Pubdate: Wed, 10 Jun 2015
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2015 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact: http://www2.canada.com/theprovince/letters.html
Website: http://www.theprovince.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Author: Nick Eagland
Page: 3

CANADA DAY POT FEST DENIED ART GALLERY SITE

NO PERMIT: City Cites Construction in Area

Organizers behind an annual Canada Day pot fest in Vancouver were 
baffled Tuesday to learn their event may go up in smoke because they 
can't have their usual spot.

Cannabis Day protesters have gathered at the Vancouver Art Gallery 
every July 1 for two decades and organizers from Cannabis Culture 
Headquarters began planning the event as usual months ago, but they 
were surprised to learn a city staffer said their event, expected to 
draw more than 10,000, won't "work for that site on that date" this year.

"We're not issuing a permit for the event," said deputy city manager 
Sadhu Johnston. "There's going to be construction work happening on 
the site at the time, so the site actually isn't available to them. 
Hopefully they'll get the message and it won't proceed."

Johnston said if organizers go ahead with the event, the city will 
coordinate with police on a response and take "appropriate action."

"Organizations that are well-organized in this fashion can't just set 
up pop-up markets wherever they want. It's far beyond a protest, 
which is what they've been saying over the years. That's not what 
this is. It's an organized event like many other events and they need 
to go by city process," Johnston said.

But Cannabis Day organizer Jeremiah Vandermeer said that organizers 
and the city have been hashing out the details for a while and as far 
as they knew, the event was still on.

"Nobody has informed us from the city at all, so it's a complete 
mystery to us," Vandermeer said. "We have no indication that our 
event has been superseded by construction. We hope that the city 
would get in contact with us because we have an open relationship 
with them and we've had a pretty close relationship with them to keep 
things safe there."

Vandermeer said a cancellation this late in the planning process 
would be a safety concern because protesters may still assemble on 
the grounds whether or not organizers pull the plug. He said that 
while the city hasn't issued Cannabis Day an event permit in the 
past, organizers have received informal letters from the city 
outlining expectations for the unsanctioned but "constitutionally 
protected" protest.

In a release sent out May 28, the police urged promoters of large, 
unsanctioned events such as bike raves and outdoor concerts to work 
with cops in advance and obtain proper permits to avoid being billed 
for policing costs. Police said costs for policing the 4/20 pot 
protest and demonstration on April 20, attended by about 25,000, 
totalled about $50,000.

  - with files from Postmedia News 
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom