How High is the City, How Deep is Our Love
The Thorn on Thursdays | Dec 17
Welcome to another edition of The Thorn on Thursday. Stay tuned for our Year in Review edition coming Dec. 31, as we say good riddance to 2020. If you like what we’re doing here at The Thorn, please share this e-newsletter with friends!
Vancouver City Council partially resists VPD propaganda; holds police budget to 2020 level
In a partial victory for opponents of the Vancouver Police and their bloated budget, Vancouver City Council approved a 2021 budget for the City of Vancouver which keeps the Vancouver Police Department’s budget at the 2020 level, while increasing property taxes by 5% and cutting the budgets of other city departments by 1-2%. These are intended to be one-time cuts due to a pandemic-related revenue shortfall.
The draft budget from city staff included a 0.7% increase to the police budget. The VPD lobbied hard for a 6.5 million or 2% increase to the police budget. While the Vancouver Police Board passed a motion in favour of the 6.5 million increase to the police budget, City Council passed a motion from Councillor Christine Boyle to keep the police budget at the 2020 level. This is a defeat for the VPD’s proposed 6.5 million increase to the police budget.
According to CTV News, VPD chief Adam Palmer is ‘disappointed’ in the decision to keep the VPD’s budget at the 2020 level, and that because of unavoidable cost increases the VPD will likely be unable to recruit 61 new officers in the coming year.
At the same time, Council rejected a motion from Councillor Jean Swanson to cut $5 million from the police budget and redirect the money to community services. This proves that more work needs to be done if we want to cut the VPD’s budget.
The Democratic Socialists of Vancouver (DSV) joined 13 other community organizations to co-sign a letter to city council in regards to the city police budget. The full text can be read here.
Last week, Vancouver City Council passed a 2021 operating budget which allocated over $340 million to the Vancouver Police Department. In the lead-up to budget proceedings, many speakers appeared before City Council and spoke to the importance of defunding the police – as a matter of community safety and survival. Today, 14 community organizations and advocacy groups, including Pivot, are speaking out against the budget and elected officials’ failure to defund the VPD. We remind elected officials and policy-makers that the route to justice comes from investing in community-led safety initiatives and peer-led crisis response, rather than continued reliance of policing and criminalization.
The Democratic Socialists of Vancouver also released a video outlining why the City should defund the VPD.
Black student violently arrested at SFU
On the evening of December 11th, a black alumni student was violently arrested, pepper sprayed, and tased on SFU’s Burnaby campus by the RCMP. This student was trying to access food from the food court when they were stopped by campus security. Campus security called the RCMP who arrived and peppered sprayed and tasered this student before arresting them. This incident was reported on twitter by Osob Mohamed, President of the Simon Fraser Student Society, and she shared the SFSS response.
This is not the first BIPOC student who has been recently profiled on a University Campus. In June, UBC student Savoy Williams was racially profiled when trying to access his supervisor's office on campus. Racial profiling, and carding, in Vancouver and across Canada remains an ongoing problem and showcases the necessity of reviewing the role of police in our society, and how it can be transformed. A GoFundMe has been set up for the affected student, whose privacy and well being should be the chief concern of all at this time.
Just in time for the holidays, B.C. government cuts disability and income assistance pandemic top-up
The B.C. government has halved the $300/month “top up” to income and disability assistance rates announced earlier in the pandemic. The clawback of $150/month, coming in the midst of the worst phase of the pandemic thus far, is ill-timed, unnecessary and cruel. The B.C. Poverty Reduction Coalition criticized the clawback as did other social and legal advocacy groups. West Coast LEAF tweeted, “Extremely disappointing to learn yesterday that BC is cutting in half the $300 monthly top-up to income assistance, disability assistance and the BC Seniors’ Supplement for January-March. The pandemic is intensifying - not over!”
New federal climate plan
On December 11th, the federal government released its new climate plan ‘A Healthy Environment and Healthy Economy’. This climate plan sets new goals for 2030, as the government develops plans to reach net neutral carbon emissions by 2050. One aspect of the new plan that has received a lot of attention is its intention to raise carbon pricing to 170$ a ton by 2030. This will increase the price of gasoline at the pump by an estimated 37.57 cents a litre.
Writing in Policy Note, Marc Lee criticized the plan for not spending enough on green initiatives (15 billion a year as opposed to 40 billion). As Lee writes, “Unfortunately, the plan’s promise is undermined by a continued commitment to expanding fossil fuel production, and too few hard commitments to end carbon polluting technologies and practices.”
The Liberals' strategy remains grossly inadequate to address the challenges of climate change. The plan doesn’t focus on winding down fossil fuel production but actually expects it to continue to rise until the late 2030’s, and the plan attempts to use incentives rather than regulation to limit fossil fuel production. The use of incentives and tax credits in the plan follows a trend of the Canadian government where they try to encourage companies to do the right thing, but fail to challenge the fundamentals of the Canadian system of fossil fuel extraction. Seth Klein joins Marc Lee in calling for support for resource workers through a just transition.
Privacy Commissioner launches investigation into RCMP internet spying
Per The Tyee, the Officer of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada has launched an investigation into the RCMP’s Tactical Internet Operational Support unit and Project Wide Awake, the unit’s advanced web monitoring program using digital tools it kept secret. The Thorn reported on this secret surveillance program in a previous newsletter, noting that it highlighted an ongoing culture of disrespect among police for the rights and liberties of Canadians. The Privacy Commissioner’s investigation should shed some much-needed light on the shady practices of the RCMP in spying on the private lives of individuals in Canada.
Constitutional lawyer Joe Arvay, champion of human rights, passes
Constitutional lawyer Joe Arvay passed away last week, December 7, following a heart attack. He was 71 years old, and had spent nearly his entire adult life championing the rights and freedoms of Canadians in all arenas of life. From fighting for the right of the terminally-ill to access medical assistance in dying to protecting the (in)famous Vancouver-based Little Sister’s Book and Art Emporium against Canada Customs agents’ punitive targeting of the bookstore’s imported shipments, Mr. Arvay often graced the halls of Canada’s highest court (more than six dozen times). His accomplishments are too many to list here.
Suffice to say that his advocacy considerably altered the fabric of Canadian society. At the time of his death, he was representing 15 Canadian youth who were suing the government, claiming that government inaction on Climate change infringed on the youths’ Charter right to life, liberty, and security of the person. Undoubtedly, without Mr. Arvay, Canadian governments will operate with at least a little more impunity.
See this article from The Tyee for a great overview of Joe Arvay’s life and legacy
Media Roundup
Hotel workers face permanent layoffs after government contract extended (Thunderbird)
We live in a society (N+1)
https://nplusonemag.com/online-only/online-only/we-live-in-a-society/
After Deaths and Injuries, Strathcona Park Camp Gets More Services (The Tyee)
https://thetyee.ca/News/2020/12/15/Strathcona-Park-Camp-Gets-More-Services/
It’s time to renationalize and rethink air Canada (Passage)
https://readpassage.com/its-time-to-renationalize-and-rethink-air-canada/
AOC: Nancy Pelosi needs to go, but there’s nobody to replace her yet. (Intercept Podcast)
Jeremy Corbyn: Why I’m Launching a Project for Peace and Justice (Jacobin)
https://jacobinmag.com/2020/12/jeremy-corbyn-project-for-peace-and-justice-launch
Collective Bargaining Needs a Fresh Start, in Canada and the US Alike (Jacobin)
https://jacobinmag.com/2020/12/collective-bargaining-united-states-canada-labor-unions
Nina Turner Announces She Is Running For Congress (Essence)
https://www.essence.com/news/nina-turner-ohio-congress/
That’s all from The Thorn this week! Please follow us on Twitter, Instagram & Facebook, and in case you haven’t yet, don’t forget to Subscribe: