February 21, 2008

POVERTY OLYMPICS

I rise today to share with members of the Legislature a report of a community event that was held in my riding on Sunday, February 3. A standing-room-only crowd of 250 people gathered in the auditorium of the Carnegie community centre to see some of the most creative community theatre and protest in years in a downtown east side neighbourhood. The mascots included Itchy the bedbug, Creepy the cockroach and Chewy the rat. No, they weren’t Olympic mascots; they were the mascots of the first annual Poverty Olympics.

Neighbourhood residents competed in the welfare hurdles, the poverty line high jump and the long jump over a bedbug-infested mattress. Before individuals could sign on to income assistance, they had to fill out an online form, even though they had never used a computer before.

I wanted to thank Wendy Pedersen from the Carnegie Action Project, Jean Swanson from Raise the Rates, and long-term resident Bob Sarti, who helped organize this festive event.

In a neighbourhood which has seen the free speech riots of 1912, the labour union rallies of the 1930s and the Gastown riots of 1971, the organizers of this event stayed true to tradition, as they theatrically threw paper money into the audience. As Mr. Vanoc stood up to speak, the boos came from the audience as they asked for jobs and housing.

In 1971 residents rioted when Mayor Tom "Terrific" Campbell attempted to implement Operation Dustpan to sweep the streets and increase private security. People protested then, and people still do today. When evictions happened during the Expo 86 period, the neighbourhood rose up and expressed its concerns.

Now, as Olympic-connected gentrifications occur in this neighbourhood, the people who organized the poverty Olympics will ensure that the neighbourhood identity, history and culture will be defended every step of the way.

I ask all members of the House to join me in expressing our thanks for the peaceful, creative and entertaining community celebration.