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Vancouver police will also monitor the movements of the city's homeless, some of whom will have to be moved in the interest of safety, said deputy chief Steve Sweeney.

"We currently have a few homeless that are residing within very close proximity to some of the venues. And those people, we will assist them in relocating elsewhere," said Sweeney.

J.P. Allaird, who currently stays in a hostel but is worried he could be on the street during the Olympics, is also concerned about plans to relocate homeless people.

In the flush of bidding for and winning the right to host the Olympics, nobody talked about how staging them might mean limiting civil liberties.

What if the people that would not go inside were rounded up and taken outside of town and told this is where you will be living from now on, is this wrong

For background on our resistance to the 2010 Olympics please visit our websites

Olympics Resistance Victoria

Press Release
- For Immediate Release -

No 2010 Victoria: Olympic Police Harass More Victoria Activists
RCMP try to question local residents, get a lecture on rights instead

August 24, 2009, Victoria, Coast Salish Territories - On Thursday, August 20, Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit (VISU) officers knocked on the doors of at least three Victoria homes and tried to question social justice advocates about their plans for the Olympics. Instead, they got politely schooled in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Comrade Black is a volunteer organizer for the Victoria Anarchist Bookfair. The VISU officers came to the 29-year-old's home in Fairfield on Thursday, but no one would talk to them. Since the officers had no warrant, no due process, no probable cause, and nothing to investigate, they got no information from Black or his housemates.

"When they came to my door, one of my roommates answered and gave them no information, he would not even tell them if I was home Even though they asked for me by name, they didn't know who they were looking for, and at one point seemed to possibly wonder if he was me. I never ended up talking with them, myself. They gave him a card asking me to call them," Black said.

"What's funny is I personally have had little to do with the local organizing against the Olympics," Black went on. "They must have either picked people out of a hat, not caring who they got as the effect would be the same, or they chose the most visible anarchists in town to target for harassment."

Melanie Sylvestre, a 30-year-old organic farm worker, said: 'I was on my way to work at 8:30 in the morning, and they came over to me as I was getting in my truck. They were trying to be friendly, they called me by name and introduced themselves and said they wanted to talk. I said, 'No thanks, I'm leaving for work right now.' But they wouldn't back off. I had to say 'no' several times. They tried to flatter me, they said that they know I am a strong voice in the movement against the Olympics. That's not even true. I guess they were frustrated, and out of the blue the woman officer said, 'We believe in free speech, too!' I had to laugh."

"But I'm really offended by them spending so much money trying to intimidate people like me who are trying to make a living, working on a farm everyday," Sylvestre said.
This is the second time the VISU has attempted to obtain Olympic "intelligence" from Victoria residents through ambush-style interviews. Earlier this year, an officer tried to convince several local community members to inform on groups that might organize protests at the Torch Relay and the Olympic Games. That effort failed as well.

One officer in Vancouver defended the tactic of accosting activists at home and at work as an attempt to start a community dialogue about the Olympics.This week, Tamara Herman of No 2010 Victoria dismissed the claim. "The police are not in a position to start a dialogue about free speech and the Olympics. They've already proven that their job is to restrict free speech. The place to start is by holding public meetings about Olympic security instead of visiting organizers' houses. We doubt that they will -- talking to the VISU about Charter rights is like talking to a brick wall."

Herman reminded community members that there is no need to let an officer into the home without a warrant in hand. Police may try to use flattery or coercion to pressure people into cooperating, but they do not have the power to detain anyone without probable cause or due process, she said.

I am a very caring person, but if a person can't function in the world then just maybe they should be in a institution.

I am sorry but I really think that the majority of the people on the streets are there because they want to be and not because of a mental problem.

Atuuschaaw, the post was about the Vancouver Olympics, and moving people out. I just stated my opinion on the subject. We were not discussing the great depression that happened 80 years ago.

You talk about jails and yes it happens all to frequently, but you have the ability to change that through your vote, if you vote.

The idea that the poorest, most elderly and most vulnerable people are being thrown out into the street as a result of property speculation, aided by the hype of the pre-Olympic environment, is an embarrassing footnote to the first "socially sustainable Olympic Games".

The Toronto-based Wellesley Institute released a report card in early February which raised the issue of growing housing inaffordability - a leading cause of evictions and homelessness. Renting costs outpaced renter incomes in six of the 10 provinces. There are estimated to be between 200,000 to 300,000 homeless people in Canada.

...and it is still not solved. Why, because not enough people care,

... why not get them help instead of giving them sleeping bags and making them comfortable on the streets

well they lived a very good life. The had large screen tv leather furniture and all the trappings of the good life. This was all paid for by panhandling