Issue #31 Vol. 35, September 8th, 2009
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Opinions

Homeless not helpless members of our community

By Shoshana Berman

Two incidents that occurred last month in Surrey and Vancouver illustrate the complex issue of how homeless people are regarded in our communities.

In Surrey, at the encouragement of local business owners, city staff and the local by-law police thought it wise to place chicken manure adjacent to a homeless drop-in centre and 24-hour shelter to curb loitering in the area. While in Vancouver, Curtis Brick, a homeless man, died in hospital after lying in the sun for several hours on one of the hottest days ever in Grandview Park on Commercial Drive.

To consider chicken manure as a solution to curb loitering is only possible if these city staff and business people considered the indigent members of their community as less than human, less deserving of the same social freedoms and basic common courtesy than the rest of us.

In the other incident, Mr. Brick was found convulsing after lying in the sun for at least six hours and possibly drinking Lysol. There was shade, a drinking fountain, sprinklers and a washroom nearby. When he was seen convulsing, two people came to his aid. He was then taken to hospital, by ambulance, where he later died. Several groups of people were incensed at his death and considered it inhumane treatment of the homeless. They held a protest march demanding better treatment of the homeless people seen daily in our communities, citing families nearby and those drinking lattes as being monstrously unconcerned with this man’s plight.

In the first instance, the homeless were treated with disdain, as less than human, less deserving of rights. In the other case, I also believe the protesters were treating the homeless as less deserving of civil rights, less able to have autonomy and self determination.

You may ask, “How can fighting for better treatment of the homeless be taking away their rights?” I suppose it all depends on how you qualify “better treatment.” In Mr. Brick’s case, when the man was in distress, people responded. He was taken to hospital and treated. In the park there had been water and shade readily available. There’s an old adage about leading a horse to water. We cannot and should not force the homeless to drink or go into the shade. Neither should we disturb them when they are sleeping in an attempt to do so.

I believe the homeless should be treated with the same respect as anyone else. They have a right to be on public streets and to access public services without harassment; but they also have the right to sleep unmolested in the sun. When was the last time anyone woke people up lying on the beach to make them drink water and get into the shade? The homeless are not children. They should not be infantilized by well meaning activists, nor should they be treated with scorn.

Indigent members of our community should be treated kindly, with respect but be allowed to make their own choices about how to live their lives, and which public services they wish to access.