{"id":29071,"date":"2014-10-16T23:02:41","date_gmt":"2014-10-16T15:02:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=29071"},"modified":"2014-10-16T19:55:36","modified_gmt":"2014-10-16T11:55:36","slug":"body-removed-from-tent-in-vancouver-homeless-camp-as-injunction-looms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/10\/16\/body-removed-from-tent-in-vancouver-homeless-camp-as-injunction-looms\/","title":{"rendered":"Body removed from tent in Vancouver homeless camp as injunction looms"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Vancouver_Downtown_Eastside\"<\/a><\/p>\n

VANCOUVER\u2014A coroner wheeled a body out of a homeless camp on Vancouver\u2019s Downtown Eastside just hours before police were expected to enforce an injunction ejecting occupants from the tent city.<\/p>\n

A Vancouver police said the man\u2019s body was discovered about 11 a.m. Wednesday in a tent at Oppenheimer Park. The park has been the site of a homeless camp since late July.<\/p>\n

The death was not considered suspicious, though police said in a news release that it wasn\u2019t clear why the man died. His identity hadn\u2019t been confirmed, but police said he was believed to be 69 years old.<\/p>\n

The injunction deadline was set last week by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Duncan who based her decision partly on the fact the city planned to open more temporary housing this week.<\/p>\n

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson expressed his condolences to the family and friends of the dead man but remained critical of the camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is, of course, a tragic incident that we were hoping not to see at Oppenheimer Park as the tent camp goes into its final stages,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut this tragedy certainly demonstrates why tent camps are not safe, why the city has had great concerns about this camp continuing to be there, and particularly the safety issues for elderly people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robertson said he hopes there will be a peaceful resolution to the situation, noting 98 people have already been moved to shelters or housing and another 100 shelter beds are available.<\/p>\n

In an attempt to obtain the injunction last week, Lawyers for the city told the court concerns were mounting over safety and hygiene at the camp.<\/p>\n

Anthony Guitar, who identified himself as one of the five people who started the encampment, said he was sad and disgusted by the death.<\/p>\n

He said a copy of the court injunction had been posted on the dead man\u2019s tent for several days.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean while we were fighting the injunction for that week it kept coming up how VPD has spent over $100,000 patrolling this park. Well, if that\u2019s the case then why wasn\u2019t that tent opened to see if anybody was in there to see if they were OK.\u201d<\/p>\n

D.J. Larkin, a lawyer with Pivot Legal Society, said some people have taken up the city on its housing offer and are staying on mats in emergency shelters. She said some campers have been told it\u2019s the only way to get on a housing list.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey feel like they don\u2019t have a choice, even though its not a really good or safe option for them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Others, including couples and people with pets, will likely return to living in the corners of parks, in alleys or doorways, she added.<\/p>\n

Larkin said she also hasn\u2019t heard anything about the extra housing that was promised in court.<\/p>\n

\u201cPutting people into emergency shelters makes a lot of the public feel more comfortable because then you don\u2019t have to see a homeless person,\u201d said Larkin. \u201cThat person is still homeless, even if they\u2019re going to a shelter at night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robertson said city staff will be at the park to dismantle the tents, and police will be present in case of an emergency or the need for intervention.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter 10 p.m., people who are camping in the park are in contempt of court, so they are breaking the law,\u201d said Robertson. \u201cAt that point, the city and the police have more powers to enforce that law, but the real focus for us is to ensure tents come down and people are shifted out of the park and into shelter.\u201d<\/p>\n

About 100 people remained in the park by the afternoon, Guitar said.<\/p>\n

\u201cCome 10:01 p.m., a lot of these people are going to go to jail and they are stating that they\u2019re staying here,\u201d he said. \u201cI mean, there\u2019s nowhere else to go.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VANCOUVER\u2014A coroner wheeled a body out of a homeless camp on Vancouver\u2019s Downtown Eastside just hours before police were expected …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":29092,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1482,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking","category-news-ca","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}