VIDEO about Direct ActionEnvironmentFoodGovernanceHousingIdeasIndigenousMediaPeace/WarPolice/PrisonsPovertySolidarity posted on July 20, 2013 by Anonymous Zero
CUCHILLO RESTAURANT PICKET VPD BIA'S SUPPRESSING FREE SPEECH DTES VANCOUVER
CUCHILLO RESTAURANT PICKET VPD SUPPRESSING FREE SPEECH & ATTEMPTING INTIMIDATION DTES VANCOUVER JULY 19 13--GENTRIFICATION AND DISPLACEMENT DTES DEOD AVERAGE INCOME $8,000 5000 SOCIAL HOUSING UNITS NEEDED- ANTI-DISPLACEMENT AVENGERS
JOIN US- 8PM PIDGIN RESTAURANT(across from Pigeon park) TUES-SAT AND CUCHILLO 7PM GORE/POWELL ST
SEE LINKS AND BELOW LETTER- BIA'S VPD CORPORATE MEDIA, DEVELOPERS AND VISION VANCOUVER MAYOR GREGOR ROBERTSON CRACKDOWN SUPPRESSION OF FREE SPEECH AND PROTEST (within the framework of the pickets timeline) REVISED UPDATE AUGUST 23 13
Working together for a better community
We call on the City of Vancouver, its citizens, and the media to recognize that personal attacks on businesses and individuals are not acceptable no matter what the rationale and should be systematically ignored. Bullying is empowered when the tactic gains attention and we believe that organized bullying and personal intimidation should not be accepted and supported as valid parts of community planning. It is long past time for our planning process and public dialogue to be respectful and inclusive for all.
Signed:
Hastings Crossing Business Improvement Association (HxBIA), Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood Council (DNC) *NOTE THIS ONE IS A LIE- NOT APPROVED BY GENERAL ASSEMBLY-ONLY SMALL CABAL BLOC OF BOARD OF DIRECTORS-THIS BLOC HAS ONLY HAD ONE GENERAL COMMUNITY MEETING SINCE THEY WERE ELECTED LAST DECEMBER--PREVIOUSLY IT WAS HELD EVERY MONTH $$$--I SPOKE AT THAT MEETING WHERE FOR THE FIRST TIME IT WAS A UNANIMOUS APPROVAL FOR MOTION TO SUPPORT MY HUNGER STRIKE DEMANDS-- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neM3fPNNIDw Inner-City Economic Strategy Cooperative (ICES), Fast Track to Employment (FTE), Aboriginal Life In Vancouver Enhancement Society (ALIVE), Crosstown Residents Association, The False Creek Residents Association, The Citygate Inter-tower Group (DTES Thornton Park), Vancouver Eastside Educational Enrichment Society (VEEES), Network of Inner City Social Services Society (NICCSS), Inner-City Safety Society, Eastside Movement for Business & Economic Renewal Society (EMBERS), Thru Haida Eyes, Eastside Artists Company, Ray Cam Community Center, Strathcona Residents Association,
“I would rather be a little nobody, then to be a evil somebody.”
― Abraham Lincoln
All oppression creates a state of war.
Simone de Beauvoir
Power in defense of freedom is greater than power in behalf of tyranny and oppression.
Malcolm X
I do not deny that I planned sabotage. I did not plan it in a spirit of recklessness nor because I have any love of violence. I planned it as a result of a calm and sober assessment of the political situation that had arisen after many years of tyranny, exploitation and oppression of my people by the whites.
We’re not about smashing windows. We’re about smashing the old broken paradigms and building new paradigms that are more just and equal.
...The recent so-called community pushback against the restaurant pickets cannot overcome persistence of tactics that have proven to be successful. The picketers have outed the developers and city-hall racket. They have persevered to out the “progressive green” veneer of governing Vision Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson and councillors as the “status quo greenbacks” of developers and landowners. As for the so-called opposition Non-Partisan Association, they were in the pockets of developers when the pants were sewn.
The ongoing pickets have also outed the social-justice façade of so-called DTES groups who dare call the picketers bullies. Ironic in the extreme as it is the picketers being bullied. The restaurant owners, with their obvious low rent and concessions from the landlords, are agents of bullies—developers, media, police, Uncle Toms and Tomahawks, et cetera— who refuse to acknowledge the picketers could be onto something. History has shown us that justice is never about popularity. That is politics. Justice is about doing what is right and fair, and that it is good to care and share. Again, where are the social-impact studies?
So let the picketers stand around at their heart’s content as long as no laws are broken. This is a democracy. Dissent and picketing are rights that are protected. ...
Sid Chow Tan, is the founding co-chair of the Head Tax Families Society of Canada.
http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/Rights-Justice/2009/06/30/HeadTaxRedressInadequate/
Vancouver police target dtes stolen property fences
Vancouver police are launching an offensive against Downtown Eastside shops fencing stolen goods as property crimes in the city crept up for the first time in years.
Project Lunchmeat is an “intelligence-led” project from last year that began tracking the movement of hot items, according to the 2013 Annual Business Plan approved by the Vancouver Police Board Tuesday.
According to the department, pawnshops and second-hand stores in Vancouver are already required to take down serial numbers and other identifiers before flipping the merchandise they take in.
“There’s no doubt there are fences in the city of Vancouver that make money by bringing in stolen property and reselling it,” said department spokesman Const. Brian Montague.
The project has received funding and new for this year is software the force is developing that would surf the Internet and “enhance the tracking of stolen property and property offenders that utilize pawn stores.”
According to resident survey results received by the Vancouver Police Board on Tuesday, 89% of crime victims last year were the targets of property offences. Additionally, the same report notes breaking and entering was the biggest concern of those in residential neighbourhoods, above drug trafficking and gang concerns.
Police Chief Jim Chu said Vancouver’s property crime numbers are still the lowest they’ve been in the past dozen years.
“We have partnerships with community policing centres to help prevent property crime,” he said.
“We also have a chronic offender unit for those repeat offenders who commit multiple property crimes. We will target those individuals as well.”
Property crime in Vancouver has been steadily decreasing since 2003, although that trend stopped last year, according to a police stats report, when those types of crimes jumped 3.7%.
Vancouver police launch calendar to track protests
Vancouver police have launched a calendar to warn businesses about protests and give companies an opportunity to lock down before demonstrators flood the streets.
A new website was launched by the department in March to list events from small rallies with just a few people to massive, organized protests with potential impacts to shops and services.
According to Staff Sgt. Mike Purdy, speaking at the June police board meeting, the site would be a better means to work with the community to warn them of events. Vancouver officers police more than 2,000 events annually, he said.
“These businesses need to know, is there a march … if it will affect their business directly,” said Purdy, adding businesses are often aware of demonstrations before police are, and can inform others through the site.
“Eventually, we’ll get all the business improvement associations on to it.”
The downtown Vancouver and Gastown business improvement associations have already signed up. Those with access to the list include Cadillac Fairview, Brookfield Properties, TransLink and Transit Police, Simon Fraser University security, and the security managers of financial institutions.
As the list is not open to the general public, Vancouver police ask businesses interested to contact the downtown Vancouver BIA to get involved.
Brandon Grossutti, co-owner of the Pidgin Restaurant — currently a frequent site of anti-gentrification protests — believes police presence can help “diffuse” more belligerent protesters, though the ones he sees have mostly battled with words instead of fists.
“You never know how these things are going to go, what the tactics of the protesters are going to be, (and) whether things are going to be more physical,” Grossutti said on Tuesday.
Charles Gauthier, executive director of DVBIA, said businesses typically find out about protests either through email notices or the “old school” way of posters plastered onto streetlight poles.
“The old way of doing it isn’t overly effective,” he said. “If there’s a possibility there might be a criminal element, then a building manager or owner can decide if they’ll post additional security at the doors and lock down if required.”
http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/2013/07/11/new-target-for-dtes-anti-gentrification-activists
Scott Clark, Aboriginal Life In Vancouver Enhancement Society executive director, has joined Downtown Eastside businesses in criticizing anti-gentrification picket lines outside upscale restaurants. (PHOTO DAVID P. BALL)
The anti-gentrification war in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside is heating up after a group of nonprofits and businesses labelled protesters as “bullies” Thursday.
While the picketers insist they are simply defending their neighbourhood from rising prices due to an influx of upscale businesses, critics have decried the start of a new picket line at Cuchillo, the second restaurant targeted.
“It is bullying,” said Scott Clark, executive director of nonprofit Aboriginal Life in Vancouver Enhancement. “I've seen it first-hand myself: picketers yelling and screaming at customers going into Pidgin (restaurant), and all kinds of tactics that intimidate people.
“Gentrification is a real issue, but it's not just happening in the Downtown Eastside... We're just saying they've got to elevate their dialogue.”
One picketer, known as “Formerly Homeless Dave,” earlier undertook a month-long(36 DAYS) hunger strike over gentrification.
“We've made this a line in the sand,” said the man who declined to give his name. “It's not just about one restaurant. If one is successful, there will be many more ... pushing up rents not only for residents, but also for small businesses that serve the low-income community here.”
Crosstown Residents Association chair Fern Jeffries alleged she was bullied.
“I'm not easily intimidated, but I don't like being pushed and shoved and screamed at when I'm going out to dinner,” she said. “These so-called peaceful protests can get pretty aggressive.”
Resident Gloria Lakes said she hopes rich and poor “can exist together,” but adds rents are increasing because of the neighbourhood upscaling.
“They're bringing in all these big restaurants,” she said. “It's bringing all these people in who don't want us here. The rents are going up and they're trying to push us away from this part of town. Where are we going to go?”
equality lifts everyone
17 April 2013
VIA-Email
Chief Constable Jim Chu
Vancouver Police Department
Reply to: Douglas King
Direct Line: (604) 255 9700 ext. 112
E-mail: doug@pivotlegal.org
Vancouver, BC
Re: Protests at PIDGIN Restaurant and application of s. 430(1) of the Criminal Code
Dear Chief Chu,
Our office was contacted today to analyze and advise the group of protestors who have been picketing the PIDGIN restaurant on Carrall Street regarding the application of section 430(1) of the Criminal Code, as outlined in the warning letter delivered earlier today which is attached to this document. In examining the case law on this section of the Criminal Code, and the previous decisions of courts across Canada, it concerns me that the department appears to be defining the application of this section too broadly to include legally protected protest.
In the warning letter delivered by the VPD it states the following:
"Obstruction or interference with the use of property includes but is not limited to the following behaviours: shouting, screaming, or swearing at anyone that disrupts public peace or physically blocking any person from freely entering, leaving or staying at any public place."
Our concern is that the above definition is inaccurate, and too broadly defines section 430(1) of the Criminal Code. It is our opinion that the courts have clearly stated that section 430(1) is only intended to cover "physically blocking any person from freely entering, leaving or staying at any public place" and does not cover "shouting, screaming, or swearing at anyone that disrupts the public peace". Disruptions of the public peace during an ongoing protest are matters covered by civil injunction, and by itself should not amount to a breach of s. 430(1) of the Criminal Code.
While the cases regarding this section have typically been applied in a labour dispute setting, where a picket has been set up to protest an employer, in my opinion there is no reason why the legal principles would not apply to the current picket at PIDGIN restaurant. These cases focus on the definition of "enjoyment", and what behaviour would bring rise to a criminal charge under this section.
In the case of R v. Drapeau from the Quebec Court of Appeal, it was determined that the definition of "enjoyment" in s. 430(1) was limited to the legal definition composing the entitlement or exercise of a right, and not "enjoyment" in its most common everyday dictionary sense. The court stated:
"I do not believe that "enjoyment" in sec. 430(1)(d) refers to a purely subjective state, such as the nature or intensity of the pleasure derived from a property by its owner, possessor or occupant. Nor do I believe that a person who diminishes that pleasure, even knowingly, is liable for that reason alone to conviction for criminal mischief.
To conclude otherwise, in my respectful view, is to make of a crime in relation to property an offence against feelings and tastes. With respect for the views expressed by my colleague Chamberland, I would not interpret the law so broadly as to permit that result, and then impose on pOlicemen and prosecutors the thankless task of enforcing it."
Or as the Newfoundland Supreme Court said in more simpler terms in the case of R v. Dooling:
"Where persons peaceably attend at business premises and the only act which is complained of is the communication of information by picketing, without any physical obstruction, interruption or inference, the fact that persons may be persuaded voluntarily not to do business with the struck employer, thereby causing business disruption and thereby incidentally interfering with the employer's enjoyment of his property, does not, in my view, constitute obstruction, interruption or interference for the purpose of s. 430(1)(d). If an employer could charge mischief simply because picketing itself causes business interruption on property owned by an employer, there would be no need for injunctive or other court relief."
If the VPD intends to intervene in this protest and charge under the section in question it is our hope that it will do so on the basis that there is clear evidence that a physical obstruction has occurred which has prevented patrons or the owner from accessing or leaving the property. In our opinion charges under this section related to "disruptions of the public peace" would rightly be challenged, and given the opinions expressed by the courts above it would appear that such a dispute '1lay be better left for the owner to bring through the civil court process.
Yours truly,
PIVOT LEGAL SOCIETY
Douglas King
Barrister Et: Solic,r
Letter from VPD
CRIMINAL CONDUCT WARNING
Attention _________
The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) is committed to providing an environment that allows for safe and lawful democratic protest; however, the VPD is also committed to ensuring people are not denied the lawful use, or the enjoyment of property. The VPD will take appropriate actions in relation to persons interfering with the lawful use and/or enjoyment of property.
Section 430 of the Criminal Code of Canada states the following: Everyone commits mischief who willfully:
a) Destroys or damages property;
b) Renders property dangerous, useless, inoperative or ineffective;
c) Obstructs, interrupts or interferes with lawful use, enjoyment or operation of property; or
d) Obstructs, interrupts or interferes with any person in the lawful use, enjoyment or
operation of property.
Obstruction or interference with the use of property includes but is not limited to the following behaviours: shouting, screaming, or swearing at anyone that disrupts public peace or physically blocking any person from freely entering, leaving or staying at any public place.
Any future conduct that contravenes this section or any other-of the Criminal Code of Canada may result in criminal charges.
bc.ctvnews.ca
Inspector Cumberworth Officer in Charge, General Investigation Section Vancouver Police Department
Development will continue in the Downtown Eastside regardless, with or without a collaborative approach.(NOTE--THIS IS LONG BEFORE LAPP IS COMPLETED) But maybe we could take this opportunity to stitch some of it together and achieve some good outcomes for the community.
Jon Stovell is a director of the Urban Development Institute(DEVELOPER CONSORTIUM) and president of Reliance Properties.(OWNER BURNS BLOCK DTES-GENTRIFYING DEVELOPER)
Activists in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside challenge latest attempt to gentrify neighbourhood
Native youth leader resigns over 'unusual' police DNA demand
My Friend Forced to resign BY #VPD for DNA Refusal #DTES WITCH-HUNT #VANPOLI #OO #GENTRIFICATION PICKETS FREESPEECH http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/2013/08/22/native-youth-leader-resigns-over-unusual-police-dna-demand …
Fundamentally, gentrification in Vancouver's #DTES replicates the dynamics of colonization. http://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/the-gentry-have-landed … @VisionVancouver
Vancouver's Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood Council Takes A Dramatic Stand #DTES #bcpoli #gastown #vancouver http://gastowngazette.com/downtown-eastside-neighbourhood-council-takes-a-dramatic-stand/ …
DNC CABAL CORRUPT BLOC PRO #GENTRIFICATION BIA'S DEVELOPERS BAN DNC'S CHAIR OF THE LAPP HERB VARLEY #DTES #VANPOLI #VPD http://dnchome.wordpress.com/
SIGN-OFF FOR #DTES LAPP IS SEPT 24 13 DNC BLOC CABAL PLAN GEN MEETING 2ND IN A YR SEPT 21 BAN ON ANTI #GENTRIFICATION MEMBERS #VANPOLI #OO
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