{"id":29820,"date":"2020-12-27T15:55:22","date_gmt":"2020-12-27T20:55:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/?p=29820"},"modified":"2020-12-27T15:58:53","modified_gmt":"2020-12-27T20:58:53","slug":"central-park-tent-city-washed-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/central-park-tent-city-washed-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Central Park tent city washed out"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Roy L Hales<\/p>\n

Picture a homeless encampment in a public park. The rains and recent snow have transformed most of the lawn into a massive puddle. The number of\u00a0tents in Victoria\u2019s Central Park<\/a>\u00a0has decreased since last fall, but\u00a0there were still 45 of them on December 15th<\/a>. One was sitting on a pallet, which raised the floor above the water, but the neighbouring tents are all in water.<\/p>\n

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Photo credit: This is someone\u2019s home \u2013 North Park Neighbourhood Association<\/p><\/div>\n

That\u2019s the scene that greets your eyes in\u00a0Krista Loughton\u2019s video \u201cThis is Canada\u201d<\/a>\u00a0which was filmed in the park on December 21st.<\/p>\n

She published it along with an \u201copen letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Premier John Horgan, and all other federal and provincial elected officials who are responsible for social housing and human rights federally and provincially in Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the text it says \u201cI, and whoever else likes or shares this video, demand that we find an indoor solution immediately for people who are literally being flooded out of Central Park in Victoria, B.C.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Screen capture from the video \u201cThis is Canada\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cHelps also acknowledged the extra support that has been extended to those sheltering in the park. \u2018In the meantime, we are grateful to everyone who has mobilized to help move people camping to firmer ground that won\u2019t flood. I\u2019d especially like to thank BC Housing for their continued support,\u2019 Said Helps.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Victoria Fire department and\u00a0BC Housing<\/a>\u00a0will be supplying tents, cots and bedding. Discussion have begun with the GSL Group to reuse the Save-on Food Memorial Centre temporary shelter but this option has yet to be confirmed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe media release reiterated that homelessness has been a top priority for the provincial government and the recent storm and pandemic have further highlighted a need to address homelessness within Victoria.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

\"Central<\/a>

Another screen capture from the video \u201cThis is Canada\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cDue to social distancing guidelines because of the pandemic, access to indoor shelters and available beds have been reduced as well as overall support for people experiencing homelessness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Municipal Government is also investing in services and programs such as the Salvation Army, the Umbrella Society for Addiction and Mental Health, a community care tent, our place society, as well as extending public washroom hours and having bylaw officers conduct daily checks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Afterward<\/h2>\n

A series of photos from the North Park Neighbourhood Association shows the new tent city in a parking lot, with every tent raised above the pavement\u2019s surface\u00a0 on a pallet.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

Huge thank you to the people who spent their day sourcing materials, building platforms, securing tents, and installing tarps. John, Rowena, Tina, Darrin, Trevor, Sean, Ben, Stephanie, Katie, Joel, Janine, Allison, Perry \u2014 thank you. \u2013 North Park Neighbourhood Association twitter<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Roy L Hales Picture a homeless encampment in a public park. The rains and recent snow have transformed most of the lawn into a massive puddle. The number of\u00a0tents in Victoria\u2019s Central Park\u00a0has decreased since last fall, but\u00a0there were still 45 of them on December 15th. One was sitting on a pallet, which raised…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":29822,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[57],"tags":[4563,4562,4564],"radio":[252],"origine":[280,266,231],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29820"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29820\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29820"},{"taxonomy":"radio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/radio?post=29820"},{"taxonomy":"origine","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/origine?post=29820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}