Tag Archives: politics

Housing news; steps toward managing the crisis

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Last Thursday, June 4, council passed rezoning of land just north of the hospital for housing. It’s called supportive because its purpose is to bring people back from homelessness, the first step to giving people a chance to get back on their feet.  Recovery is something many people in this community want for those in need. A slow process; it started about five years ago.

Our city is lucky to have had land to offer. It is why we received the promise of provincial funding for construction and eventual operation, far beyond what municipal taxpayers could afford. Next, a lease agreement must be negotiated with the prov.  Actual construction is yet well in the future.

The idea that refusing to do this will help makes as much sense to me as refusing to offer help to anyone, including my family. I was raised here to look after myself, look after my family, and then look after my community. My parents did it. The problems are not going away until we do what we can to fix them. We can do it, but we must do what we can together. Slow, long work but it is possible.

What we do have now is the new Driftwood Shelter next to the RCMP station.  This also provides an option required by law to manage homeless encampments if it comes to that.  Driftwood is temporary. That land is intended for affordable housing when permanent shelter attached to the proposed housing north of the hospital opens.

No shelter is a permanent solution for anyone. The object is to help people find stable housing. Affordable rentals used to exist until about 10 years ago when that real estate boom and the onset of short-term rentals here started elbowing people out, all across the region.

Short-term rentals are now regulated, but the real estate market is mostly beyond regulating, hence the true and shocking homelessness we now have “downtown” here, like many towns across BC. Housing is simply too expensive for increasing numbers. And yes, many people have come and gone from PR over recent years, but the mill closed too. Our world is changing like never before and it’s clearly hard for us to grasp.  

The new housing is intended to have “complex care” provided by Vancouver Coastal Health. What is “complex care” anyway? It’s actually mental health and addictions services we’ve had for a long time. How they’re deployed to serve the people who need them is evolving. A small part of the proposed housing development will be dedicated to people in acute need. Like the ICMT program, services will be provided within that facility. A significant benefit of that will be less demand on hospital space we all need.   

Lets have the courage to work together in this fine community.

Two name problems

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One problem is the association of the name Powell with residential schools, and its history and trauma for indigenous people. This deserves recognition, & appreciation. The effects of that trauma are clearly present; including amoung others, mental health challenges & addictions.

The other problem; Powell represents identity for many people here. Questioning identity amounts to a personal threat for many who were unprepared for it. A natural reaction has been defensive and little has happened that hasn’t essentially only bolstered defensiveness. This needs recognition too, and appreciation.

Many people also want to do something about what is relatively new knowledge for many about what happened to indigenous people. Reconciliation? Change the name? This question has divided our community since we stopped doing anything about it since the last civic election in Oct. 2022.

Yes or no divides us.  The community we need now, to face increasing challenges, needs to work together to find our way forward. It doesn’t matter how slowly; we just need to do it together. Division is our real current challenge. We must deal with that within our Powell River community before we can ever reconcile with the people who first asked the name question.

The Tla’amin Nation is thriving now like never before. Strength and pride have surged culturally and acquisitions of mill lands and TFL39 promise future economic prosperity. Meanwhile, our city faces sagging revenues, increasing costs, and people suffering mental health challenges, addictions, and homelessness too. There is a lot for us to work on together.

These two “name” problems are not two sides of the same problem. We are basically two distinct peoples with very linked but different histories. Some of us, or our ancestors, migrated here so we have inherited a problem, and now it is ours. Opportunity to reconnect within our community is ours. Failing to do that these past few years has resulted in antagonism, and conflict between us, prejudice, racism, blame. This is painful at a community scale, and it has gone on too long. Let’s take a breath, step back from reacting and taking it personally, and get working together again, for the good of ourselves and our whole community.

This fall we will have opportunity in a civic election to choose new leadership. The choice is very clear. Will we choose those who make promises that focus on what we fear, and deliver continued division and misery? Or will we choose leadership committed to reconnection with each other in spite of our different views, in spite of our apparent divisions, willing to face whatever is ahead of us together, however hard that might be, together as one community.  I hope and pray we all care enough to vote with true hearts, and take the path back toward thriving together.

Let’s Listen & Talk, about identity and heritage

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A little over four years ago I met with a man I respect.   He wanted to talk about something that felt urgent and important.  It was hard to address, and deeply personal.  We sat in his truck beside the ocean. I listened.  

A short time before that, the question had been asked of city council while in a C3 meeting with the Tla’amin legislative council and the qRD Board, “will you consider changing the name of Powell River?  The name Powell has painful associations for indigenous people here.  It shook and divided our community.  But the question being articulated by this brave friend was “what of my identity and my heritage? I had no good answer.   His question stuck with me.    

Back to the City, a working group was formed, and meetings and public gatherings followed, and by the summer a year later that group produced a report with 11 recommendations.  It was a serious effort to address the name change question and underlying reasons it was asked.     What it didn’t represent was the question this man had asked, “what of my identity, my heritage?    Now, four years after both those questions were asked, one very public and one not public at all, something has become clear to me. 

The name change question devolved into a simple binary; yes or no, and most of us aligned with one side or the other.   For three years there’s been division in our community.  Some want a poll to democratically decide.   Doing that now would confirm division.  It would belie that we are one community, that we all have our community’s best interests at heart and all love being here.  My friend’s question points to a way through.  What is my identity?  What is my heritage?

The answer to that question is as varied as we are.  We are from many places in the world, with many backgrounds.  We bring diverse, rich heritages and identities.  This community is world renowned for culture, athletics, and natural beauty.   We are rich in these things.   Can we unite in pride and celebration for this wealth we all happily share here?   Yes, we can!   We can remember who we are, remember we are one community.   We can grieve losses together, personal and community-wide.  We can celebrate all the good we have together.   However, we have work to do now to remember that.  There is no way around it. 

We have to start somewhere.  Council and the City have been unable to restart us; this is work for community.  If we acknowledge & celebrate everyone’s identity and heritage, maybe then we can consider our name.  

Let’s meet in the Cran Hall Tues. Oct. 28 at 7 pm to talk and to listen.