
When we decided to form the newspaper it was with a condition insisted on by Roland and Jacek, who were concerned about whether Street Market money might be spent by the newspaper. The condition was that the money be dealt with completely separately from other DNC money
I would move a motion to confirm this now but I don't think it would be fair because Roland, the chief complainant, is not here.

IVAN'S DEBT TO DNC
Ivan
- The treasurer is raising a number of issues around finances and bookkeeping with me and I want to settle all of them. The DT East and


Saturday 6 October 2012

DNC General meeting minutes - October 6, 2012

DNC General meeting minutes
October 6, 2012

Chairs: Herb and Tami

Agenda
1. Welcoming and opening
2. Discussion: Police brutality and harassment
3. Board reports
1. AGM & elections in November
2. Treasurer
3. Presidents report
4. Committees and coalitions
1. LAPP
2. Street market
3. DT East
5. Event reports and announcements
1. Copwatch
2. End prohibition
3. DTES Not for Developers & 955 E Hastings
6. Closing

OPENING
Kelvin does acknowledgement.
Tami reads constitution (everyone cheers)
Herb reads the agenda
MOTION: Accept the agenda. Moved Richard Cunningham, seconded Rob Morgan. Passed unanimously.

DISCUSSION: Police brutality and harassment
Herb
As many of you have noticed over the summer the numbers of police in our neighbourhood have been increasing, especially around the new condos.
We know about assault and harassment mostly through anecdotal evidence, and we need to start documenting it.
(member)
What if the cops take your phone? They do that too.
Herb
That's why we need to be careful. We need to only go taking pictures of them in groups, with our friends with us. And make sure we take badge numbers.
Rob
About a month ago I was walking home from buying some rock and the cops attacked me and they didn't even identify themselves as police.
We need safety for people in the community against the police.
Lorna
I saw the cops handcuffing two black guys in an alley. I saw them and took out a camera. They took his handcuffs off and drove away right away. Taking pictures does work.
Richard
I have been stopped twice this month because they were looking for a black man. It's racial profiling.
Ivan
Rob's case has led to five charges against the constable who assaulted him. And Pivot, with the Eidge group is working on starting a campaign to end the police targeting of Aboriginal men and drinkers.
(member)
It is not only the police directly. The government is encouraging us to spy on eachother and increasing
Darrel Knight
In 2000, January 28 I was in Saskatoon and the cops got me. They took me out of town and they beat the shit out of me. I was scared. For 12 years I have been scared but I don't care. I'm going to stand up now and tell you that we can fight back against them.
The cop who did that to me, they only gave him 2 months in jail. I was like, that's it? Two months? I nearly died, I almost froze. He should have gotten 10 years!
I still think about the police, I'm still scared of them every day.
We have to stand up against them together.
Herb
What about Transit cops? In the past few weeks I have gotten four transit tickets. This is becoming a major problem for us.
Why do police need guns and tasers to check transit tickets?
(member)
Even if a driver lets you on the cops can get you.
Diane
One thing that happened in San Francisco is a guy didn't pay for the train and ran and the cops shot and killed him.
Ben
A few years ago I was driving the shuttle bus for Lynch bus lines. I was taking my lunch break in the Safeway parking lot near the Surrey Central Skytrain.
A guy came and asked me to trade some change for a $10bill, we exchanged bags. The transit police saw this from the skytrain and as I tried to drive out of there they attacked me. They took me to the ground and humiliated me.
Skytrain cops are federal police, they can cross jurisdictions.
(member)
People on welfare have so little money, it's not rational. Low-income people need to be able to take the bus to get their food and everything they need.
Rob
The police are attacking us as Aboriginals. And our organizations are fighting back.
Richard
If you're not carrying two pieces of ID on transit then you will get a ticket. How many people down here have ID? They're making it so they can ticket us any time they want.
(member)
I am getting followed around by this one cop who says he's the ticketmaster. He says he can ticket me any time he wants. I took my ticket to VANDU and they're helping me fight it.

AGM AND ELECTIONS
Harold
The AGM and board elections have been held generally in November so we are starting to prepare for that.
We elect our new board, 21 members, and also work on our constitutional issues. We can edit our constitution and make other changes to our bylaws.
We will have a pre-AGM where we explain the nominations process and prepare the election and present anything that will have to be voted on.
Last year we made a change so that in order to vote at the AGM you have to have been a member for one week in advance, in order to protect us from anyone stacking the meeting.
We encourage you to come and get involved in the work of the organization.

TREASURER REPORT
Roland
We have no money, so there's no report.

PRESIDENTS REPORT
Herb
If you want to get more involved in the DNC then you should run for the board
We have a constitution that governs how we treat eachother.
We are having some conflict in our board right now. As presidents we are having a hard time resolving these conflicts and we want to ask the membership for help. We want to turn to the membership to create a five person committee to help resolve this problem.
Lorna
At VANDU we have a process where if there's a conflict then each person chooses someone to help with resolution. They can usually work it out.
Richard
Can't we put it off until after the AGM?
Herb
It's kind of like an infection. If we let it go for a month then it might get worse.
Kelvin
As a board member I'm exhausted. We have been hashing it over all summer and we're still dealing with it. AFD has been trying to get this going and it has fallen.
Ivan
I feel that the board does not have the ability to resolve this conflict. We need help from membership. I am also hearing Kelvin and AFD's offer and think we should accept their offer to help.
MOTION: To create a five-person committee of members, led and organized by Kelvin. Tami and Herb, as co-presidents will help set up this committee. Moved, Tami. Seconded, DJ. Passed, 1 abstention (Grant Fraser)

LAPP
Ivan
(About our conflict with the co-chair issue)
Support Herb, I consider it an opportunity for him to take more leadership.
Richard
Is there a second co-chair position.
Harold
We're doing this under protest. No one is happy about this.
Ivan
Also first time a young, low-income
MOTION: For DNC, under protest against city's abusive treatment of Ivan, to elect Herb Varley to take over as DNC's co-chair delegate to the DTES Local Area Planning Process. Moved, Rob. Seconded, DJ. Passed, all in favor. One abstention (Herb).

STREET MARKET
Jacek
About 6 months ago we realized we were running out of money and we worked really hard to meet all the conditions of the permit.
We got the permits now and the city has released another block of money.
We have raised the amount of the stipend by 25%
Next we are going to make the market for DTES resident vendors only. We have a lot of people coming in from Surrey
Lorna
The people in the new building on the east side of Carrall have been complaining about the market so we have hired three more volunteers to keep vendors from setting up on the sidewalk there.

DOWNTOWN EAST
Harold
The DT East will be going to one issue every two months instead of every month.
We have two major issues: division of labour, and financial organization.
We are working on sorting out these two issues. We now have a financial and fundraising team that will sort these things out.
Our mandate was to be financially independent of DNC and we didn't 100% succeed in that but now we have paid our debt back and we are free of debt to the DNC.

COPWATCH REPORT
Richard
We had a march yesterday against police brutality and harassment specifically to deal with the BET Squad assault on Sandy on the street in the DTES.

DTES NOT FOR DEVELOPERS
Dave
Major condo project coming across the street from Raycam. We will have a townhall next Wednesday, 6:30pm at Russian Hall.

Closing: Tami


Thursday 27 September 2012

DNC Board meeting - September 27, 2012

DNC Board meeting
September 27, 2012

Present: Kelvin, Jen, Harold, Richard, Ivan, Dave M
Guests: Jacek, Aiyanas, Rob M, John Sk

Opening: Kelvin

POLICE DEMO
Jen
Ivan is doing the poster for the event
We will start at district 1. Ivan will speak about the lack of accountability for police brutality. At city hall Aiyanas will speak with a VANDU member about the ticketing. Rob will speak about his assault and complaint against the police.
We want to start recording the police destroying peoples drugs
Ivan
Is it going to be good or bad for us if the police start processing drug seizures?
Dave M
Could be good or bad. If they start pressing charges then we could clog up the court system.
Rob
I was assaulted last month by the police. They bruised by wrists and ribs with an attack by beat police. A month earlier it was the same two cops who cleared all Aboriginal people from Pigeon Park. I approached those two cops and said, On whose authority did you kick all the natives out of Pigeon Park. It was the same cops who assaulted me. I think they're targeting me.
These days there's a real heavy police presence up by the bottle depot.
I think the cops are following me and harassing me. I keep seeing Constable Ballantyne near me. I'm asking for DNC support because I don't have VANDU support anymore.
Aiyanas
Challenging the police practice of seizing and crushing drugs needs to be discussed some more, I hope it's referred to the VANDU board and Tuesday group for more discussion.
The other thing is that I'm uncomfortable with Rob bringing up his treatment by the VANDU board, which is unprincipled. Should not be talking about VANDU business with other groups.
Jen
The police are more concerned about what Copwatch says about the police than how the police act. We need to have a discussion about whether to meet with the VPD professional standards unit or not.
AGREED: To have a report from Jen at the next board meeting to discuss Copwatch's experience with meeting with the VPD.

RIGHT TO RESIST CONFERENCE
Aiyanas
I'm here as a member of the Alliance for Peoples' Health, part of the International League of Peoples' Struggles, which is a grouping of more than 300 mass organizations from around the world.
We are organizing a major conference in November. Last year we launched a Canada chapter of the ILPS and started a campaign for the right to resist.
The conference will have four themes: The war on resistance, the war on working people, the war on communities, and the war on land defenders and the environment.
I'm coordinating the track, War on communities. I'm calling it the emerging police state, about how poor and working class communities in Canada are now facing police state tactics.
The Vancouver Renters Union is interested in putting forward an analysis on social control and gentrification.
We are approaching the DNC because we would like to ask you to be involved as a model of a representative community based resistance group. Unfortunately we don't have funding for the conference. But if the DNC is interested in participating there are a few ways to participate. Could read, give feedback on the conference paper. Could meet with the preparatory committee for comment. And, if you can, we would like to have you present in the third section of the conference.
Jen
I'm going as a representative of Copwatch.
Harold
I don't think it's appropriate for DNC to provide money to send someone to participate, but I don't think it's realistic. We have demands on our time and resources right now. But if someone will kick in money then maybe they could go.
Ivan
Maybe we can think about it when we are assessing our work for the AGM we can consider some lessons from DNC that we can communicate over to this conference.
AGREED: We should stay in communication with this effort.

LAPP
Ivan
The What we are hearing event tomorrow is going alright. The good thing is that we have low-income committee members working on all the presentations.
The other thing is the co-chairs issue. Penny Ballem is pushing hard to get Ivan off the committee.
I think this is becoming a diversion and we should try to get rid of this problem. I want board support to ask Herb to take over as primary co-chair and me as his assistant.
Harold
We need to send a letter to the city saying that this treatment is not acceptable and that we have the right to determine our own representative.
We have never voted for anyone to represent DNC except Wendy and I would support Herb as the new representative.
We should meet with him and find out of he's willing to take it on.
Kelvin
If the city attacks Ivan then how do we know that they will not attack our next replacement. They might attack the next person with his specific issues. We all have our vulnerabilities and our reps should not be vulnerable.
I agree that we should send a letter to the city, not just the chair but the city council. They keep on rehashing something that happened months ago. It's not acceptable.
We should send a harsh letter to the city. They are holding us back.
Rob
I worry that if they attack Ivan then if we go and speak our minds and do what we have to do to be heard then when will they attack us?
When this first happened months ago I sent a letter to Penny complaining about her conduct and saying I thought it wasn't acceptable. She never responded. That shows her lack of respect for the low-income community. She didn't respond to me because she thinks she's better. Three times I asked Tom from the city to get her to respond and she never did.
We should get our group of low-income committee members together and talk about this. We need to discuss it and have agreement on how we should respond to this.
Richard
They don't like Ivan because he's a good leader in the community and they want to shut him up. I don't think we should back down from this.
Jacek
If you decide to do something like give the co-chair position to Herb then you should negotiate something first. They should give us something in exchange.
Harold
I agree that we should push for concessions as much as possible.
AGREED: The board supports Herb as chair and Ivan as alternate but any agreement must come back to the board first. And will discuss it at the anti-gentrification caucus.
AGREED: To write and send a letter to the city protesting their aggressive move against DNC and our co-chair rep.

GENERAL MEETING
Harold
We need a theme for the meeting, at least in general.
Rob
The police are really being aggressive these days.
James
The police are really sweeping the bottle depot block.
Harold
Other agenda points:
AGM and the preparatory meeting
DTES Not for Developers public meeting about 955 E Hastings. We should also present on the 955 E Hastings project.
Update on the Save Social Housing Coalition
Ivan
I think we should do a discussion on the social housing coalition in December or so.
Harold
The coalition has a research committee that has started working on the numbers of units we need, how to talk about ending homelessness, etc. We are trying to come up with some solid demands based on research.
AGREED: To focus the meeting on police sweeps on Hastings St.

STREET MARKET
Jacek
We have an agreement with the city. They released the first $10,000 to the market. We are going to buy some tents and tables.
Jen
Are there any rules about the conduct of leaders of the market?
Jacek
There are two rules; don't do anything to hurt the market and don't do anything to hurt the market.
Jen
How do you receive complaints?
Jacek
I can bring you the form.
Rob
Who receives the form?
Jacek
The committee.
Richard
How can you join the committee? I wanted to join it and I never heard about.
Jacek
We announced the committee meeting at the volunteers meeting and two people came.
The city asked for Vandu and DNC support for the agreement before they released the money but they released it anyway.

CONFLICT RESOLUTION
Ivan
I'm frustrated that Roland has not come to the board meetings two weeks in a row when we had agreement to deal with the next step of resolving board conflict here in our meetings. Instead he went to my employer and criticized me there.
Harold
It's not productive to have rants. We need a process to resolve this.
Jacek
The problem is the process. Ann was supposed to set it up with Aiyanas and Ivan took over.
Harold
We should not have a back and forth
Kelvin
We need a safe space to have this resolution. We can use AFD as this space, I am willing to help facilitate this discussion.
Jacek
This is an example. Ivan can criticize Roland but I can't criticize him.
Harold
I like Kelvin's suggestion for direct resolution.
Jacek
Ivan is a good speaker and he is controlling all of you now. He knows how to speak last in a meeting and control the meeting. An example is at the end of the meeting when Aiyanas was here. Ivan was the last to speak at that meeting and he said that he didn't know about something from the treasurer report and I know that's not true.

MOTION: For Kelvin to attempt to set up a conflict resolution meeting between Ivan and Roland. AGREED, by board members present, but we didn't have quorum.




Saturday 8 September 2012

DNC Monthly General Meeting Minutes, September 8th, 2012

DNC Monthly General Meeting Minutes, September 8th, 2012 held at 111 West Hastings

Chair: Ann Livingston,  Minutes: Jada Martinson

Opening by John Skulch

Ann apologizes about the glitches with the venue. We are getting the meeting started late because a rumor went out that the meeting was cancelled. People may have been turned away. DNC was told we can no longer use the Dodson Hall at the Dodson Hotel on Hastings for our meetings. We appreciate if anyone had ideas for venue space that can fit about 100 people. Please get in touch with DNC

Irwin Oostindie welcomed DNC members to W2 Media CafĂ©. W2 is people-powered, mostly run by volunteers who care about making positive change happen. 

Meeting AGENDA
  1. Opening/ welcome new members (John Skulch, Ann)
  2. DNC purpose (Roland) and How to join the DNC (Ann)
Committee Reports
  1. Street Market (Roland, DJ)
  2. Police Committee (Ann, Rob)
  3. Shelter Committee (Roland, Jacek)
  4. LAPP (Rob)
Guests
  1. Vancouver Renters Union
Tristan Markle, Maria Mallstam, Kim Hearty
  1. Poor Man’s resource Society
Tina Marie Tomashiro
  1. Discussion
  2. Announcements
  3. Closing

*Motion to accept agenda made by Rob Morgan and seconded by Fred. Charles abstained. Motion Carried
----------------
  1. John Skulch opened the meeting.
  2. Ann explains that quorum is present. The tiny stipend of $3 is to be distributed at the end of the meeting. Our meeting goal is to have a discussion about being a renter in the downtown eastside. There are a lot of issues about various renter situations in the DTES due to tenants in Special Needs Housing and SROs believing they have no tenant’s rights. We hope that the Vancouver Renters Union will help us get informed and organized. There is a table to join the DNC and VRU at the back.  
Roland read the DNC Constitution

  1. Street Market Report
  • Street market issues were discussed at the DNC board.  
  • The City Permits expired over a year ago and the City has been bringing complaints to the Street Market Committee and we kept holding the Street Market. We now are fully legal with permits as of yesterday. Permits are for one month to be renewed each month. There are two Permits; 1 to vend in the park and another to block Carrall Street. We’ll keep renewing the permit every month
  • We don’t have the resources (workers and money) to hold a Market more than one day  a week
  • There has been an ongoing attempt by the City to move us to a small lot on Hastings Street. We are in ongoing negotiation. We can’t set up a viable market in that lot (empty lot right beside Pigeon Park Savings). Even the PHS garden lot on Hastings isn’t as good as Pigeon Park for a Market. Pigeon Park is perfect because it intersects and brings together Gastown, Hastings Street and Chinatown - we want to solidify it.
  • We had a series of meetings with the City, there are some issues with the east side of Carrall, and we will try to resolve it. We put the signs up not to vend on the east side of Carrall, if it works great, if not we will keep working on solutions.
  • We have weekly meetings to talk about the street market issues as the Street Market Committee. We also welcome street venders and volunteers to come each Saturday at Jacobs Well at 239 Main Street at 9 AM sharp to secure volunteer positions, to suggest improvements and to resolve market conflicts.

DNC Member comments that there are many DTES people who are vending there but there are outsiders setting up who aren’t from the neighbourhood and who may not need the money. It’s upsetting

Roland agrees it is a concern; we need to come up with a long term plan on how to deal with this. Venders will come from all over because it is a good market
Ann suggests we may create a street market membership that you have to have to have priority to vend as a way to ensure the spirit of market which is to protect DTES people from bylaw tickets. The Street market will not give up the social justice origin of the DTES market. To control who vends in the Pigeon Park/ Carrall Street space, the City needs to come up with some real money to help us make it a great market as it will take some properly paid staff to do this. The Market Committee the volunteers and the venders work to solve all these things. Please let us know what you think the issues are and tell the interim coordinator. The venders will have their own meeting this fall and we plan to meet before the market opens on a cold miserable Sunday.
DNC Member asks if the street market was formed for the downtown eastside?

Ann agrees and points out that the market is already very labour intensive and underfunded, so we need help from the City as in funding especially if we ensure each vender is a “member” of the street market, and then we can limit the people on site to DTESers. If these DTES vender members have some control the space then they can solve some issues together with the volunteers. Keep bringing your ideas to these meetings and to the DNC Board which meets most Thursdays from 5:30 to 8 or  9…. at 239 Main St. There is also a street market committee, talk to Dave Murray, Roland, Jacik or Ann. Wendy is ill, she’s had to step back from her work on medical leave for a number of months. She has heart issues and is to avoid all stress. It is not easy to get Wendy to take a break so please help her stay away until she is cleared to return.  

Roland explained that there has been some tension between the Sunday Street Market and the illicit drinkers in Pigeon Park. It is important that we ensure that the street market is not anti-illicit drinkers. Drinkers are welcome at the street market

DJ explained an incident about 2 weeks ago where a girl started spitting on venders, and flashing younger boys and that’s not why we’re there. We didn’t want to call the police, but we had to.

4. Police Report
Ann explained that there is a group called Vancouver Copwatch that meets at her house on Fridays. For about 5 years the DTES residents and DTES service agencies were having a tough time getting the police to even meet with the community. So the DTES has the VPD setting priorities for enforcement and deployment without input from the community. Many BEAT Enforcement Team (called the BET) VPD members will not even talk to cop watchers. Seems the VPD will only meet with agencies involved in Sisterwatch. So we have no input to VPD which is unfair and frustrating. If you have police incidents, we offer people emotional support. We also want to ensure DTES residents know that there is a certain behaviour the police should adhere to. If they do not, please approach Copwatch and Jenn Allen will help, and follow through

Rob recounted a police incident last Welfare night at 9pm. Two officers grabbed him from behind, did a 2 man take down (knee on back, knee on head) and crushed the rock he had purchased, ran his name over the registry and then let him go. He asked why they were doing this to him and they said they were told to get the Indians off Hastings Street. Jen helped him identify the police office and file a formal police brutality complaint. Rob is grateful for support from VANDU and the DNC.

  1. Shelter Report
Roland explained that the shelter committee formed in January this year because people have no rights in shelters. If the staff screws with you, there is no complaints procedure and the Shelter committee formed to understand what action could be taken. Through Freedom of Information, he got the budgets for many shelter to understand just how much BC Housing money is coming into these shelters. Many are $100 per bed and BC Housing could buy you a condo for that! The shelter committee uncovered a horrible shelter system and is building a campaign against the lack of oversight, and against the “shelter shuffle” where people move from shelter to shelter for years. Seems the shelters do not publicize the fact that there are not enough social housing available for shelter residents to go and that shelters are getting 10 times  the welfare rate have people in shelters! It is unfair that shelter operators could use this information to build a good campaign and do not. If a person advocates on behalf of someone in a shelter they call the police to remove them from their property! Independent advocates should have the right to help people who are in shelters. The shelter committee is fighting for basic rights of people in homeless shelters

DNC Member - suggests we need media support to communicate these shocking facts to the public

As part of the shelter committee’s campaign, we might put together a fact sheet and get the media to take some of the bullets. Roland feels strongly that you can’t just treat people like cattle.

  1. LAPP
The Local Area Planning Process has begun and many workshops have been held in August and September including Our Homes, Our Livelihoods, Our Places and Our Well-being.  Rob Morgan is working on a Racial Profiling Sub Committee which is meeting upstairs here at W4 at 9:30 AM on Tuesday Sept. 10th 
A whole bunch of information is presented but not a lot of people are attending.

  1. Vancouver Renters Union (VRU) Presentation

Tristan Markle, Maria Mallstam, Kim Hearty made a presentation with power point presentation and a skit.
(VRU’s Mission is “to organize all Metro Vancouver renters into a union capable of determining housing rights, rents, and stability through collective bargaining and political action, including petitioning, picketing, and rent strikes, as well as through conversion of the city’s housing stock to resident-controlled, not-for-profit cooperatives.” Vancouver rents are severely unaffordable. Rents continue to rise faster than incomes. Individually, there is little renters can do to get rents under control. But together, united, we can get them under our control. The renters union is a vehicle for safeguarding against unjust rent increases and for collective bargaining with landlords. Vancouver renters are in a precarious position, and are displaced by the market far too often. Through the renters union we can organize for long-term renter security. United we are strong, divided we compete against each other and are exploited. Rents will be high, and tenure security will be poor, if each renter stands on their own. But together we can gain sovereignty over rights and rents. The Renters Union recognizes that some renters are more marginalized than others, and seeks to ensure that there are no second-class renters.)
VRU started organizing in January of this year and have done a lot. We started this union because 55% of people of Vancouver are renters. 20% of these people pay more than 30% of their income on rent. The DNC is one of the best resident organizations in the community and although we work across the City, the epicenter of the crisis is the downtown of eastside where we are seeing people evicted from their units. When people try to fight this, they don’t have the resources to fight through the legal channels. There are some organizations that will give you information about your rights but if you need someone to represent you, we do that, and there are advocates. We go building to building, door to door, working to organize unions inside their buildings. It’s kind of like a trade union, if you bargain together, you can get bargain collectively, fight rent increases together, go on strike together, and we’re working on this. We have ambitious goals; we need lots of help and have had some successes in Mount Pleasant. Maria is from Sweden and there are renters unions there. If landlords want to make renovations, they would have to consult with the tenants because they will be using tenant’s money to do the renovations. The landlords have to be accountable, because we are the ones paying the rent; they need to be accountable to us. You can also file formal disputes with the renters union. Even in Vancouver there is a long history of rent strikes. People forget, and they don’t get media attention. The (SROs) single room occupancy hotels tenants should have the same rights as any other building; even if they are publicly or privately owned and run. Guest’s fees are completely illegal in SROs and we would work with you to challenge hotels that still charge them. The precedents have been set; there have been some legal cases where people have fought the guests in building, and won. You can contact us if you wan t to organize your building. A lot of these housing providers are trying to control the tenants by saying they are special needs facilities and you can successfully dispute your tenant agreement you signed agreeing NOT to have overnight guests for instance.
DNC Member points out that we’re looking at a City with less than 1% vacancy rate

Maria and Tristan point out that when you do things as a group, you are more powerful and can win.

DNC Member states that there is organized bullying in the housing system and sometimes you get people living on the same floor as you who undermine the efforts of the tenants to get organized. They are working “with the landlords” and won’t get together to form a union

Ann thinks we should try one building because success breeds success

DNC Member points out it should be mandatory that the landlords change the locks of the units when a new person move in

DNC Member asks how many people do you need in a building to make a union? At least half?

Rob recounts organizing in the Washington Hotel where the tenants had dinners and lunches together and that started working for us until I was offered an apartment at Woodward’s which I took

Tristan says there is no framework for tenant unions right now, yet and that’s why we’re here

Ann says in rent strike, tenants put their money in a separate bank account and refuse to pay the landlord but when you’re on welfare, welfare sends the rent directly to the landlord and that makes a rent strike almost impossible. But if everyone doesn’t pick up their welfare cheque, then welly can’t pay the landlord. It is interesting that even in the social housing landlords are putting strike breaking tenants on certain floors so they can’t form a union. I live in a co op and the Co-ops are creating more rules so they can kick out subsidized members because the subsidy $ is dried up and the people on subsidy are a new burden even thought they paid for decades. Also welfare in the DTES has a policy change in January 2012, and they pay the landlord directly and NEVER pay the welfare recipient who then pays the landlord. So you are never allowed to write your own cheques to pay rent

  1. Poor Man’s Resource Society
Tina Marie Tomashiro is organizing at Woodward’s to standup for the rights of people in the downtown eastside She has an Open house every Sunday, unit 608, in WWDs every
She is also putting together a survey of all downtown eastside businesses who are working with downtown eastside residents.
She is hoping to organize people who can follow through and protect people and points out “I can’t fight my own rights unless I have other people with me”

Both Tina and Roland were disappointed that Pivot did not help with legal issues for people in shelters or help tenants being certified and taken to hospital psych wards. Welfare continues to pay rent.


Tina points out the Rain city building she visits doesn’t demand picture ID to visit a friend and the workers are polite and kind.  So not all NGO’s are shitty. She also remembers that an agreement was made with the woodsquatters that tenants are allowed to form a tenants Council in Woodward’s!  But Tina has been unable to get permission to use the common room in Woodward’s on the 10th floor to hold meetings of such a tenant’s council so uses her room.  We can start from here.

Ann instructs people to please sign up with VRU and DNC if you want to form a tenants union in your building

Rob just moved into the Woodward’s and feels confident he can build a union there.
Rob is a member at-large on the LAPP, I have a low-income seat on this committee and because of an incident in Pigeon Park where 2-3 cops went to Pigeon Park and kicked-out all the natives. Someone got their badge numbers and now we are asking them about racial profiling. I’m part of the LAPP; we’re going to have a racial profiling meeting on Tuesday Sept 10th at 10am

Announcements
Irwin announces the 10th anniversary celebration for Woodsquart is on in the Atrium at Woodward’s for 90 days
Irwin is aware that Ivan specifically wasn’t happy with DNC meeting in W2 space and will invite Ivan here to debate it so the air is cleared
Ann was instructed to announce the Sunday Annual Triage BBQ at 1:30 PM

The meeting organizers Ann Livingston, Les Murray, Roland Clark and Jacek Lorek were thanked for the making the coffee and cookies and for donating the ingredients.  

Motion to adjourn meeting.

Lorna Bird closed the meeting with a moment of silence.