Pubdate: Wed, 20 Aug 2008
Source: Record, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2008 Lower Mainland Publishing Group Inc.
Contact:  http://www.royalcityrecord.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1654
Author: Keith Baldrey

WISHING WON'T HELP DOWNTOWN

There he goes again. In his years leading this province, Premier 
Gordon Campbell has demonstrated a penchant for offering lofty 
promises and grand visions for British Columbians.

We are supposed to become the most physically fit people in the 
world, as well as the most literate. We allegedly live in the most 
beautiful place in the entire world, a 'fact' insisted upon by the 
premier. Now, some of these goals and visions might actually be attainable.

Few can quibble with the physical beauty of B.C., and we're already a 
fairly fit and literate population compared with the rest of the world.

But I wonder if the premier has overreached in the latest example of 
his setting the bar so high it looks entirely out of reach.

Campbell now insists that the problems of Vancouver's Downtown 
Eastside will somehow disappear from sight by the time the 2010 
Olympics roll around.

In other words, in the relatively short timeframe of just 17 months, 
something that has been more than a century in the making will 
somehow undergo a Cinderella transformation.

The problems associated with the Downtown Eastside aren't just about 
homelessness.

Rather, the area has drawn people struggling with addiction problems 
for decades.

For years, the problem was mostly alcohol, and now it is drugs. We 
now have a community of people who are struggling with a very serious 
health problem and need help.

Does anyone seriously believe all the problems associated with those 
addictions will actually disappear before the Olympic Games get here?

The premier made his comments in the context of playing down the 
suggestion the international media would focus on the Downtown 
Eastside during the Olympics as a natural story angle.

It's hard to see how overseas reporters won't be struck by the 
stunning contrast that is Vancouver and its surroundings: magnificent 
physical geography nestled beside the jarring images associated with 
the notorious area.

Homelessness and open drug use (and not just in the Downtown 
Eastside) seemed shocking a decade ago but now seems simply a 
depressing part of the scenery.

But newcomers to our province and largest city will likely be jolted 
by what they see, both by looking at the snow-capped mountains and at 
the many street people and addicts in their midst.

The premier gives the impression that a simple snap of the fingers or 
the waving of a government wand will eradicate the mess.

He points to the steady increase in the number of social housing 
units as an indication of the progress being made on this front.

To be fair, the Liberal government should be congratulated for some 
of the things it's doing to deal with homelessness and drug addiction.

But it's going to take far more than more social housing units (and 
Insite and other noble, but limited, harm-reduction programs) to 
clean up the Downtown Eastside.

Most people understandably avoid going anywhere near the place.

But you might want to check it out some time because you'll come away 
stunned by the sheer despair and menace that shrouds the area.

I actually lived smack in the middle of the area (the corner of 
Carrall and Cordova streets) in the late 1970s. Back then, it was a 
downtrodden area that mixed mostly public drunkenness with the 
nightlife of Gastown.

It was actually an interesting place to reside.

But every time I go back, I'm shocked at what a different place it 
has become. The problems of addiction are much more prevalent, and it 
has become obvious that old solutions aren't sufficient.

If you can't bring yourself to walk its streets, then pick up a 
stunning new book written by a well-known Vancouver doctor who treats 
addicts on the Downtown Eastside.

In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts by Dr. Gabor Mate shows that the 
problems of addiction are profound and vary from individual to 
individual. He paints a portrait of not just a neighbourhood but of 
its people, whose escape from it will not happen easily nor over the 
relatively short period of time suggested by the premier.

Campbell loves books. I suggest this is one he should put at the top 
of his reading list as he takes a vacation this month.

After reading it, he will be struck by the humanity of the area that 
Mate so eloquently captures, but he may not be quite as optimistic 
that perhaps the biggest single social challenge of British Columbia 
will disappear so quickly or so easily.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom