POLITICS
COVER:
Thomas
King: Canada's Native Writer Tells His Story
BIOGRAPHY:
John
Trudell: Warrior-Poet Waxes on Bone Days
Margaret
Vickers: The Hand of Change
BUSINESS:
Casino
of the Rockies
Historic Milestone for Rambots Construction
CULTURE:
Grizzly
Bears Under the Gun - Again
EDUCATION:
A
Gathering of the Elders
ENVIRONMENT:
Government
of Quebec seeks to Divide Cree Nation and Foster Genocide
HISTORY:
Thomas
Prince: Canada's Forgotten Aboriginal War Hero
HUMOUR:
Bee in the Bonnet: Drum Beaters
POLITICS:
Civic
Aboriginal Leader First to Run for City Hall
By Staff Writers
A
new grass-roots civic political party is fielding Vancouver's first aboriginal
leader to run for a seat on the Vancouver city council, long-time civic
activist, Lou Demerais, the current head of the Vancouver Native Health
Society.
The Vancouver Civic Action Team or vcaTEAM, is fielding a slate of ten
candidates for city council and three park board positions in the November
19, 2002 civic election based on a platform of fiscal responsibility and
social responsibility, that reaches out to the "disaffected"
and "disenfranchised," the very people who don't normally vote.
The vcaTeam was created last spring from an array of urban professionals
disenchanted with the current polarized climate of city hall politics
between the right-wing Non Partisan Association (NPA) and the left-wing
Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE).
The turfing of current and outgoing mayor Philip Owen by the NPA over
his controversial "Four Pillars" strategy for dealing with the
Downtown Eastside's notorious drug and alcohol has opened a rift that
the new party hopes to exploit.
Announced in
2000, the Four Pillars strategy included an emphasis on increased enforcement
through policing, treatment and prevention and "harm reduction sites."
Harm reduction
sites or legalized injection sites for heroin addicts was the issue that
divided the NPA.
Mayor Owen is stepping down in favour of the NPA mayoral candidacy of
Councilor Jennifer Clarke.
Eastside commitment
In addition to the overall policies of vcaTEAM, Demarais is committed
to the involvement of aboriginal peoples in improving the social and economic
health of the city.
"I will work with any one who wants to work with me to improve, not
only the economic, but social conditions on the downtown eastside,"
said Demarais.
Demarais will tackle the Vancouver east end and infamous drug and alcohol
problem through the creation of a "Four Pillars Plus" strategy
for the Downtown Eastside.
"Right now, there aren't enough resources put into some of the pillars
including policing. There's certainly not enough happening in terms of
prevention and there is definitely too much weight behind the idea of
safe injection sites, particularly at a time when the federal government
hasn't done anything around changing the laws to even allow these things
to happen," said Demarais
Demarais said that he would like to see further work on the implementation
of the Vancouver Agreement, a five-year, three-party agreement among the
federal, provincial and municipal governments, aimed at improving the
social and economic conditions in all Vancouver communities, with the
first focus on the Downtown Eastside.
Demarais said that it's critical
that the outlying municipal governments to incept programs to alleviate
problems in their areas so all of the drug and alcohol problems are not
of the lower mainland are not concentrated in a four or six block radius.
Demarais, a long-time advocate of Vancouver's east end aboriginal population,
has over 35 years experience in active involvement in community and public
affairs.
He has held the position of executive director of the Vancouver Native
Health Society since 1991, and has extensive experience in program management
and policy analysis.
"What we're saying is that there's an alternative to the polarized
politics which really doesn't help the overall situation of social problems.
I think people are tired of all that nonsense and, based on our sampling
of the public mood, it's time for a change."