Thursday 30 August 2012

DNC Board Meeting - August 30th, 2012

Attendees: Roland, Jacek, Jenn, James, Ann

Agenda

Review of previous meeting
Approval of minutes
Committee Reports
  CoHS
  St. Mkt.
  Copwatch


James does opening

Review of previous meeting

Shelter Committee Report

Jacek - we need quorum to talk about the problem with CCAP
Roland - we talked to Aiyanas about the CCAP DNC issue regarding
first united today and he offered to help adjudicate the difficulty
James - I know someone who used to work at 1U and he might be able
to tell us what their real policies were, etc...
Roland - We talked to WAHRS and Tuesday group and are planning
a joint action to highlight the terrible policy of the shelter
shuffle within 6 weeks or so
Jenn - at the lookout policies changed from day to day or who
was on duty. they would make up the rules as they go. some days
they would put out food at night, some days we wouldn't be
allowed to. It all depended on who was at work that day.
James - that was the biggest complaint at 1U as well, the rules
would always depend on who was on duty.
Jenn - it was a general thing that if you were dealing with
a resident that was nice, you could give them extra leeway.
If people were fighting for their rights, they would just find
a way to kick them out. If a person was trouble, they could
treat them whatever way they wanted.
Jacek - so this is terrible for people with addictions or other
barriers
Jenn - yes, marcus would do this all the time. he would use
people's addictions against them and push their buttons.
James - some staff just love to argue and provoke
Jacek - when you were working, did you guys review complaints at all?
Jenn - that was the job of the supervisor. People would complain,
but they would tell people that they would lose their beds
if they compained. I was working at 1U but I had a contract at
lookout, I was a shit disturber so I would help people fill
out complaints.
Jacek - what happened to the complaints?
Jenn - sometimes the complaints would not make it to the boss
because other staff would just put it in the garbage. This
happened all the time, if you were afraid that some staff was
going to lose their job, you could just throw the complaint
into the trash. I say this happen all the time. I got in
trouble for helping residents that wanted to fill out a
complaint. The other staff would harass me for doing this.
Diane taylor went out to Ontario when pickton got caught. I
found out that she was staying at the yukon, and I said that
this was a danger, but they didn't care. I had a big problem
with them letting sex offenders stay there as well. The
trouble is that they were not consistent. sometimes sex
offenders could stay, sometimes they could not.

Copwatch

Jenn - whole blog on RCMP ratting out bad people, RCMP used
their police powers to go after this red alliance blog guy.
They harassed him. He went to BCCLA. Ann got a copy of the
warrant they used.
Ann - I just got an email saying that every wednesday there
is a sister watch meeting at the ab. policing center. They
are trying to divide people by calling copwatch a quasi-
terrorist group
Jenn - my good news is that we got another investigation into
a bad cop for abuse of authority. It is murray brown, and maybe
steve addison. They hurt Julie by slamming her into a cruiser.
Jenn - two cops said they did not want to meet with me until
they are treated with more respect.
Jenn - the meetings have accomplished nothing, they lied to
us. I don't think we should meet with the police any more.
Jenn - the purpose of the meetings was to make the higher ups
aware of what the police are doing, but nothing changed.
Jacek - they never dropped my ticket so I'm going to court.
James - the good issue is the crack pipes, to show that they
are not consistent on harm reduction. I had a cop say right
to my face that they could break pipes any time they wanted
because it was enabling drug use.
Jenn - do you guys agree that we don't meet with the police
until they actually do what they say they will do.
Jenn - I had a cop come up to me and said "I saw what you
wrote about me on facebook". someone is circulating what
we are writing about them around their office. It is concerning.
Jacek - this should be considered retaliation. they should not
be allowed to retaliate.
Jenn - the whole reason that I brought this up is for people's
safety. We should be prepared for retaliation.
Roland - it is the online equivalent of a trouble maker breaking
windows at a peaceful rally.

Street Market

James - I have some great photos of the market
Roland - I just got an email from Cael Hopwood that the address
was wrong on our insurance form. I'm hoping this is not a sign
of their willingness to deal with us honestly.
Ann - Pigeon park is a drinking centre now much more than before.
this is why we need the hose to move people around a bit.
James - carnegie may have the bayonette fitting that we need.
Ann - we have the Saturday meeting at VANDU at 2pm
Ann - 62 would be a good space for meetings, we lost the dodsons.
Its not ideal, but it would be a start.
Jacek - we could have an office no problem.
Ann - I find that wendy is softening because it would be space
for DNC.
Ann - the space is for housing, but there is no model built
and there is no plan that I know of

Vending Ticket campaign

James - what happens is that people get called into court
and then they are forced to sign something like a red zone
or something like that.
Ann - in the old days it made a little bit of sense if someone
had tuberculosis they should not spit where people walk because
you would track it into your house, but that is why it was ok
if you did it into the street where the gutters are.

General Meeting Discussion

Ann - we told Irwin that we postponed the August meeting, lets have it
at W2 on September 8th.
General Agreement

Informal closing

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