By Sarah Berman
Red Tent Photo by Jay Black
For two weeks Canada’s housing crisis was easier to spot than ever before, with some help from the Pivot Legal Society. With bright red tents and banners bearing the slogan “Housing is a Right,” Pivot’s Red Tent Campaign made homelessness visible on the world stage during the Olympics.
The campaign distributed nearly 500 red tents for the tent village located at 58 West Hastings St., as well as throughout the city of Vancouver.
“It’s a solidarity action to show support for a national housing strategy,” explained organizer John Richardson. “The overarching goal is to end homelessness.”
“I got here the first day,” said tent city resident Eric Castonguay. “I like it because we’re all a team, working together and standing up for ourselves.”
With more homeless than athletes in Vancouver, the Winter Games proved to be a remarkable opportunity to make the voices of homeless heard.
Not just confined to the occupied Concord Pacific lot near Pigeon Park, the red tents made a few creative appearances during the Games. The flashy and portable shelters were used to spell “Housing for All” during a sleepover protest near Science World, where about 50 protestors stayed the night on February 20. On the last day of the Games, the Canada Pavilion was blanketed in red banners, calling for action from Canada’s federal government in the form of a national housing strategy.
“The federal government was very active in initiating housing solutions up until the 1990s—then unilaterally with- drew,” Richardson said. “That, in our opinion, is an abdication of jurisdiction.
“In other words, they’ve shirked their responsibility.”
Though police made their presence known during rallies and within the tent village, the Red Tent protests seemed to go off without a hitch. “It has actually been extremely smooth,” Richardson said. “Luckily the tents arrived just in time.”
Cassie Sutherland, a student and tent city activist, said the housing rallies remained peaceful and playful throughout the Olympics. “There’s such a huge community here,” Sutherland said. “If a resident needs anything, we do our best to get it for them.” Daily meals were provided, and lessons in bike repair, ‘zine making and knitting were also on the agenda.
After two weeks of lively housing protest in the Downtown Eastside and beyond, the dismantling of the tent village began March 1. Organizers declared the demonstration a success: through negotiations between the tent village’s organizers, the city and BC Housing, over 40 of the people occupying the tent village site have been placed in BC Housing units.
While the tents have now been uprooted, social justice groups like Pivot won’t budge when it comes to advocating for social housing programs.
