{UVic Poverty Law Club} Meeting today!

Hey Poverty Law-ers.

So: Fun and exciting meeting today at 12:30 in room 157. Come to tell us
your ideas, AND/OR help decide who will usurp Emmett's presidential...
um, throne.

See you there!

-Maddy

{UVic Poverty Law Club} Poverty Law Club!

Hey team!

Just letting everyone know that there's going to be a general meeting for
the Poverty Law club next Tuesday, November 16th at 12:30 (location TBA).
We will be discussing projects for the rest of the semester and the new
year, so it you have any fantastic ideas, this is the time to let us know!

Furthermore, next Tuesday we will be exercising club democracy and....
ELECTING A NEW PRESIDENT!

It's exciting stuff. You should come.

-Maddy

{UVic Poverty Law Club} Follow up action to yesterday's panel- please take a moment to write to city council

Hello all,

Thanks for attending yesterday's panel.  If you haven't done so already, please take a moment to write to city council expressing your outrage at the assault of a homeless man by a city bylaw enforcement officer.  A sample letter is included below.  Please send emails to  Philippe Lucas philippe.lucas1969@gmail.com and cc your message to the Editor at Monday Magazine: johnt@mondaymag.com and at the Times Colonist: letters@tc.canwest.com.

Thanks and have a great weekend.

Dear Councillor Lucas,

I am writing to express my shock and outrage in response to last week's violent incident in which two city bylaw enforcement officers assaulted a homeless man.  I find it absurd that the city is advancing a bylaw that attempts to circumvent the court precedent affirming the right to sleep under the guise of "health and safety."  Clearly, city officials do not value the health and safety of marginalized peoples.

It is imperative that there is an inquiry into this incident in order to uphold principles of justice.   City council needs to provide a timeline for for this inquiry in order to provide a framework of accountability to city residents.

Sincerely,

{UVic Poverty Law Club} Reminder- Law Panel on Pandora Green Bylaw Today

Please join us  today for a panel discussion on the camping bylaw and how this addresses issues of poverty, homelessness and rights surrounding the use of public space. 

"POVERTY AND PUBLIC SPACE"
A discussion of Victoria's controversial new urban camping bylaw organized by the UVic Poverty Law Club

Wednesday November 3, Fraser Building, U Vic, Room 158, 12:00-1:30 pm.

PARTICIPATING GUESTS:
Philippe Lucas, Member, Victoria City Council
Erica Heyerman, owner, Wild Fire Bakery
Seb Bonet, VCAP
Rose Henry, community leader
Tim Richards, Professor, UVic Law Faculty

{UVic Poverty Law Club} Fwd: By-law enforcement officer assaults Victoria homeless man

 'I saw bylaw officer beat man'

BY KATIE DEROSA, TIMES COLONIST
OCTOBER 21, 2010

Police are investigating two City of Victoria bylaw officers, one of whom allegedly beat up a homeless man in a park yesterday.

North Park resident Jennifer Stubbs said she woke up just before 9:30 a.m. to hear a man yelling "Help me" over and over.

Stubbs said she was horrified to see a bylaw officer straddling a homeless man and punching him repeatedly on the head.

The incident happened in a green space called Kings Park, behind Stubbs's house in the 1000-block of Caledonia Street, which, she said, was frequented by homeless campers.

"He was hammering his head with his hand over and over," Stubbs said, adding the altercation lasted at least a minute. "[The officer] would stop and the guy would whimper and call for help and [the officer] would start wailing on him again."

The homeless man was face down on the grass, kicking his feet and screaming, Stubbs said.

The 31-year-old mother of two called 911 and heard neighbours running to the scene yelling at the officer to stop. She said a second officer was standing nearby but was not engaging with the homeless man.

"If they were really having trouble restraining him, why didn't the other guy come to help?" Stubbs said.

Victoria police and B.C. Ambulance arrived shortly after.

City of Victoria spokeswoman Katie Josephson said the bylaw officers were talking to the man about several shopping carts strewn around the park when the man "physically confronted" them.

One officer called police while the other restrained the man until police arrived, she said.

Josephson said she could not comment on Stubbs' report that the bylaw officer hit the man on the head.

"Bylaw officers have the power to use force in self defence. In terms of the level of force used in this incident, that will have to be determined during the course of the police investigation."

She said the city was taking the matter very seriously and would conduct an internal investigation.

The man had injuries to his shoulder and head, said Victoria police spokesman Sgt. Grant Hamilton. One of the bylaw officers had cuts to his leg and the other had unspecified injuries, Josephson said.

All three were taken to hospital and investigators hoped to get statements from them once they are released, Hamilton said.

"It's too early to say if there are charges relating to this," he added.

The homeless man is in his 30s, Hamilton said. He could not confirm whether the man was mentally ill or known to police.

Stubbs said homeless campers in her neighbourhood have been a growing problem since the city prohibited camping on the Pandora Street median.

Yesterday afternoon, there was a man with a shopping cart in the park. A blanket had been left near a tree. Most people who camped in the park were not disruptive, Stubbs said.

kderosa@timescolonist.com

© Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist
 
 
 

{UVic Poverty Law Club} Our Place speaker

Hey guys,

I was talking with the volunteer coordinator at Our Place yesterday,
and she was saying that a lot of the administration actually supported
the bylaw. If we were having trouble finding someone to speak for it,
or if we decided that that was desirable, I could speak with Antoinette
and see if there is someone from the Our Place Society who would like
to come speak at the panel.

What do you think?

Jess

{UVic Poverty Law Club} Fwd: October 17: International Day for the Eradication of Poverty event at ACPD

October 17: International Day for the Eradication of Poverty event at ACPD

Next Sunday is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. We will gather at the Action Committee for People with Disabilities (948 View St, http://www.actioncommittee.ca/) at 11am to reaffirm our commitment to ending the violence known as poverty.

There will be food and entertainment, as well as a whole community of people unified in our struggle for economic justice.  BC has been exploited, robbed, and its people plunged into deeper and deeper levels of despair.  We have the lowest minimum wage in the country as well as the terrible distinction of having the highest child poverty rate 6 years running.

Please join us for this important day

sponsored by:

The Action committee of People with Disabilties
the Victoria Coalition Against Poverty
Harm Reduction Victoria
S.O.L.I.D
the Communities Solidarity Coalition

--
Tamara Herman
Research Coordinator
Vancouver Island Public Interest Research Group (VIPIRG)

Phone: (250) 472-4386
Email: research@vipirg.ca
Web: www.vipirg.ca
Office: UVic student union building room B122
Mail: PO Box 3035 Stn CSC, Victoria, BC, Lekwungen & WSANEC Territories, V8W 3P3

{UVic Poverty Law Club} updates on panel and legal observers program

hi all,

a couple updates:

-i checked in with kym hothead about the date for the panel and it turns out that the other kim we had in mind to speak will be at a hep c conference.  richard, who is part of the green community and involved with copwatch, has offered to speak on his experience.  his peer chris may join him as well.  this means the panel is looking pretty male dominated- perhaps we should invite erica?  i will wait to hear back about the other speakers.  on another note, everyone on the committee was really thrilled about the speakers panel.

-about the copwatch/ legal observers program:
we decided today that the amount of work involved to do a good, comprehensive training is huge and with student schedules it wouldn't make sense to do a training in december, so we are going to wait until the new year.  in the mean time we are going to have a smaller training- more a development of the program- where we go through the handbook developed in vancouver and adapt it in victoria, in november. we were hoping to request some small funds from the club around ($30-$40) for coffee and snacks for this training in november and i wanted to inquire what the process was.  i am happy to pay for the food and get reimbursed if thats cool with the club- not sure of how things are done.

 if you are interested in helping with legal research for this training (research around municipal laws), getting involved or attending, please email me off the list.  jess and anna, i think you were the two students who attended last time, your contacts were misplaced, so if you could email them to me that would be great as im compiling a contact list for the group.

thanks and have a great weekend,
emily

{UVic Poverty Law Club} Volunteer orientation with VIHRC - tues. october 26th

I thought many on the list would be interested in this. If you wish to respond, please use the email address at the end of the message.

Thanks
Emmett

---

Vancouver Island Human Rights Coalition (VIHRC) is planning a volunteer orientation for Tuesday October 26th, at 5:30. We hope you can make it! If not, send us an email so we can meet up one on one. The orientation will be chance for you to learn more about VIHRC and how you can get involved and for us to meet each other. Present will be current board members and the Human Rights Advocate as well. 

By volunteering at VIHRC you will have the opportunity to develop your skills in the following areas further:  

• basic computer, email skills and phone/communication skills
• acting in an ethical and professional manner and with regard to confidentiality
• knowledge of community resources (although this is not required - we have quite the list here)
• knowledge of legal resources and legal research skills (for those volunteering as legal researchers)
• openess to learning about oppression and discrimination (including unlearning oppressive values, which is an ongoing process I guess :)

VIHRC is located at #418-620 View Street - this is downtown in the Central Building near Broad street. The space is one room large and is wheelchair accessible. We will share pizza and refreshments (with vegan options, let us know if you have any dietary restrictions). Bus tickets will also be available. 

Send us a note to tell us you can make it so we know how much food to buy. Hope to see you soon!

Rebecca - rebecca.omelak@gmail.com

more info about vihrc at www.vihrc.org 

{UVic Poverty Law Club} Meeting on Tuesday

Hey all,

We've got a general Poverty Law Club meeting scheduled for Tuesday October 5 at lunchtime (12:30) in Room 157. We're hoping to cover the following:

• introducing new members to the group
• discussing ideas for events and projects this year
• quick budget and funding recap
• elections to vacant executive positions

If you are interested in participating this year, or would like to learn more, please attend on Tuesday. We are especially interested in getting first-year students involved! If you have a conflict, but are still interested in any of the above topics, feel free to email me and we can figure something out.


Thanks

Emmett
President, PLC

{UVic Poverty Law Club} Events this week!

Hello PLC member,

We have 2 events going on this week that we hope you can attend:

Tuesday Feb 23 (tomorrow)
UVic Poverty Law Club presents a movie screening - 12:30 pm in Room 152, Fraser Building, UVic
What: "CARTS OF DARKNESS" - In the picture-postcard community of North Vancouver, filmmaker Murray Siple follows men who have turned
bottle-picking, their primary source of income, into the extreme sport of shopping cart racing. Street life is depicted as much more than
stereotypes portrayed in mainstream media. The film takes a deep look into the lives of the men who race carts, the adversity they face, and the
appeal of cart racing despite the risk.

There will be food served!

Friday, February 26 at 2:00 pm
Downtown poverty tour, departing from Our Place (919 Pandora Ave.)
A guided, informational tour of the downtown area, led by community leader and homeless advocate Rose Henry. Gain insight about the daily challenges
of life on the street, and the services available in Victoria. There will be a post-tour gathering for coffee, tea and discussion.
RSVPs encouraged: steve.a.parr@gmail.com 

Cheers
Emmett Scrimshaw
President, UVic Poverty Law Club

{UVic Poverty Law Club} Stolen Sisters event at Fraser

Hey all,

I wanted to bring this project to your attention, if you don't know about it. It is running from now until February 5th in the Fraser Building, with discussion and other reflection to follow. Below is the email I was sent
regarding the details.

Cheers
Emmett

---------

I forgot to mention, on Monday, could you please bring in pictures of the
important women in your life...we hope to display pictures of the
"sisters"  during the next week to raise awareness about the Stolen
Sister's March and Events

We will display the pictures for a week and then the week we begin the
events we will take down those pictures and replace them with a sign that
the sisters have been stolen in an attempt to highlight what it would be
like to have so many people's sisters stolen.  We will return the
pictures at the end, just put your name on the back.

The stolen sisters campaign is about raising awareness about the
countless number of indigenous women who have been murdered or have gone
missing over the past three decades.  Government has neglected to act on
this issue and this campaign aims to inform the public and force
government to act.

Re: {UVic Poverty Law Club} Poverty Law Club meeting update

I like the idea of collecting literature for clubs day. 

 

What were the negative responses regarding the volunteer fair?  The two organizations I talked to seemed positive about the idea.

 

Darryl

On Mon, Jan 18, 2010 at 1:24 PM, Samantha Rapoport <srapopor@gmail.com> wrote:

Hey guys,

 

for those of you (ahem, Maddy, Lindsay) who missed the meeting, please be advised that the volunteer fair will happen this Thursday at clubs day. So, if you know of any organization that needs volunteers, please bring all relevant literature to the PLC's booth during lunch.

 

see ya then kids,

 

sam

{UVic Poverty Law Club} V-CAP Welfare, Healthcare and Housing Forum

Hi all...

I wanted to pass on the information below for the Welfare, Healthcare and
Housing forum this Wednesday evening (Jan 20). The event is being put on
by the Victoria Coalition Against Poverty (V-CAP). I have attached the
poster as well. Please feel free to contact me if you would like more
information!

Cheers,
Erin Pritchard

Welfare, Healthcare and Housing- The Essentials of a Just Society

The Victoria Coalition Against Poverty, along with the Island Solidarity
Centre, Harm Reduction Victoria & VIPIRG invite you to the David Strong
Building (room c118) at 6pm at the University of Victoria Jan20th for a
public forum to create a common thread amongst Victoria's diverse social
justice movement. The Victoria Coalition Against Poverty (V-CAP) has been
meeting and growing for roughly 3 months now, and now includes
representatives from 12 groups whose memberships are firmly anti-poverty
in belief, and who struggle with the effects of poverty and capitalism
day-to-day.

Speakers:
Seth Klein- BC Director, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
Marilyn Rust- HEU Bargaining Committee Member and Master Activist
Lisa Helps-Executive Director, Community Micro Lending Society

Admission is by donation, with all proceeds going to V-CAP

{UVic Poverty Law Club} Poverty Law Club meeting update

Hey guys,

 

for those of you (ahem, Maddy, Lindsay) who missed the meeting, please be advised that the volunteer fair will happen this Thursday at clubs day. So, if you know of any organization that needs volunteers, please bring all relevant literature to the PLC's booth during lunch.

 

see ya then kids,

 

sam