Dear Mark: Vancouver: Life on the edge

Vancouver: Life on the edge

By Arlene Gregorius
BBC News, Vancouver

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8255205.stm

Who: Arlene Gregorius, a reporter for the BBC, writes about Vancouver's homeless. The article does not focus on a 'who.' Instead, Gregorius reports on the deplorable conditions of the Downtown Eastside and who is affected by Canada's most visible slum. Gregorius interviews numerous people to present an accurate understanding of the DTES.

"It's a sewer of human misery," says Dr Rob Gordon, director of the School of Criminology at the Simon Fraser University in nearby Burnaby in Greater Vancouver.

"I've never seen it this bad. I didn't use to have to step over bodies," says Ms Kwan, MLA. "I used to have to look under bushes to find homeless people, now I step over them."

What: Gregorius's article is divided up into four topics concerning the DTES's problems.

"Enclave of Deprivation" provides some history to the DTES and looks at the basic facts one needs to know in order to understand the Vancouver's homeless problem.

"We have a homelessness crisis in this community...people with mental health issues, people who are very, very poor. Some suffered tremendous childhood traumas," she says.

Many of the residents struggle with several of these problems all at once.

"Solutions" is a brief section that states the B.C. government and the city of Vancouver has been working hard to find solutions to help the homeless.

The next section, "Injection Site," talks about one of the trial solutions the government has been testing the area for almost five years.

Gregorius writes, "drug addiction is another big challenge. The city has a four-pronged strategy to try to deal with it: law enforcement, treatment, prevention and harm reduction (such as minimising the spread of HIV/Aids)."

And the final section is "Olympic Legacy." Gregorius interviews a couple of people to present an accurate guess to how the Vancouver Winter Olympics will impact the DTES.

"My feeling is that there will be some noisy demonstrations during the Games," says Professor Laquian, "but when they end, the problems in the DTES will continue as they have done in the past."

When: The article was published Sept. 18, 2009, but Vancouver's homelessness is a problem that has been present for a long time. With the Olympics coming up and the endless poles that rank Vancouver as one of the nicest, most liveable cities in the world, the homeless problem is receiving a lot of international attention.

Where: The article focuses on Vancouver's Downtown Eastside because that is where the most recognizable problem areas for the homeless.

Why: Gregorius' article comes at an interesting time because the Olympics is almost 100 days away.

International media coverage of social and cultural problems in hosting cities has been a standard practice for the press. Vancouver is not the only city that had a problem with homelessness prior to the Olympic Games. Both Atlanta and Sydney were exposed as having a noticeable homeless problem in their cities.

The international coverage of these issues is important and it forces the hosting city to take their social problems seriously. It is a reminder that the world is watching Vancouver and all actions are accountable.