Crab Park Tent City

Chrissy Brett continues to speak out on behalf of Vancouver’s urban Indigenous community and brings lived experience from when she was one of the leaders of a homeless camp in Victoria that was forced to shut down in 2016  after B.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Christopher Hinkson ruled that it was unsanitary and unsafe.

Chrissy is of the Nuxalk Nation, which is based on B.C.’s Central Coast.She was adopted into a white home during the Sixties Scoop and today she stands amongst matriarchs, activists and survivors around the sacred fire at the Crab Park camp.

The provincial court has recently issued an injunction to the Port of Vancouver to remove the camp of about eighty tents and campers that have peacefully occupied the parking lot west of Crab Park ever since Oppenheimer park was cleared of campers and fenced  in early May.

The Crab park camp and community is visibly different from that of its predecessor at Oppenheimer park --  the gang turf tug of war, weapons, the thugging and drugging activity has been replaced with a shared food tent, a place for healing ceremony and a welcoming space for all abilities and ages to connect and discuss what justice, healing and reconciliation look like. There is no pile of rotting garbage, no rats, no violence and no drinking in this safe and inclusive space.

The need to address Vancouver’s decade long housing crisis has not diminished during these COVID times. In fact, it makes more sense now to allow homeless people the dignity to assemble safely in public spaces and aid with access to bathrooms, running water and electricity. The waterfront parking lot that Chrissy speaks from has much potential to become native housing, a cultural gathering space and healing lodge.

The talk of sharing public space and reconciliation converge here. As citizens of this province, we pay for and witness the system grind another outspoken group of humans through court judgment and injunction, municipal law enforcement  and eventual  eviction of homes and community. Is the money spent during this process helping to solve the root cause of poverty, addiction and generational trauma? Is this latest injunction going to provide the much needed housing and mental health and wellness support that Vancouver’s downtown Eastside is lacking? No, this is another example of the old system kicking the can further down the road. Real system dysfunction can only be solved with a real system change. Own it and empower yourself and those around you to step up and demand change, insist on a decent standard of living for all of our people.

We have work to do, homes to build, mental health to saddle up to and a history of colonization to recon with. Let’s begin by listening to the strong Indigenous voices around us like Chrissy Brett.