Despite recent violence, Oppenheimer Park not discussed at Vancouver Park Board’s first 2020 meeting

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — The Vancouver Park Board’s first meeting of the year proceeded with two unanimous votes, one amendment, no debate and zero mention of the issue that has divided the commissioners for the better part of a year.

Oppenheimer Park and the controversial encampment within it where dozens have been taking shelter for more than a year was not on the agenda. The meeting took place the same night the temperature rose high enough that the city closed emergency cold weather shelters and warming centres.

Since the board’s last meeting, there has been a shooting and a homicide at Oppenheimer Park, each violent incident renewing calls for an injunction from the commissioners and city councillors who favour taking that route to clear the park. Vancouver also faced a bitter cold snap and snowstorm during which a request for a warming tent at Oppenheimer was officially denied by the city for safety reasons. An unsanctioned warming tent was set up a few days later.

The board’s last decision about the park was to proceed with a “conditional injunction” and a “collaborative decampment.”

The conditions include contracting a third party to work directly with people in the park and advise the board on a plan to get them connected to social supports and housing.

Both Commissioner Stuart MacKinnon, who along with the majority on the board opposes getting a court order to clear the park, and commissioner John Coupar, who has been pushing for an injunction, said an update on the park could be found in an Information Bulletin released before the meeting.

“The memo that went out is showing that there’s progress being made. Rather than talking about it, I’d like to see action and that’s what our staff are trying to do,” Coupar said.

The statement announced the board is “in the final stages of procuring a third party to provide support for housing outreach and peer mentorship to the people experiencing homelessness in Oppenheimer Park.”

“These things are not done overnight. They involve multi-jurisdictions, so they’re not necessarily on the timeline I would like but this is the way it is. Hopefully, as we say, there will be an announcement imminently,” said MacKinnon, adding the date for an announcement has not been set.

I’m at the Vancouver Park Board meeting this evening. Despite some major concerns at Oppenheimer Park there is no mention of it on tonight’s agenda. @NEWS1130 pic.twitter.com/HvLN54tW9z

— Tarnjit Kaur Parmar (@Tarnjitkparmar) January 21, 2020

He continued to say he remains committed to trying a different approach in Oppenheimer. Occupants of a similar camp in 2014 were ultimately evicted by court order.

“Perhaps it’s time that we stopped doing the same old thing and look at new ways of doing things. This is, I think, what the park board commissioners had in mind when they said: ‘No.’ The continual rotation of people moving into the parks, getting injunctions, clearing them out, people moving back into the parks — this is not working. This is a system that’s broken.”

He described the park as a “symptom,” saying people camping in Vancouver’s parks is a city-wide problem that goes beyond the Downtown Eastside and homelessness is a crisis affecting all cities.

“We don’t have enough housing. Housing, of course is not a park board mandate, it’s not even a city mandate,” MacKinnon said. “This is a provincial and federal mandate and what we asked for back in September was the convening of a multi-jurisdictional task force to take this on. That was not done. I was saddened by that. I’ve been saddened that we haven’t been able to find more housing for people. Emergency shelter space is simply that. It’s not housing.”

MacKinnon and the other commissioners who oppose an injunction argued that evicting the campers will only cause them to scatter and become more isolated and vulnerable in the city’s alleyways and doorways.

Coupar reiterated his support for an injunction, but said he is pleased that some progress is being made.

“We want to see some quicker action and I do think it’s coming. It’s going to happen maybe not fast enough for everybody but I have a lot of confidence in our staff, that they’re trying to do the right thing. They certainly want to find housing for folks and get them out of the cold. Nobody wants people to be sleeping in a park,” Coupar said. “I’ve been pushing hard for the last six months at least to try and make it happen faster. It’s taken longer than I would like.”