A late-night police visit to Moccasin Flats highlights the criminalization of drug users without homes
A late-night police visit to Moccasin Flats highlights the criminalization of drug users without homes
Plus an update on Gordo the goat, a baby chick on a skateboard, and a good story about a rooster at Home Depot
A late-night police visit to Moccasin Flats highlights the criminalization of drug users without homes
Early Friday morning — like after midnight and before 2 am early — RCMP showed up at the Moccasin Flats homeless camp and said that people who are living there are not allowed to have or use drugs. The information we have about this comes from Juls Budău, who manages the wellness trailer that’s been set up there and is funded in part by the First Nations Health Authority and run through the advocacy group Uniting Northern Drugs Users. According to her Twitter timeline:
I was informed by the PG_RCMP tonight that #decrim didn’t apply to anywhere in moccasin flats, because homes and social services in the flats aren’t permanent structures, so they are “public places” and the safe streets bylaw makes drug use in “public places” illegal
So warrants weren’t needed to enter drop-in trailers and search people’s bags because presumption of substance use means they could enter even though the CDCofBC has released #eops protocol and drugs have been decriminalized in our province.
(btw I can no longer embed tweets in my newsletter for reasons you can read about here, if you want)
She also posted two videos of her interactions with police, which you can watch here and here. Now, I don’t know whether the wellness trailer at Moccasin Flats is designated as a safe consumption site or not (we’ll get to this in a moment) but in the second video the officer very clearly states that people should not be using drugs at the “needle exchange” or Two Doors Down/P.O.U.N.D.S. (it’s in the first 20 seconds of that video). On this, it seems pretty clear he’s wrong.
From Northern Health, there are two static overdose prevention sites in the city — and they are both those namechecked in the video:
And overdose prevention sites are literally defined as spaces where people are allowed to use drugs under the supervision of trained professionals. It, frankly, would make zero sense to have overdose prevention sites where people couldn’t use drugs.
So the cop here was, it seems, wrong to suggest that people can’t used drugs at the Needle Exchange or Two Doors Down, because they are designated as sites where that activity can take place. What about Mocassin Flats?
Here, it’s a little more blurry without knowing all the facts. Mobile prevention sites are a thing and it’s well possible this trailer has been designated as such without being listed by Northern Health (not sure when the last time this website was updated). But I want to put this into a broader context.
Right now, the city is making plans to make every homeless camper in the city move to Moccasin Flats (the public meeting about this is on Wednesday). At the same time, apparently at least some cops are saying that people cannot use drugs at Moccasin Flats because it’s public space. Think this through:
You are a person who lives with addiction who is also homeless.
You are told by bylaw officers you need to move your stuff to Moccasin Flats because it’s the designated spot for homeless people. You will be ticketed it you do not move there.
But at Mocassin Flats you cannot use (have?) drugs because the RCMP will show up and say it’s a public space.
It’s a Catch-22. You aren’t allowed to be homeless and addicted anywhere else in the city, because it violates the Safer Streets Bylaw. But if you go to Moccasin Flats, you are apparently subject to the police showing up in the middle of the night and telling you you are in violation of the rules for using there. This is what is meant by criminalizing people who use drugs — there is nowhere they are allowed to exist.
At the meeting where city council voted in favour of the centralized camp model, there was talk about directing RCMP to put more resources on the camp for the protection of the people in the area — including those in the camp. I’m not sure how beneficial that will be if the presence of RCMP officers means preventing people from accessing the overdose prevention services that have been set up at the camp — and if there’s any chance of this model working, this seems like something the city, Northern Health, RCMP, bylaw services and anyone else who plans on setting the rules for vulnerable people in our community had better figure out.
Council to consider security patrols, concrete barriers for Moccasin Flats encampment
Speaking of this centralized plan, the Prince George Post has a writeup on some of the plans being considered alongside it.
The Cougars are in the second round of the playoffs for the first time in 15 years
It was an overtime victory, with the next round set to start Friday in Seattle. Seattles going to be tough — they’ve had a great season and swept their first round. Also, people were allowed to bring their own food to the game.
An Easter goat
A few week’s ago I brought you the story of Gordo the goat, who moved into a family’s shop while they were away — and then refused to leave. I was provided an update on Gordo this weekend which I was happy to see:
His name is Jack now, and he regularly hops the fence to try and go in the front door of his new family’s home.
Would taking the train from Vancouver to PG to Jasper to PG to Rupert win you a BBC reality show?
In Thursday’s newsletter I wrote about Race Across the World, the BBC reality competition that had teams make their way from Vancouver to Haida Gwaii, some via Prince George. Two updates to that:
I watched the other available episodes and while they don’t go back through Prince George they do hit up Fort St. John and Dawson Creek, if you’re interested in that.
Jed Coppa wrote an interesting blog post about whether taking the train would have been a good strategy.
I was thinking it wouldn’t be because it would require you to go all the way from Vancouver to Jasper then back to Prince George and on to Rupert, with overnight stops, but on his calculations there are certain schedules that would allow it to work — and on a much better budget that other methods. It’s an interesting read but also… how nice would it be for there to be a reliable passenger train to Vanouver?
Quick news
The Cougars are in the second round of the playoffs for the first time in 15 years.
The Lheidli T’enneh First Nation are electing chief and council today.
The Hart ski hill broke its record for days open this winter.
An inoperable gun with no market value was stolen from the Exploration Place. Unfortunately, it does have high local historic value and the museum is really hoping it returns.
Business news: A new games shop is opening downtown, the Refillery is celebrating one year and Bulk Barn is moving into the bowl.
It looks like a temporary shut down scheduled Quesnel’s Cariboo Pulp could be getting less temporary.
Speaking of Quesnel, here’s the MLA for Quesnel on news that she might be the future representative for College Heights, as well.
And a big discussion on bike lanes (it’s actually productive).
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