For years, the unhoused community have been setting up tents in various locations throughout municipalities in B.C., with the city, bylaw, and police enforcing street and traffic regulations displacing the homeless with a lack of sustainable housing options available.
When the spaces that unhoused people gathered in are swept, Otteson said “the first [thing] it does is it breaks up community and it breaks up safety.” “The folks that we are supporting are often displaced or disconnected from family and community,” shared Lacey Jones, an outreach worker with QomQem Coastal Connections. “I think being able to offer Indigenous-led services that are grounded in culture and offering that reconnection back to our relatives on the street is really imperative for their wellness.”
Guy and Calvin Louie, alongside Pete Charlie, drummed Nuu-chah-nulth songs, inviting Indigenous folks from the encampment to dance with them. “We have to go back to the idea of land being used as a way to generate wealth for some people, some individuals, and at the expense of others,” said Angela MacDougall, executive director at Battered Women's Support Services. “One of the major problems is that there's been an absolute divestment from this idea of housing being a necessity for people.”