The Hospital Employees’ Union has issued the following statement on the ongoing decampment of unhoused people on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (DTES) by the City of Vancouver:
“The ongoing decampment of unhoused people on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside is a cruel, unsafe, and dehumanizing practice. And those displaced are not being provided with adequate and accessible housing alternatives.
“The lives and health status of those targeted are put at additional risk. Many will be more vulnerable to the toxic drug supply and suffer other negative health outcomes resulting from displacement and isolation.
“This puts additional stress on local emergency rooms and other health services that are already under pressure.
“Our union supports the federal housing advocate in her call for a moratorium on the dismantling of encampments.
“And we share the concerns of B.C.’s human rights commissioner about the City’s exclusion of the media from the decampment activities earlier this week, and its impact on democratic discourse.”